Star Trek: Picard – Countdown #3: Set Phasers to Stunning!

Whoa!!! You know how a common stance is “Licensed comics are stupid! They never have any effect on what happens in whatever movie/TV show/game they’re based on!” Well guess what?! Picard #3 DOES and it also sneaks into a whole different movie and ties itself into that!! It does all that while providing entertainment and satisfaction. Long story short, you were wrong, Eric Stephenson. Anyway, Picard #3 goes a long way in this third and final issue of the series. Authors Kirsten Beyer & Mike Johnson take a really interesting story that’s classic Trek ( not CLASSIC Trek, by classic Trek I mean it’s got all the hallmarks that you look forward to from a Star Trek story) and turn it up to 11. They make it not only an actual prequel to the CBS All Access series Picard, but they also tie it into a movie in a whole other universe! Now that’s getting a lot more than your money’s worth!  The coauthors ease this fun and exciting story into a story that’s not just worth reading, it’s almost required reading. Through this story, you can find out a lot about the Star Trek universe. The biggest surprise came from something that was staring me in the face the whole time. In this issue, it finally hit me that “OH!!! That’s what that is! I totally remember!”, now this could be that my mind is filled with way too much comic book and pop-culture/nerd information. But, I really think that it’s a case of very smart storytelling.

The art by Angel Hernandez is, once again, on point. Hernandez can do likenesses as nobody else can. He’s a very talented artist and normally people who are on his level can draw great, but a lot of times likenesses aren’t their greatest strength. That is not the case with Hernandez. He’s equally talented at both, making him a rare talent that can broth draw one heck of a great, technically sound comic that also happens to feature fantastic likenesses of the actors who play the roles. Superb work!