All hell breaks loose aboard the USS Theseus, and only a godlike being with a single letter for a name could be responsible in Star Trek #3 written by Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing, with art by Joe Eisma and Ramon Rosanas, colors by Lee Loughridge and letters by Clayton Cowles.
Mark Turetsky: Hey Tony! How was your holiday season? Get any visits from powerful beings able to manipulate space and time to teach you an important life lesson?
Tony Thornley: As a matter of fact, I received a visit from this issue’s guest star! It was quite a surprise!
Mark: I only got a visit from my late business partner’s ghost, but I managed to trap him in a candle. Now he’s some other jerk’s problem!
Tony: Don’t let Beverly find him!
New Orleans-Style Family Trauma
Mark: After an opening page drawn by Ramon Rosanas about T’Lir, which I assure you we’ll get back to, we jump into the meat of the story. Dr. Crusher is evaluating Captain Sisko. But as she makes clear: she’s not a ship’s counselor. She’s more concerned with the profound transformation Ben’s undergone. It’s also where we’re introduced to Joe Eisma’s art, which makes up the bulk of the issue.
Tony: I enjoyed this scene. Lanzing and Kelly address the common fiction trope of “you’re a doctor/scientist, you must be good at ALL the things.” Crusher is one of the best doctors in Starfleet — that’s why she was posted on the flagship — so naturally she does have some knowledge of psychiatry, but Sisko has been through a lot. She needs to look at his whole self.
Another great part of this scene — Data was posted on Theseus because he could keep Ben in check and I have no doubt Bev was as well. She shut down Picard’s bullshit more than once, and that’s exactly what Sisko needs. It’s a little bit like Sisko’s relationship with Jadzia, where the two keep each other grounded. It’s written so well.
Mark: And there’s the moment where Sisko pushes back against Dr. Crusher. Where he implies that what she really wants is to find her son Wesley, who underwent a similar apotheosis into godhood. Eisma draws him with something of a gentle expression, so it’s not a total knife twist on Sisko’s part, but it has to hurt to some extent, doesn’t it? It makes her pause a moment before continuing.
First, it must be a sore subject to bring up for her, and second, it’s a challenge to her professionalism, that she isn’t there as a doctor, but rather as a mother seeking her lost child. I’ve gotta say, I’m not a fan of Eisma’s art in this issue. The composition is fine, but there’s something off to me about his faces. Especially in this scene with Crusher.
Tony: Generally, I like Eisma’s work, but I agree there’s something off about this scene. I try not to judge too much in the case of fill-ins. It’s possible that Eisma was hired for this issue on shorter notice, or he was meant to do less of the issue than he did, and these pages were added to his assignment last minute. But there are a few moments that the likeness is really off, and the faces in particular are jarring, especially in this scene and the Jake scene which follows.
I did enjoy the conversation that happened between Jake and T’Lir right before things went nuts. Naturally, the Sisko men are each going to deal with trauma differently; I love that Jake’s method is cooking, specifically trying to replicate his grandfather’s gumbo. This isn’t just a great bit of continuity, it’s a wonderful character comparison between Jake and Ben Sisko. The leader taking the weight of the world, and the writer living through human experience. You said last month you wanted a little more Jake, and I think if he was only in this scene in the issue, it would have nailed it but we thankfully got more and that worked so well.
Mark: There’s something about this scene that I’m obligated to bring up, as a resident of Louisiana. I’ll be the first one to cop to not having been born here, but I live here now, and I’ve got many friends who have strong opinions about gumbo. And chief among them is that carrots do not belong in a New Orleans-style gumbo. They just don’t. And that’s not just an opinion, it’s a consensus.
When I asked one of my friends about Jake Sisko putting carrots in a gumbo, she got angry. Another friend, who is a professional chef, was somewhat more charitable and said that, while carrots don’t belong, suggested that this is “adjacent to” the understanding of gumbo. Okra belongs, but goes in long after the other veg, which is the “holy trinity” of onion, bell pepper and celery. Usually, I’d chalk this up to a clue that maybe this is the Jake from the Mirror Universe, but as we all know, there is no Mirror U Jake. It’s Gambit levels of bad gumbo-making.
