While Captain Sisko rots in a Cardassian jail cell, awaiting his verdict, Data and the crew of the Theseus rob a Cardassian space station occupied by Red Path cultists in Star Trek #9 written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, with art by Mike Feehan and Manuel Bracchi, colors by Lee Loughridge and letters by Clayton Cowles.
Mark Turetsky: Tony! It seems like only last week that we reviewed a Star Trek comic! Wait, why are we here again?
Tony Thornley: Psst… Mark! It was TWO that we reviewed last week! Best part is, they’ve all been really good!
Why Have You Forsaken Me?
Mark: The two stories in Star Trek #9 are split up by artist, with Mike Feehan handling the conclusion of Sisko’s trial and sentencing, while Manuel Bracchi handles the more action-oriented set pieces on the Cardassian archive station. Let’s discuss Sisko’s plight first, shall we?
The comic opens with Sisko reaching out to his mother, the Prophet known as Sarah Sisko. There’s something very Christ-like in this scene: the prisoner facing execution reaching out to his divine parent. But instead of being visited by an angel, Sisko gets a visit from a demon: Gul Dukat. In that way, it’s closer to The Last Temptation of Christ, where Jesus calls out to God, but then Satan comes instead, to tempt him to deny salvation to the world and save himself.
I must say that Lanzing and Kelly really nail Dukat’s voice here: the pompous arrogance, the belligerence. I had no problem hearing his dialogue in Marc Alaimo’s voice. And let’s face it: this comic is a continuation of Deep Space Nine more than anything else, so it’s great that they’re able to bring in that show’s main villain, who’s inconveniently dead.
Tony: I also really enjoyed that they left Dukat’s appearance ambiguous. Is this a hallucination? Or is it truly the ghost of Gul Dukat, in some way? Normally, I would lean towards the former, but given the nature of this story, it could very easily be the latter. He’s definitely not a manifestation of the Prophets though, given that he speaks as himself and not their stilted communication style. It’s definitely Dukat.
Mark: Yes, and generally Prophet visions happen in a white, featureless space.
Tony: Exactly. Or quick flashes between familiar settings. But what he says is so poignant. The Prophets are not benevolent here. This is not a case of deity trying to do good. They’re acting in self preservation, both to save face and to save their own lives. Though Dukat doesn’t directly say that, his implication is clear. Sisko shouldn’t put his faith in the Prophets — they caused so much tragedy.
The other point Dukat makes — Ben Sisko continues to be full of hubris. It’s a problem he’s had more than once. Generally speaking, he makes the right call, but more than once he absolutely made it in the wrong way.
Mark: Have the Prophets abandoned him because he went on a side quest? Staying on Cardassia smacks of being linear, being caught up in politics far beneath The Prophets.
The other thing Dukat’s appearance reminds me of is Dukat’s own hallucinations from “Waltz.” There, each character he hallucinated acted not really as themselves, but as he would expect them to act. And there, they were clearly and obviously a sign of Dukat’s mental illness, not of any connection to the divine (he wouldn’t affiliate himself with the Pah Wraiths until a season later in “Covenant”). Dukat even suggests as much to Sisko. As always, the motivations of the Prophets are mysterious. But who knows, maybe they’ll step in next issue and rescue Sisko. We know he’ll get out of this situation somehow.
As for making the right call for in the wrong way, his final testimony before the Cardassian tribunal is to offer himself up as a scapegoat to them, not because he believes himself to be guilty, but because of a belief that his death might bring peace to Cardassia and to the quadrant. Again with the hubris, as you say. And again with the Messiah complex.
Tony: It’s a fantastic speech that capture’s Ben’s character extremely well. Just like you said about Dukat, it’s a compliment to Lanzing & Kelly that you can hear Avery Brooks’ delivery of it. Feehan depicts it in a single splash page (plus two inset panels) that Loughridge bathes in warm tones, and Cowles letters with Ben’s words swimming around him. It’s simply a great page. Ben Sisko has often been about self-sacrifice. Here it’s very literal.
