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Star Trek: Defiant #7 – IDW Publishing
Creative Team: Christopher Cantwell, Angel Unzueta, Marissa Louise and Clayton Cowles
Welcome to another New Comic Book Day review from the N.I. Bullpen!
Today we are taking a look at part 4 of the very first Star Trek comic book event in history! The Day Of Blood event is reaching a fever pitch in this latest issue.
Kahless II is slaughtering his way across the galaxy with his Red Path followers. Some of our favorite Star Trek characters from across multiple different series have teamed up to take him down.
This is Star Trek storytelling at its finest! So without any more wasted time, let’s hit warp 10 and check out Star Trek: Defiant #7 from IDW Publishing!
**POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD**
Quick Recap
Kahless II, Emperor of the Klingon Empire, is on a warpath. He is on a quest to kill the gods, just as the first Klingon Emperor did before him.
He is aided in this quest by his followers, the Red Path, who believe that Klingons have become weak. They have been on a rampage across space and their own homeworld of Qo’noS. It’s been a bloodbath.
Now, Kahless possesses the Bajoran Orb of Destruction, and he wants more. His quest has brought him to a confrontation between Worf and Sisko, and fighting for Kahless, Worf’s own son Alexander.
Glowing Sisko
This issue begins with Alexander standing defiantly between Kahless and the duo of Worf and Sisko. Worf attempts to reason with his son, but Alexander quickly lunges forward and attacks. Father and son are now locked in heated hand to hand combat.
While they fight, Sisko attempts to move in and challenge Kahless, the goal ultimately being to either take him down or take him into custody. Kahless, of course, has other ideas entirely. Kahless begins to walk away from Sisko, and Sisko responds by calling him a coward who is fleeing battle. Kahless says he is simply “giving the Emissary To The Prophets the wide berth of respect he deserves.”
Just then, Kahless has a ship overhead blast some kind of energy weapon directed at Sisko. It’s a direct hit. Instead of having the desired effect of destroying Sisko, however, Sisko begins to glow!
Back On The Defiant
This is where we see countless fan favorite characters together. So many in fact that I may forget to mention a few, simply for the sake of not making this review an hour long read.
B’Elanna Torres is currently in command of the Defiant. At the helm is Tom Paris. They are currently acting as support for the crew of the Theseus, under the command of Spock, which is locked in battle with multiple Red Path ships.
The Theseus’ shields are down to 0% so the Defiant puts itself between an incoming attack and their allies. The Defiant takes a direct hit as well as a collision from the attacking vessel. If it wasn’t for the Ablative Armor of the Defiant, the ship would have been broken in half.
B’Elanna presents Spock with an idea. She needs him to play the role of “The Lying Vulcan” in order for it to work and being out of any other reasonable options, Spock listens.
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A Shocking Discovery
The Defiant continues to take damage from the Red Path weapons. B’Elanna orders her comms officer to hail the enemy ship with surrender terms.
Their hail is met with a response from someone everyone thought was long dead at this point. It’s the Captain of the destroyed Santa Cruz, Captain Meyerson. Meyerson, rather than being killed by the Red Path, was instead captured and converted. He is now fighting in the name of Kahless. He declares that if they seek to save their lives by surrendering then they will fail.
Spock then offers to exchange the Bajoran Orb of Creation for the lives of the two crews. After a quick scan, Meyerson says “We will take the orb. Then you will die.” The Defiant then launches a small shuttlecraft, and after scanning this, Meyerson is led to believe that the orb is on that shuttlecraft.
After beaming aboard the small vessel, Meyerson is hailed again by Spock. Spock reveals that the orb is not on the shuttle, but .47 kilograms of Weapons-Grade Trilithium IS on board. Shortly after, the vessel explodes, taking Meyerson and many of the attacking ships along with it. The rest of the Red Path ships flee.
Father Vs Son
The battle between Worf and Alexander rages back on Qo’noS. Heated words are exchanged amidst the clash of Bat’leths. Alexander has grown strong, strong enough to be a threat to Worf for the first time.
Between blows, Worf is still trying to talk with his son. Explaining that fear is controlling Kahless and so controlling Alexander. He even admits to his own fear of being complicit in his own son’s death should this fight continue to that point. Worf explains “Kahless is afraid, and fear wreaks havoc on the Klingon mind. It drives us to dishonor.”
Finally, after coming to fists, Worf gains the upper hand decisively. He grasps his son’s hand preventing him from falling after a blocked blow. You see in Alexander’s face that he is beginning to come around. Then the unthinkable happens.
Alexander gasps. From behind, Kahless has thrust his Bat’leth through the back of Alexander, running him through. Alexander falls unconscious (or dead, we don’t know for sure just yet) into his father’s arms, and Worf lets out a mournful roar like only a true Klingon can.
Sisko is still glowing, yet unable to move. He attempts to telepathically reach out to Spock saying “We…Need…The…Orb…”
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Story Review
Cantwell is making Gene Roddenberry very happy from beyond the grave with this series, and issue 7 is no exception.
This is classic Star Trek storytelling on an epic scale. The sheer might of the Red Path is something that hasn’t been seen really since the Borg attacked for the first time. The stakes are high, as if Kahless is able to carry out his plans, he will have no one in the galaxy who can stand in his way anymore.
The new mystery with what is happening to Sisko and how he is still alive is intriguing to say the least. How in the world did he survive a direct hit from a starship?
The fact that there are so many characters from different Star Trek series in this book is astounding to me. Add on the fact that Cantwell has managed to capture the personality traits so consistently across so many characters interacting at once is both impressive and natural at the same time. The story just flows like Star Trek should.
Artwork Overview
Unzueta and Louise are doing excellent work with this issue. The action is fast paced and the focus is primarily on the characters and their interactions, which I love. I like a good epic action sequence as much as the next person, but the emotion and expressions on the characters’ faces are important. This team nailed that!
Outer space is beautiful. Any time the universe itself is shown it just feels vast. Even in a small panel, the use of color and scale work together perfectly. Within the Defiant during the battle, their consoles spark and explode and the sparks are so bright you almost think that if you touch them on the page you might get shocked yourself.
The artwork alone would be enough to pick up this issue for me.
Overall Score: 9.5 OUT OF 10 – “Must Pull”
This is part 4 of the Day Of Blood event, which is the very first Star Trek comic book event in history. It’s so awesome to see crew members from different shows interacting and fighting together. They even managed to include Shaxs from Star Trek: Lower Decks!
The storytelling is nothing short of brilliant and the artwork in this book is stunning to say the very least. You can tell the team is really passionate about what they are doing and they are putting a huge amount of effort into this event.
Make sure you pick up Star Trek: Defiant #7 from IDW Publishing at your local comic book shop this week for new comic book day!
As always everyone Be Safe, Be Kind, and Take It Easy!
