1018. I Have Heard the Mermaids SingingPUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation #16, DC Comics, February 1991
CREATORS: Michael Jan Friedman (writer), Pablo Marcos (artist)
STARDATE: 43878.1 (follows the last issue, but see Divergences)
PLOT: The Enterprise-D discovers what appears to be a white hole (the back end of a black hole) near the Romulan Neutral Zone. It promptly explodes leaving the ship dead in the water. As repairs are effected, members of the bridge crew start going insane one after another. When astrogation is back online, they realize the ship has drifted into the Neutral Zone...
CONTINUITY: Selar has definitely become one of the cast. Wesley now wears the red uniform (after Ménage à Troi, see Divergences). Duffy makes an appearance (Hollow Pursuits, and later SCE).
DIVERGENCES: Ménage à Troi occurs on stardate 43930.7, later than this story's.
PANEL OF THE DAY - Riker and Picard outraged Geordi would cover all the nipples.
REVIEW: We've seen the "crew members go mad" plots before (as far back as Where No Man Has Gone Before, in fact), but Friedman spices things up with a number of fun elements. The mystery of the white hole is intriguing, the Romulan threat makes for a nice cliffhanger, and Worf beating people up with his metal sash is awesome. Friedman and Marcos have solid comic timing in some scenes, but the above scene with the sirens... well... That's the kind of stuff I would have expected from the Marvel series - fantastic imagery to spice things up without much purpose and/or sense. At least the holodeck means it makes sense, but aside from inspiring the title, not much purpose.
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