Comics Review : Star Trek The Next Generation Ghosts Issue 3

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Ghosts #3

Reviewed by Patrick Hayes aka PatBorg

The covers: Picard is falling to somewhere on the "Regular Cover" by Joe Corroney, while on the "RI Virgin Cover" he's falling to an even emptier place because all of the cover's writing is gone. Overall grade: Both A

The story: There's a lot happening this issue. Worf is still being held a prisoner by the Dorossh. Speaker Kojaal is more than willing to give in to their demands to release the Klingon, but the Enterprise crew is unwilling. Meanwhile, Everuud regains consciousness and begins to move the "ghost" portion of the story forward, until two characters appear muttering a "traditional send off" and he shuts down. Another ghost loosens his tongue so Crusher and Troi get the biggest reveal of the story. There's a nice cliffhanger ending that's sadly undone by the cover image. There's some stuff to enjoy in this episode of Zander Cannon's tale (Data's every line, dissention in the ranks on Page 13, and Troi pushing the right button--figuratively and literally-- to get Everuud to open up), but the Worf scenes fall horribly flat (I'm officially over Worf speaking about honor in any Star Trek medium) and just how much longer can readers go with the obvious lies they're getting from all the alien characters. If this were DS9, several characters would be blunt (Odo, Kira, Sisko, etc.), state that someone is obviously being untruthful, and the story would move on at a more rapid pace than this. I'd like this series to wrap in four issues instead of five. I'm hoping that Picard's destination in Issue #4 ups my interest. Overall grade: C-

The art: I like Javier Aranda's Worf, Data, and Crusher. These characters look consistently like their respective actors. I also enjoy his backgrounds. They are highly detailed and his alien worlds take me to places I've never seen. His two space shots (Pages 20 and 21) are wonderful. I'm still continuing to have problems dealing with his interpretations of Picard and Riker: age lines are overdrawn, so much so that I expect to see Picard keel over and die in any panel, while Riker doesn't look the same from panel to panel (I've noticed that Aranda like to draw Number One from an angle looking up at him, under his chin--it's done that way in three panels alone on Page 10). Aranda moves the scene well on his pages, but when the two leads are drawn so poorly it's going to taint how I feel about this book. Overall grade: C-

The inks: Again, Aranda's artwork overshadows how I look at Marc Rueda's work. I simply do not know how to appraise his abilities with the pencils he's been given. Because of this, I have to give his inks the same grade as Aranda's art. Overall grade: C-

The colors: This is the one bright spot (no pun intended) for this comic. John Hunt's work is dynamic. Cannon and Aranda have given Hunt many varied locations and characters for Hunt to spread his palate. Page 3 is a pleasant pastiche of blues and browns, broken up by vivid red uniforms and an electric green (panel two). Pages 4 and 5 are made even more oppressive by the desolate yellows, browns, and tans. A really great contrast comes quickly on Pages 6 and 7 with the blues. It's a rich and varied job. Overall grade: A+

The letters: Again, a lot of dialogue! Neil Uyetake is a letterin' fool, who also includes sound effects of an unlocked door, laughter, two "zoor" energy bursts, and a door chime. Overall grade: A

The final line: I want to be impressed, but I'm still waiting. Overall grade: C-

http://trekweb.com/articles/2010/01/27/Comics-Review-Star-Trek-The-Next-Generation-Ghosts-Issuenbsp3.shtml