Star Trek 1127: Stowaway

1127. Stowaway

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #1, Malibu Comics, August 1993

CREATORS: Mike W. Barr (writer), Gordon Purcell and Terry Pallot (artists)

STARDATE: 46257.8 (between The Storyteller and Progress)

PLOT: As alien artifacts are brought from the Gamma Quadrant by the USS Armstrong (and the grumpy Dr. Wembley), Jake and Nog unlock a strange fungus engineered by the Cardassians from a compartment. The thing starts expanding about the station, emitting a toxic gas. The crew does its best to evacuate the affected sections, and then Dukat arrives demanding access to DS9 so he can take back what is Cardassia's - the weaponized fungus...

CONTINUITY: The USS Armstrong is mentioned in Apocalypse Rising as a victim of the Klingons. Supporting characters appearing include Keiko, Nog, Garak and Dukat.

DIVERGENCES: One scene makes it seem like Garak reports to Dukat - a possible interpretation of events early on, but well disproved by the end of the series.

PANEL OF THE DAY - The captain of the Armstrong, as played by John Tesh.
REVIEW: Purcell and Pallot's art is GORGEOUS. This is the best-looking Star Trek series yet, possibly ever. I also like how Barr gives us a makeshift opening sequence at the very start of it, presenting the characters and then the station and wormhole, simply with visuals. We're not getting a whole lot of characterization, but the characters at least sound like themselves, and the supporting stars, so important to DS9, aren't neglected. Sure, it's just a Cardassian booby trap story, with Gamma Quadrant artifacts stuff thrown in, nothing too new, but it charms the reader by being so convincingly like the tv series. Purcell's likenesses are dead on, and even Odo's shapeshifting scene doesn't go all "superhero"-like. It's more dynamic than most sequences, but still within the realm of what the show used to do with it. Purcell "casting" guest characters draws attention to itself a bit much (John Tesh? really?), but is still part of that concept.