The Continuum is at war! Can Starfleet survive? Can the galaxy? Your Major Spoilers review of Star Trek: The Q Conflict #1 awaits!

Previously in Star Trek: The Q Conflict: When a dispute between godlike beings threatens the galaxy, it will take all of Starfleet’s best captains to stop them. Join James T. Kirk, Jean-Luc Picard, Kathryn Janeway, and Benjamin Sisko as they go head-to-head in a competition that will determine the fate of the Earth and beyond. Will they be able to emerge victorious, or will they be torn apart by The Q Conflict?

A CONFEDERACY OF OMNIPOTENCE

We open with the crew of the USS Enterprise-E, investigating a series of strange celestial events near the planet Cestus III. While investigating a sun that has unexpectedly gone nova, the ship is nearly caught in ANOTHER supernova, barely escaping destruction, but gathering enough information to realize who is behind it all. Captain Picard calls out Q, who arrives just in time to explain that he’s in the process of showing a few other would-be omnipotent beings who is really in charge in the higher dimensions. When Picard protests the destruction, Q agrees to try things Picard’s way, transporting the entire crew of the Enterprise into a sort of neutral realm, where he introduces a few other friends: Captain Sisko and the crew of Deep Space Nine; Captain Janeway and the crew of USS Voyager; and the legendary James T. Kirk himself. Each crew is chosen to stand-in for one of the factions: Q himself, the Metrons (from TOS episode “Arena”), Trelane, the Squire of gothos and the Organians from ‘Errand of Mercy.’

THE SETUP MOSTLY WORKS

It’s an issue full of reintroductions, with the big-name members of the crews of four of the Star Trek series, four different alien threats and the contentious relationship between Q and Picard all getting spotlighted here. The writers even remember the important bits of lore (such as Picard knowing Janeway as an Admiral, Sisko knowing Picard in passing and Tuvok recognizing Sulu, his former Captain.) On the downside, there’s isn’t a lot more than setup going on here, and my worry is that the entire miniseries is going to be a series of “Hey, remember when” moments. Artwise, this is a strong issue in terms of storytelling and facial expressions, which is a must with this much conversation and exposition going on. The likenesses of our favorite actors aren’t always perfect, but the amount of emotion conveyed by the pages overcome that concern for me. I worry that a casual reader wouldn’t be able to grasp everything here, though, as the issue is predicated on more than just a little Star Trek backstory.

BOTTOM LINE: NO-NONSENSE

In an ideal world, we’d have more room for each of these characters to do more than just show up behind their Captain with their game faces one, but given the difficulty in assembling four crews from four different time-frames, that’s a lesser concern in this first issue. Star Trek: The Q Conflict #1 is interesting to me as a fan who knows who all these folk are, with solid art throughout and an interesting premise drawing on a lot of Trek history, earning 3 out of 5 stars overall. I just hope we don’t get to issue #3 without at least a little time spent with Kira, Seven of Nine or Spock.

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