1026. The BarrierPUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation #23, DC Comics, September 1991
CREATORS: Michael Jan Friedman (writer), Peter Krause and Pablo Marcos (artists)
STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last issue)
PLOT: Troi is trapped in an enclosure with peaceful telepathic sea serpents hunted to near extinction by the Lanatosians. It's clear they've hidden the serpents so that the Enterprise would bring their sacred monuments instead of this second, sentient species. They are all freed by Data and Picard saves them over the statuary, angering the Lanatosians. Meanwhile, as the Einstein crew plan to take the shuttle out to the alien spaceship that could bring them home, the aggressive species aboard the ship agglomeration savagely attack...
CONTINUITY: Among the enemy races beyond the vortex is a Gorn.
DIVERGENCES: None (though evidence suggests Data should not be able to swim, the pressures in an ocean might well allow him some buoyancy).
PANEL OF THE DAY - Data's rarely used swimming rotor.
REVIEW: The undersea stuff comes to a satisfying resolution (though the next issue takes things from there), if not a particularly original one. On the other side of the universe, the story seems to be in a holding pattern as much of last issue's information is once again given. There's the start of a big battle, which is at least dynamic, but in the midst of it all, a terrible mischaracterization of Wesley. The kiss he shares with an ensign has not been earned, and his fighting prowess (heck, his fighting WILLINGNESS) seems completely out of place. A penultimate chapter that misfires.
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