Villordsutch reviews Star Trek: The Next Generation: Terra Incognita #2…
At the close of Star Trek: TNG “Terra Incognita” #1 not only had Mirror Barclay proved his mettle to the crew of the Prime Enterprise, placing Barclay in a whole new light to them, but the U.S.S. Hood had also called upon said Enterprise for urgent assistance. Help was needed due to a failing Warp Drive and a gaggle of Vulcan Ambassadors, who where rapidly becoming late for the Federation-Cardassian peace talks.
With Starfleet placing the fate of the peace talks firmly in the lap of the Enterprise and its crew, due to the Hood’s failing engines and the weight of Galaxy Class Starship at the table, Captain DeSoto passes over the reigns to Captain Picard and a beeline is made for Telvina 5 to rendezvous with the Cardassian warship Raknok.
Later, aboard the shuttlecraft Newton, the Vulcan Ambassadors, Counsellor Troi and a small (unexpected) delegation of Cardassians are suffering a rather bumpy ride towards Telvina 2 to begin the diplomatic talks, when fate steps in to make sure their journey doesn’t go as planned.
The Tipton Brothers (David and Scott) have delivered something rather special and unexpected here. I truly believed this issue was going to be a full-on Mirror Barclay affair, watching him snake around the crew gaining their trust, whilst in the background we would get a brief glimpse of the “Peace Talks”. Instead, the Tiptons have flipped it completely around! Here we get Mirror Barclay actually showing his vile colours and shocking the Prime crew in only a couple of panels and that’s it – this issue then turns it focus on the peace talks. There’s also a possible brief touch on the mysterious power failure that struck the Hood, here too striking the Newton. Is the saboteur now on the Enterprise and do they want the peace talks to fail?
As with Star Trek: The Next Generation: Through the Mirror, Terra Incognita seems to be rotating the artists. The last issue being Tony Shasteen & Elizabeth Beals, and here in Issue#2 the rather splendid artwork comes from Carlos Nieto along with colours from Fran Gamboa. I hope this continues through this series, as I really do appreciate IDW Publishing bringing in such talented artists to show their wares to us Trek fans.
Star Trek: TNG “Terra Incognita” #2 is a fantastic read; the Tipton Brothers took it somewhere I really didn’t expect and with the great artwork from Carlos and Fran, this is definitely a series you should have already started.
Rating: 8/10