That said, it’s a lovely scene. Jake and T’Lir’s interplay with each other is very much the classic Kirk/Spock or maybe even anyone/Data dynamic. Jake even calls it out (though I’m a bit confused as to how Jake knows how Spock acts in everyday life). But this scene about family trauma (and also the acknowledgement of the death of Joseph Sisko actor Brock Peters through the death of his character) can’t last forever, because a strange presence arrives, felt only by Sisko, and, curiously, by T’Lir.
Tony: Hmmm… Is there more than meets the eye to our new Vulcan friend?
Much Q, Few A
Tony: Look, we knew from the moment this story was announced Q would factor in. He’s the most popular and prominent god-like being in the Trek universe. We also knew that Q would survive this story thanks to his recent appearance on Picard. So that meant this story was going to be all about HOW, and I have to say what a damn delight this was. From Worf getting put in a silly hat again, to the delightful Starfleet record search on encounters with the Continuum, this was such a fantastic interaction. What did you think?
Mark: Q is a great character, and he’s put to some good use here. I love the implication that the more attention you pay to Q, the more he’s going to show up, as cleverly shown by the log summaries: Picard and Janeway played along. Captain Prem ignored him and eventually he got bored and left. But Sisko? Sisko punched him in the face and Q never bothered him again. Reminds me of some advice I got about how to deal with a bully (which led to some… consequences in elementary school, sorry if you’re reading this, Ari!). It’s also fun to see Q dressed as a Bajoran Vedek while taunting Sisko.
What I’m still somewhat unclear about is Q’s motivation here. When we get to the end of the issue, he says that it was to have a little fun by causing the Theseus to blow up before he skedaddles to parts unknown to avoid the god-killers. Okay, fine, but why not just blow the ship up more directly? Is it that he’s psychologically unable to do something so straightforward, that everything has to be a test of some sort? Maybe I’m just overthinking Q’s need to mess with people.
Tony: I read subtext into it. To me, it felt like Q making sure that Sisko was the right guy to do this job, but he couldn’t directly say he had faith in a human (due to his own ego). I mean, Sisko is the only human who’s ever just stood up to Q. All his hijinks felt familiar and very Q-like, almost direct callbacks to the sort of things he’s done or would do. But he let Sisko out-maneuver him, and find a way to defeat him.
Would it have worked? I don’t know. But it was a test and Sisko passed. To me, Q showed that by appearing in Operations Gold and not Command Red when he switched from his various costumes to the Starfleet uniform. It showed deference to Sisko.
Am I reading too much into it?
Mark: Perhaps? Q is wearing an Operations uniform, but he’s given himself five rank insignia pips, a hitherto unknown number. He’s more than a captain, less than an admiral (or, if you believe Lower Decks, he’s been eating corn on the cob and the extra pip is just some corn that got stuck to his collar). My biggest question is, does he know that T’Lir isn’t what they appear to be?
T’Lir, Or Not T’Lir?
Mark: So, throughout this issue, we get little hints about T’Lir. They turn off the safeties in the sonic showers. They repeat a mantra, “I am T’Lir, a Vulcan of Starfleet,” whenever they’re alone in their quarters. They sense Q’s presence at the same time Sisko does. They know details of the biology of “Kardeshev-high” civilizations, which takes Scotty by surprise. Their eyes glow when [tech]ing the [tech]. And of course, finally their whole body glows on the final page. Naturally, the final page is the big reveal that T’Lir isn’t what they seem, but the clues scattered throughout the issue provide for some good foreshadowing.
Tony: Also, you’re missing the flash of light (i.e. panel transition with a white gutter) in which they got from shower tossed hair and nude to combed hair and fully clothed, which is easy to miss on the first read through.
Mark: That’s a good catch. We assume at first that they get dressed between the panels, and that we’re seeing a time jump, but maybe we aren’t!
