Villordsutch reviews Star Trek: Picard Omnibus…
Well, we’ve still not got Star Trek: Legacy. The brilliant Picard season 3 wrapped up two years ago, and yet here we are, still waiting. In the meantime, IDW Publishing is filling the gap with a Picard Omnibus, collecting Picard: Countdown and Picard: Stargazer into one handy volume. But does it fill the void?
Written by Kirsten Beyer (ST: Voyager – To Lose the Earth) and Mike Johnson (Star Trek: Manifest Destiny), with art from Ángel Hernández (Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War), and colours by Joana Lafuente (Picard: Countdown) and J.D. Mettler (Picard: Stargazer), the book brings together two connected tales.
In Countdown, we find Picard aboard the U.S.S. Verity, taking part in the Romulan evacuation ahead of the impending supernova set to destroy much of the Romulan system. However, when he arrives at Yuyat Beta, not everything goes according to plan, and it soon becomes clear it’s not just the Romulans who need saving.
The second story, Stargazer, offers a glimpse into Picard’s younger hubris and naivety during his early days commanding the Stargazer, again entangled with the Romulans. Then, jumping far into the future, we catch up with Seven and the Fenris Rangers as they deal with the fallout of one of young Picard’s not-so-well-thought-out decisions.
One of the unfortunate things about IDW’s Picard Omnibus is that it’s tied to what are arguably the weakest seasons of Picard — seasons 1 and 2. It’s also evident that Beyer and Johnson were doing their absolute best with the limited information they had about the then-upcoming series, trying to fill in the blanks and strengthen the show’s foundations. Yet, to be fair, even after watching Picard seasons 1 and 2, many viewers were still left confused and lost by what they got.
Both Johnson and Beyer are well-seasoned Trek writers — between them, they’ve delivered a hefty catalogue of Star Trek comics, novels, and TV work. They certainly know their Star Trek onions. Yet here, we’re given two tales involving Picard, sneaky Romulans, and a desperate, near-extinct secondary race — again, thanks to those same sneaky Romulans. That’s perhaps a glib way to describe these stories, yes, but aside from touching on the brief history of Laris and Zhaban in Countdown and the Seven/Stargazer thread in Stargazer, you can’t help but feel both writers were struggling with what little they were given.
It’s all a touch frustrating to read, truth be told. I’m only glad that IDW Publishing’s current Star Trek: The Last Starship series (check out our review here) is on shelves now — if anything, this collection of Picard comics reminds us of the glaring holes and problems the series created in Trek lore, which The Last Starship looks set to patch up.
The real advantage of this omnibus is that you get everything in one place — some alternate covers, interviews with both writers, the history of the U.S.S. Verity, and a write-up on the design of the Odyssey-class starship. It’s a nice package overall, and it’ll look great on your shelf… after you’ve read it. Once.
It’s not the greatest Star Trek comic collection out there — but it’s definitely not the worst.
Rating: 6/10
@Villordsutch
