Villordsutch reviews Star Trek #35….
“The Q Gambit” begins here! The crew of the new STAR TREK film franchise encounters the classic Trek villain Q for the first time, only in this all-new 6-part galaxy-spanning adventure developed in association with screenwriter/producer Roberto Orci! The mischievous Q sends James T. Kirk on quest that will see the Enterprise joining forces with familiar faces from Star Trek lore, beginning with the crew of a certain space station…
Reading this I felt slightly like a spoilt child, which as a fully grown up 39 year old man (with a certificate from his mum to prove it) was a very immature feeling to have wash over me. The child-like glee arrived when I was reassured by an omnipresent alien that my Trek timeline, the one I’d grown up with, still existed in an alternative universe and this current usurper isn’t the be all and end all. That’s not to say I don’t like the NuTrek – I do; granted a fair few of Mike Johnson’s comic tales haven’t been up to the level I’d class as good, but there are some enjoyable ones out there.
Here though we have the first part of ‘The Q Gambit’ written by again Mike Johnson. After the last effort of ‘Lost Apollo‘, I believed I’d found a pattern in the Trek comics of good story/bad story and with ‘Lost Apollo’ being a total stinker, I was expecting ‘The Q Gambit’ to be fantastic and I was proved correct.
We open on-board the Enterprise-E with Ambassador Picard recounting Spock’s sacrifice and ordering his famous Earl Grey tea hot, when Q arrives and berates him on his choice of tea. Q informs Picard that Spock is alive and well in an alternate time-line, but due to his ingress into the time-line he has brought its destruction. Waving a red rag to a bull, Picard pleads with Q not to meddle in the other time-line, which obviously Q ignores and off he pops to our new Enterprise, dropping them in danger with Klingons and a Federation ship called the Smallwood.
More occurs which obviously I’m not spoiling for you nor shall I explain the Smallwood reference, but there is a mystery unfolding in this series from the opening panels which has managed to snare me so well that Mike Johnson is already reeling me in and setting up his landing net for me; I need to know where this is going. When I first heard Q was making an appearance I rolled my eyes now I’m too excited to have to wait a month for part two!
Not only is the opening part top form but the art is rather great too. Gone are the overly bright colours we have come to see in the recent run of Trek comics that try to mimic the J.J. world of Trek and instead we have a more muted but perfectly done wash of colours from Tony Shasteen. On occasion the characters faces can lose shape but it’s few and far between and can hardly be complained about when the rest of the work is so good.
A very good start to ‘The Q Gambit’ and I am looking forward to seeing what unfolds as this goes on.
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
Originally published July 9, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
