Nerds That Geek Comic Book Review – ‘Star Trek: Picard’ – Countdown #1

Written by John Edward Betancourt 

THIS IS THE EMERGENCY SPOILER ALERT SYSTEM...YOU ARE ADVISED TO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK...

​It is no secret, that I am a huge fan of Star Trek and everything this storied franchise has to offer. But of the many iterations and stories that have played out in this universe throughout the years, The Next Generation is the series that holds a special place in my heart. Because the adventures of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the intrepid crew of the Enterprise 1701-D (and later 1701-E) are the ones that I truly grew up enjoying and I’ve followed every last one of them throughout the years and my love of this saga is precisely why I’m so excited to see this voyage continue in January with Star Trek: Picard.
 
Because now we get to see how this crew and its former Captain/Admiral are getting along years after they saved the galaxy on a weekly basis and let’s be honest, I think we are all dying to know at this point in time, what would motivate Picard to walk away from the Starfleet and everything that it stands for. Because the Federation and its goal to unite all lives in peace and harmony is something that Picard deeply believed in during his time on TNG and thankfully, it would seem we don’t have to wait until the premiere of the series to find out what caused this shift in his heart and his mind. For IDW Publishing is releasing a three-part Countdown comic book series designed to explore what drove Picard away from his life’s work and thankfully the first part of this series is available now and thus far, it’s quite the delightful read.
 
In fact, I won’t lie, it’s a tad jarring at first to dive back into the TNG era since it’s been ages since we last saw the crew assembled to remember Commander Data’s life in Star Trek: Nemesis, but seeing Geordi LaForge doing what he does best, helps to immerse one back in this world, as does seeing Picard on a bridge once again. Granted, he’s now decked out in Admiral garb, but he’s where he belongs in this tale and it is quite delightful to see him working seemingly around the clock to save the people of the Romulan Empire from the impending Hobus supernova and there really an odd comfort to be found in seeing him and some of his former shipmates still chugging along and doing the right kind of work and that comfort is exactly what makes the twist in this tale so powerful and devastating.
 
Because it isn’t long before Picard comes to discover that the Romulans proclivity for secrecy may in fact danger more lives than expected. For the world that Picard and the U.S.S. Verity visit in this story informs us of how the Romulans have plenty of slave labor being employed throughout the Empire and there’s a fair chance that millions if not billions will die if the Federation cannot figure out how to evacuate these lives off of countless worlds and therein lies the potential conflict. Because it is possible that both Starfleet and the Federation make the hard call to leave some of those innocents behind. And I could definitely see that as being something that Admiral Picard would deem to be disgraceful and against everything that the Federation stands for, to the point where he would walk away from the service and well, the vagueness present here is what makes this opening chapter so fascinating because it compels you press on and see if that’s the case, or if something worse happens before this comic series comes to a close.
 
Either way, this is quite the wonderful way to introduce the audience to the world of Star Trek: Picard and this ‘needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few’ conflict should allow for some fascinating and challenging ideas to come forth and for that reason, I personally declare the opening chapter of this comic series to be quite the success. Because these kind of questions and conflicts have always driven this franchise to new heights and clearly it is going to challenge Picard like never before and well, this one has me hooked. Because this is everything I could have hoped for and more, plus this comic also features some lovely geek out moments since the Verity is the same design as the Odyssey Class from Star Trek Online and you can’t go wrong with a little fan service and in the end, I’ll be anxiously awaiting the release of issue #2 so I can see where this powerful story is headed. Until next time.  

---