1284. The TrapPUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Killing Shadows #1, Wildstorm Comics, November 2000
CREATORS: Scott Ciencin (writer), Andrew Currie, Bryan Hitch and Chris Chuckry (artists)
STARDATE: Unknown (between Generations and First Contact)
PLOT: The Bodai Shin, elusive space ninja, have targeted a scientist working on a way to beam entire cities (away from the Borg, for example). The Enterprise-E goes to his colony to protect him, but he doesn't believe they can. In fact, the ship is under attack by Bodai Shin ships and soon one of the ninja has infiltrated the crew and taken Troi. Down below, Picard, Data and a visiting Worf fail to protect the scientist when the Bodai Shin attack. These claim that with him dead, they gain access to his research, but that they are really after Picard. Only the intervention of a secret ally allows the heroes to escape the Bodai Shin's clutches - Tasha Yar's daughter Sela...
CONTINUITY: Sela was last seen in Unification (or in the novel Imzadi II).
DIVERGENCES: None.
PANEL OF THE DAY - How you get Worf back with his TNG friends.
REVIEW: Star Trek does ninja! Sounds like a fun premise for a Trek comic to me! And it does work, in large part thanks to Andrew Currie's moody art. His likenesses are excellent, his cyberpunk city credible, and his techno-ninja cool without going too far into an anime sensibility. I could stand for a little more clarity in the space action scenes, but his swordplay is good fun. As a post-Generations story, it plays like a Star Trek movie, with Worf showing up fortuitously while on shore leave. Well, if there's gonna be melee combat, you really do need Worf (though Picard holds his own). The Bodai Shin are an interesting enemy, with lots of misdirection and cloaking tricks, and their mysterious agenda should develop through the series. Bringing in Sela is also an intriguing notion, as is the start of Data's exploration of the concept of faith, something they avoided on the television series. Good start!
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