Villordsutch reviews Star Trek: Waypoint #3…
Star Trek: Deep Space 9 and Star Trek: Voyager return to comics! In Castellucci’s, “Mother’s Walk,” major Kira confronts how she can perform a mandatory, ancient Bajoran pilgrimage when so many family members, needed for the rite, are dead. Who can she turn to? And in Scott’s “The Wildman Maneuver,” an unlikely member of the Voyager crew “saves” the ship!
SEE ALSO: Check out a preview of Star Trek: Waypoint #3 here
Stepping into our third release of Star Trek: Waypoint and our initial cover from Daniel Warren Johnson greets us with the crew of the U.S.S. Voyager under attack and a Type-9 shuttle aflame, and its the tease of a great story in amongst the pages. There may be a number of you snorting at the idea of a “great story” being attached to Voyager, but I’m telling you, go back to Voyager and if you give it a season or two to bed in you’ll find a fair number of episodes that are quite splendid. It’s a real shame however that our opening chapter here “The Wildman Maneuver” – by Mairghread Scott – isn’t one of them.
With the crew of Voyager all tired because it’s past bedtime, and Captain Janeway out of commission because Uncle Nelix has turned off the replicators to stop Midnight Snacking, resulting in a lack of coffee for said Captain, Voyager has fallen under the control of evil Aliens. It’s now up to Ensign Special-Class Wildman and her assistant Seven to deliver coffee to the Captain and regain control of the ship.
Clearly this is meant to be a “fun” strip and it’s delivered as a child’s comic book, in this case via Naomi Wildman (though really by Corin Howell); however I in truth was expecting something more, some derring-do based upon the cover art. I’m forty-one years old and having to flick through The Wildman Maneuver wasn’t fun or entertaining, and if I’m being totally honest I don’t think my thirteen year old daughter (also a Trek fan) wouldn’t have found it entertaining either.
Our next tale in Star Trek: Waypoint drops us on the doorstep of Deep Space Nine and we get a glimpse into the Bajoran tradition of the “Mother’s Walk”, recounted by Major Kira on her birthday. From its origins far in the past of a mother and daughter going to sell the bolts of fabric they have woven together and arguing at every step, until the fortunes turn to the worst and they protect each other under their remaining piece of fabric. This becomes the tradition for all Bajoran mothers and daughters for many years, even under Cardassian occupation when it meant death if you were found taking part in the “Mother’s Walk”. Kira, now with no family on her birthday, is left of Deep Space Nine with nobody to complete this ancient rite of passage with.
Mother’s Walk from Cecil Castellucci, and some rather great art from Megan Levens, is a number of things all compacted into one blast of a story – aglimpse into the Bajorans’ history, extremely brutal and Star Trek to its core. To go from the story of a Mother and Daughter braving the snow topped mountains of Bajor using a piece of fabric to save their lives, to witnessing – centuries later – Mothers and Daughters being hung using the same token fabric, wrapped tight around their necks by the Cardassian Occupiers, is shocking. The ending is possibly seen from miles away, but still it was needed to complete this Deep Space Nine story.
Star Trek: Waypoint #3 isn’t the strongest release in the series so far. The Wildman Maneuver just really wasn’t my cup of tea, though Mother’s Walk did manage to bring it back up at the end.
Rating: 6/10
@Villordsutch
Originally published January 18, 2017. Updated November 14, 2019.