Mark: I’d like to take a moment to discuss Barada Damar’s log and the use of “For all our sons.” This phrase first popped up on DS9 when Dukat announced to the quadrant that the Cardassian Empire was joining the Dominion in “By Inferno’s Light.” The context it comes up in is that he’s vowing to reclaim all that Cardassia has lost, to reassert Cardassia’s place as the prime power in the quadrant. Some really fascistic stuff (later in the episode he speaks of “mak[ing] Cardassia strong again,” even). He frames it by talking about his eldest son’s birthday coming up in five days, and that with the Dominion’s help, Cardassia will regain all its former glory by that day. He ends the speech with, “This I vow with my life’s blood. For my son, for all our sons.” There’s nothing in the speech that implies that it’s a Cardassian credo.
The phrase comes up again in “Statistical Probabilities” in a speech by Dukat’s replacement, Damar. In this speech, he’s calling for peace with the Federation in order to buy more time to build up their Jem’Hadar fleet to conquer the quadrant at a more advantageous time. He ends his speech, just like Dukat, with, “This I vow with my life’s blood for my sons, for all our sons.” Note that he says “for my sons” instead of Dukat’s “for my son.” We’re no longer in the realm of Dukat using the phrase as a rhetorical device, talking about the son who’s about to have a birthday, we’ve moved into the phrase’s use as a pledge throughout Cardassian society. And also note that they don’t say “for our children,” giving primacy to men over women.
The speech that Barada Damar refers to in the data page as “a moment of rebellion” seems to refer to Damar’s speech about rising up against the Dominion in “The Changing Face of Evil”. It parallels Dukat’s speech in a number of ways, including showing the speech being received by many different audiences. But one way it doesn’t parallel Dukat’s speech is that it doesn’t include the phrase “for all our sons,” as implied in the data page. Still, we don’t see the end of the speech, so it’s not a huge leap for Kelly and Lanzing to imply that it was there.
But their codifying of the phrase “for all our sons” actually deepens a battle cry from the very end of the series. When Damar leads the charge against Cardassian/Dominion headquarters, his battle cry isn’t “for all our sons,” it’s “FOR CARDASSIA.” So, by canonizing the phrase “for all our sons” as the standard Cardassian pledge, they’ve re-contextualized the phrase “for Cardassia” as something different, something new. No longer are they fighting for the sakes of those Cardassians lucky enough to be born male and be the son of a powerful man, they’re now fighting for all of Cardassia. It’s not for vouchsafing a bright future for their heirs, it’s ensuring the basic survival of their civilization, of their species.
Anyway.
Tony: Well said. And another great point, really showing how Cardassia mirrors our culture at its worst.
Assault on Warehouse 13
Tony: Meanwhile at Terok… whatever, things are going bad. Very bad. Extremely bad. The Theseus away team of Crusher, Shaxs, and T’Lir are under heavy assault from mouth-frothing Cardassian Red Path cultists, equipped with Klingon weapons.
Mark: That may be, but Shaxs is having the time of his life (though not Shaxs’ Best Day, which is coming up in September). I do like the touch of having the cultists reciting their creed before giving it to the reader in full in a data page. Good use of the format, that. And when Data beams over reinforcements, we get to see Descheeni in action for the first time. I was curious to see where they’d take this new character and so far what we’ve been given has been very entertaining. Her “Less hunching! More punching!” is just a great, great line.
Tony: In an issue full of great lines.
I’m enjoying that we’re seeing the newer supporting cast getting built up. Lily is seeing some real development (of course a linguist is also a code-breaker and lockpick), Descheeni is taking her role in stride and showing us why she’s a worthy replacement for Worf as sec/tac.
Mark: With a sweet continuous action setpiece over a whole tier of panels where she catches a bat’leth in midair and stabs a Cardassian cultist in the chest!
