Star Trek Picard: Countdown #1: Engage!!!

In most Star Trek episodes, by the end of the show the characters are figuratively back to where they were when the episode began. The only real change comes in the movies, right? That’s usually the way Star Trek comics are as well. Maybe someone will die in an issue, but by the end of the story, that character comes back from the dead or we find out the person who died was an alien or imposter or something of that nature. So, why was I so excited to read this series? Because it’s leading up to something. I’ve seen the same commercials and trailers for the upcoming CBS All Access series, Picard, that you have. The previews lead you to believe that Picard is……damaged. I have no insider knowledge of things, but I’m thinking that this might be the event that damaged him.

Writers Kirsten Beyer & Mike Johnson do a really good job setting the stage right away about where Picard is in his life as well as some of the crew of “his” Enterprise that we all know and love. Some make an appearance, some are mentioned, but we don’t get the story on everyone, which I like. It adds a bit of mystery to the book.  What we do get is a story that could only be told at this point in the Star Trek timeline. This is a pretty packed first issue. We get the introduction, some back story, the problem that has to be solved, a call to action AND a surprising, shock ending. That’s a lot of stuff into 25 pages. The good news is that the storytelling is never rushed or overloading, and best of all, this reads like an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, only on a grander scale.

We’re super lucky because the series artist is Angel Hernandez! Man is responsible for some of your favorite IDW & DC Comics. In Star Trek comics terms, he’s the modern day Gordon Purcell, and I don’t take that comparison lightly. He draws fantastic likenesses to the actors, but more importantly, he’s an amazing comic book artist. When it comes to sci-fi, Star Trek has always been the “talky one” when compared to its rival Star Wars. That may be so, but Hernandez does a superior job of portraying liveliness in his drawings. Even though new characters, planets and even aliens are introduced, he makes them all look like they fit seamlessly into the world of Star Trek.

I also have to give a round of applause to colorist Joana Lafuente. She hits the bullseye when coloring this book. Federation uniforms have their trademark muted colors, while other things come off bright and shiny, like the metal of the starships and the scenery on planets. A job that’s very well done!