1396. Ghosts, Issue 4PUBLICATION: Star Trek: The Next Generation - Ghosts #4, IDW Comics, February 2010
CREATORS: Zander Cannon (writer), Javier Aranda and Marc Rueda (artists)
STARDATE: 44751.6 (follows the last issue)
PLOT: While Riker futilely tries to reason with the Dorosshians holding Worf, the Juuletians try to cover their tracks by shooting a Zoor beam at sickbay to take out the craft's survivor. Riker destroys the ship and beams the culprits aboard. Meanwhile, in the white void of the Zoor energy cloud, Picard meets everyone who has been "vaporized" by the Zoor weapon. Together they find the missing limbs of the Zoor craft's survivor anchoring the pocket dimension to the "present". They are the ghosts he sees and hears. His "dead" wife communicates with him and the Enterprise crew coordinates a rescue by technical means...
CONTINUITY: See previous issues (O'Brien). Might Q have taken this vision of death (the white void) from Picard's mind in Tapestry?
DIVERGENCES: See previous issues (stardates).
PANEL OF THE DAY - Time to save money on sets.
REVIEW: It's all coming together now. The timeless void anchored to the craft's survivor is the principal set piece and Picard gets to shine as a diplomat. Not to say the Juuletians aren't bastards, but the Dorosshians are proving to be irritating as hell, both in and out of the void. Riker seems to do well in his scenes with the new Dorosshian leader, but she is so stubborn that those many pages come to naught. Just wheels spinning and eating up the page count. The issue also features the only weak cliffhanger of the series as impending victory is more or less announced. Hopefully, Riker loses patience in the last issue and kicks some alien ass because I really need the catharsis now.
Comments