Villordsutch review Star Trek #39…
In Star Trek #39, “It’s the penultimate chapter of the The Q Gambit! Captains Kirk and Sisko must work together to fight back against the forces of the Dominion! Meanwhile, Spock attempts to free the Enterprise and her crew from the clutches of the nefarious Dukat! And just what is Q planning for everyone involved? The fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance.”
Arriving at Part 4 of Mike Johnson’s Star Trek: The Q Gambit and with Dukat in the previous issue really upsetting the apple cart and our heroes spread across the quadrant there are certainly a lot of threads to bring to a nice neat bow in these final two issues. On top of all of this we still have to find out what Q’s plan actually is for Kirk; it’s an awful lot to accomplish and my fingers are crossed that we do get a splendid ending.
Stepping back to this issue however and it’s really not looking good for the Sisko as well as the rest of the remnants of the Federation, for once again in this universe of Mike Johnson we witness the death of another long-standing Trek character at the hands of the Dukat – now possessed by a Pah-wraith – and later Sisko finds the Federation’s most secure hidden base has been destroyed by the Dominion. As Kirk, Sisko, Dax and Co. make their way to join the others we witness Dukat taking the Enterprise into the Pah-wraith controlled wormhole; we learn the Prophets are all but dead, all except the one which has possessed Sisko. It’s here in the closing pages do we discover the no win Q has been leading Kirk towards and, his final choice may lead to the end of Q and the entire Continuum (no pressure then).
As with previous issues of The Q Gambit I’m enjoying the fact that I don’t know where this is going and the normal rules of Trek don’t have to apply (to an extent), so characters like Dukat can be so evil that with one thought and a major character can be dead. That and our history and Trek lore has been altered – like the Mirror Universe Star Trek tales – making this series fascinating to see how their heroes lives played out under a thumb instead of with a handshake of peace. There is some exciting work here from Mike Johnson and it’s extremely enjoyable.
The only negative is again the artwork from Tony Shasteen throughout this story it has been unfortunately my bugbear and here again characters lose definition,faces lose shape and eyes appear to be on occasion rather odd in appearance. It really isn’t my cup of tea and doesn’t do the main story justice.
On the whole however the story is more than worth a purchase and you’d do well picking it up today. Not only this you also get a small taster of Star Trek & Planet of the Apes : The Primate Directive (Scott and David Tipton) right at the end of the comic to wet you appetite for the forthcoming comic released on the 31st December 2014 and you can read more about that comic here.
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&list=PL18yMRIfoszFJHnpNzqHh6gswQ0Srpi5E&v=Z2vq4CudKRk
Originally published December 17, 2014. Updated January 18, 2020.