Tony: In the opening we don’t think there’s anything up with T’Lir — we even get their personnel record. But it builds subtly through the book. T’Lir is not only not what they appear to be, but they may be a god-like being themselves.
So what are they? When you and I chatted pre-writing, you told me you had a guess.
Mark: T’Lir mentions that they met Spock as a child, that they saw in Spock “everything noble about the universe.” Now, The Original Series has its share of god-like creatures. There’s Charlie X, there’s Gary Mitchell, there’s the kids from “And The Children Shall Lead.” But there’s another clue I picked up on, T’Lir mentions a fondness for fencing. So we’ve got a child god-like being who likes to fence. I posit to you that T’Lir is none other than Trelane, the Squire of Gothos.
If you’ll recall, Trelane was a god-like being who toyed with the Enterprise and its crew, presenting himself as an 18th Century squire. The episode ends when Kirk challenges Trelane to a swordfight. When Trelane loses the duel, it’s revealed that Trelane is merely a child. Then his even-more-omnipotent parents arrive and take him away from his playthings (the aforementioned ship and crew).
So, what if Trelane has grown up somewhat over the years, and has now taken the form of a Vulcan, modeling themselves on Mr. Spock? It would make narrative sense to have one of the threatened god-like creatures be a member of the crew. It even makes sense that they’d seek out Scotty, one of the only surviving members of the Enterprise crew. The name T’Lir even sounds a little like a Vulcanization of Trelane. What do you think?
Tony: [Insert mind blown emoji here].
Whomever T’Lir actually is, they’re absolutely a character that we’ll recognize and be shocked by. Trelane is probably the only character I can think of that fits the clue and whose reveal would trigger that reaction. I mean, the only other possibility might be the Guardian of Forever and we’ve never gotten any indication that it could change form to my knowledge (unless it has in NuTrek, my biggest blind spot). Did Trelane use his powers with eyes glowing or a flash of light?
Mark: As I recall, Trelane just used the power of 1960s TV-budget jump-cuts. As for the Guardian of Forever, it transforms into a man named Carl in season 3 of Star Trek: Discovery (not a joke!). Funny thing is, Carl might have a connection to what’s going on here. He’s shown reading a newspaper with a headline that reads “Supernova Threatens Tkon Empire.” And that’s where Q tells Sisko to go!
Tony: Clearly I need to get a Paramount Plus subscription! [Ed. Note: That plug was free, but if you’d like more, Paramount Plus, shoot us an email!]
Regardless of who T’Lir really is, Lanzing and Kelly put in the work to make them a fully formed and interesting character on their own. Their bond with Jake is developed well through the issue and we totally see them as a classic Trek hero.
Mark: I wholeheartedly agree! While it’s been fun revisiting our old friends from past Trek, T’Lir and Sato have mostly just stayed on the periphery of interest. It’s interesting seeing Sisko interact with Crusher or Data, whom he never met on TV. Or have Tom Paris potentially interact with Scotty (just think of all the engine talk they could have!). But here, for the first time, we get to see what a new character can bring to the stew… Tony… Is T’Lir like some kind of carrot in our gumbo?
Tony: Or maybe he’s the Louisiana style hot sauce!
I don’t know. I need to eat more gumbo.
Prepare Yourself for Warp 10 Excitement!
- Cannot emphasize enough how cool the Jake and T’Lir spread is. I love when comics uses the cross-section of a building/train/spaceship as the layout for the storytelling. It was a great way to have catchy comic-friendly action while also having a human moment between the two characters.
- If you don’t recognize the USS London from the Q encounters data page, don’t worry. It’s new to this issue and a great small moment of world building by Lanzing and Kelly. [Ed. Note: it also thereby continues the classic Trek reference structure of “provide a list of references comprised 75% of things the audience knows and 25% something new“].
- We joked about candle ghost sex in the opening of the chat, but that does get referenced here.
- Beverly will never live that one down. [MT]
- T’Lir mentions the quality of the sonic showers back in issue #1, making for some odd foreshadowing of this issue.
- If the Defiant series doesn’t immediately give Worf a hat, we’ll be sad.
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.