Tony: Exactly! So Descheeni transports in with a specialized security team (I’m reminded of the Mako’s from Enterprise, especially with their distinct uniform). They kick ass, Descheeni holding her own side by side with Shaxs. After this great hallway fight (such fantastic action work by Bracchi), they find themselves at their goal.
The Red Path are guarding the Orb of Creation. I love this revelation, as well as what’s next.
Mark: Of course there’s an Orb of Creation that’s a complement to the Orb of Destruction. And of course Kahless leaves it behind. He and his ilk are only interested in destruction. It’s far easier to destroy than to create.
But Then Here’s A Romulan With A Sword
Mark: Which brings us to the triple cliffhanger of Star Trek #9: Shaxs fights a mini boss, a Romulan guarding the Orb, while T’Lir grabs the orb. The Theseus is ambushed by a fleet of Romulan and Cardassian ships (when hasn’t that grouping worked out?). Finally, Sisko’s sentence is announced. It’s death. And it’s to be carried out immediately as Barada gives the order to fire.
Tony: This plays like a season finale cliffhanger. It’s on the level of “Best of Both Worlds” and/or “Descent.”
Mark: Including a “to be concluded!”
Tony: Yes! And it builds to the cliffhanger so well. Shaxs gets his best action moment of the issue (seriously, if he’s having such a good day now, I can’t wait for his “Day of Blood” one-shot!). I laughed out loud at “A Romulan with a sword. I’ve never fought one of you before!” Then he takes this Paladin on, unarmed, to distract him long enough to cause an explosion and give them the opening to grab the Orb. As T’Lir grabs the Orb, we see another flash of light like the one we saw in issue #3 as they stare into the Orb. Meanwhile, Data and Paris are stressing about what’s going on in the station as the fleet decloaks (wasn’t there Klingon ships in there too?). And Sisko stands in front of a Cardassian firing squad.
All three of those moments could have been a cliffhanger on their own, and here it’s executed and paced so well. Even better, it’s the full creative team that delivers — writing, line art, colors and letters are all at the top of the game to deliver these moments.
Mark: The thing I’m looking forward to most is T’Lir’s Orb vision. What happens when a (theorized) god looks into one of those things? And what happens when it’s at the same instant The Emissary is about to get shot? We know Sisko won’t die here, we know Data and Tom Paris have future appearances after this to get to, but we still don’t know what the deal is with T’Lir, so that’s what’s got me most excited.
Tony: I’m hyped for the conclusion and even more so for the crossover next month!
Prepare Yourself for Warp 10 Excitement!
- Also out this week is the second issue of the Motion Picture semi-sequel Echoes, and an Omnibus of Kelvin timeline comics! Those Kelvin comics are golden, so check them out!
- I hope Dukat sticks around, like Number Six on Battlestar Galactica.
- If orb energy interferes with Scotty’s experimental engine, does that mean Scotty’s pushing it toward god-level power? Something to consider.
- Cowles does a fantastic lettering job on Lily’s, “Dude, I will break you down just give me a minute to do my job, okay?!”
- “The Prophets say hello!” You tell those fascist bastards, Shaxs!
- Did anyone reading this not hear the Klingon War Song (technically titled “The Warrior’s Anthem”) when the cultists started singing it? Fun fact about that: it didn’t premiere in DS9’s “Soldiers of the Empire!” It comes from the non-canonical Star Trek: Klingon CD-Rom, released a year earlier, which features Robert O’Reilly as Gowron!
- Seriously, if this ISN’T Shaxs’s best day ever, I can’t wait to see what is.
- Kelly and Lanzing must certainly have had “Ourselves Alone,” the traditional (mis-)translation of the Irish phrase Sinn Féin when they wrote, “Today, we stop being controlled by our fear. And begin a brand new path set down by ourselves alone” for Barada Damar.
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.
