Star Trek:
The Q Confl ict
ScottTipton& David Tipton, David Messina,
SilviaCalifano, Elisabeth D’Amico
IDW, 2019
HeraldedbyIDWasthebiggestStarTrek
comicscrossoverever,thesix-issueThe
QConflictboastscaptains,crews,and
charactersfromacrossfourincarnations
ofTr e k: theoriginalseries,StarTrek:The
NextGeneration,StarTrek:DeepSpace
Nine, andStarTrek:Voyager. That’sa lotto
liveupto,soit’snosurprisethattheend
resultstrugglestomatchthatdizzyingly
highconcept.
WhenCaptainPicardandthecrewof
theEnterprise-Dlearnofeightsupernovae
intwodays,theyarerightfullyconcerned:
usuallythereareat mosteightperyearin
theMilkyWay.Twoofthemostrecent
supernovaehavebeenwithintheGorn
Confederation,resultinginthelossof
multiplecolonyworldsandthousandsof
lives.Butwhat’scausingthisphenomenon?
TheEnterprise-DheadstoCestusIII
tohelpwiththeevacuationthere,onlyto
findthattheplanet’ssun,whichwason
thevergeofgoingsupernova,hassuddenly
returnedtonormal.PicardsuspectsQ
mightbebehindit all,andsureenough,
shortlyafter,Qappears.It transpiresthat
thereis a wargoingonbetweengodlike
beings,thesupernovaebeinga consequence
ofthespilloverintoourreality.Butbeing
summonedbyPicardgivesQanidea:
ratherthancontinuefightingtheconflict
themselves,thegodlikebeingswilluse
humansas proxiesintheirwar.Thus,
Picardandhiscommandcrewarejoined
bySiskoandhiscrew(circathreeyears
intoDS9), Janewayandhercrew(circa
fouryearsintoVoyager), andKirkandcrew
(circatheoriginalfiveyearmission).
The funofa crossoverlikethisisn’t
inthedaftplot,butintheinteractions
betweencharacterswhoontelevisionnever- cannever– meet.Unfortunately,aside
fromthefrissonofseeingJaneway,Riker,
Chekov,andKiratogetherinthesame
panel,The Q Conflictis a littlelacking,
withexchangesbetweencharacterslargely
limitedtofurtheringtheplot.Withpretty
much every main crew member from each
series, there’s barely any time for the kind
ofsmaller character moments that might
have lifted the whole enterprise (so to
speak). When they do come – such as when
the Enterprise-E Worf confesses to Chief
O’Brien that seeing the doomed Jadzia Dax
again is diffi cult – you’re left wishing there
were more of them.
Still, there is enjoyment to be had
inwitnessing Janeway (representing the
Metrons), Kirk (representing Trelane, the
Squire of Gothos), Picard (representing,of course, Q), and Sisko (representing the
Organians) go head to head, especially when
Trelane introduces the added threat of the
Doomsday Machine into an outer space
game of capture the fl ag. And that’s before
we even get to the introduction of the Borg,
along with some surprise special guests...
Plus, there’s a particularly amusing moment
when the godlike entities are picking their
mix-and-match teams: last to be chosen are
Harry Kim and an indignant Quark.NICK JONESTRICORDER: REVIEWS