1196. X²PUBLICATION: Starfleet Academy #8, Marvel Comics, July 1997
CREATORS: Chris Cooper (writer), John Royle and Andy Lanning (artists)
STARDATE: Unknown (follows the last issue)
PLOT: On a mission to rescue an unresponsive ship, Omega Squad find only the young Charlie Evans aboard. They soon figure out, thanks to Edam's telepathy, that Charlie is the same boy who was given god-like powers by the Thasians back in the TOS era. He sends them to his own private world, where they find the crew of the Eldorado. When Charlie returns to the world and attacks, it is T'Priell who senses he is at war with himself (like she is). He reveals he once created another self on Thasus, one who is evil but inhabits the same space and time as he does. The good Charlie's hold on his mind restored, he sends the Squad to Thasus. Elsewhere, the Jem'Hadar reach Talos IV in search for the Alpha Quadrant's greatest telepaths...
CONTINUITY: Charlie Evans and the planet Thasus are of course from Charlie X. The Jem'Hadar appear again. Their destination, Talos IV, was first seen in The Cage.
DIVERGENCES: See previous issues (Edam's telepathic powers).
PANEL OF THE DAY - Charlie fights Omega Squad.
REVIEW: Well, if this doesn't sound like an issue of X-Men... Maybe Cooper is a frustrated wannabe mutant writer? And this is the most 90s Marvel issue yet. The haircuts, anxiety lines, prominent "X"s, and teenage boys with too much power. If I don't care much for Royle's Leifeld Lite, the story isn't much either. Cooper's subplots are still more interesting than his plots. An attraction develops between T'Priell and Edam, and there's the matter of the Dominion attack the cadets will have to foil. However, the crux of the story wastes a TOS call-back with surreal imagery a bit beyond the artist's skill to render, and a deus ex machina that comes out of left field. But Jem'Hadar (and Captain Pike?) next issue, I'm hopeful.
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