Star Trek: The Mirror War #3 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: THE MIRROR WAR No. 3, January 2022

Literally brimming with hard-thrown fisticuffs, desperate phaser exchanges, a tensely-penned covert mission deep within enemy territory, and even the complete destruction of an entire planet, there can be little doubt that Scott and David Tipton’s script for Issue Three of “Star Trek: The Mirror War” contained plenty of pulse-pounding action with which to please the science fiction franchise’s fanbase. However, many of these high-octane set-pieces could arguably be criticised as having been included in this comic simply so its considerable cast have something to do as Jean-Luc Picard’s grand scheme to become the new leader of the dwindling Terran Empire somewhat stalls in making much in the way of overall progress.

Indeed, the seemingly nonchalant manner in which the I.S.S. Enterprise’s captain dismisses his Away Team’s failure to acquire any pure Tri-Nitrogen Chloride, Neurocine, Chloraxine and Nyocene from the Gas Mines of Kayree debatably brings into question just what motivated the power-mad skipper to dispatch Commander William Riker and Geordi La Forge to the doomed planet in the first place; “We can get by without the material we were trying to acquire from Kayree Station.”

Equally as contrived is the notion that having conveniently obtained a (Romulan) cloaking device for the Galaxy-class starship ‘off-screen’, the state-of-art vessel is still unable to sneak past an enemy listening post, due to its invisibility screen leaving a problematic “hole that runs along the belly”. This unhelpful flaw means that Picard must instead send his officers off on another dangerous assignment to temporarily knock out Nopal Trem without the Cardassians realising their device was sabotaged. But considering that the tiny station is evidently staffed by gun-toting soldiers, who ultimately capture Miles O’Brien, it’s difficult to comprehend just how Jean-Luc thought his people’s presence and interference would ever go unnoticed..?

Disappointingly, even Gavin Smith’s artwork for this particular twenty-page periodical does not appear in parts to be up to the freelancer’s usual standard - most notably when he pencils a scene concerning Troi and Barclay trying to reason with Data that the android is perfectly capable of making selfish decisions. The line work on all three of these figures’ faces appears rushed and inconsistent when compared to the illustrator’s other panels, to the point where it appears the entire sequence has either been put together in a hurry to help pad out the publication, or another artist has actually sketched them as a last minute stopgap.

Writers: Scott & David Tipton, Artist: Gavin Smith, and Colorist: Charlie Kirchoff