Advance Review: Star Trek Day of Blood #1 (of 5)

One of the defining moments in Star Trek history is the classic movie The Undiscovered Country in which the warlike Klingons fell under the weight of their own military and sued for peace with the Federation. Of course we all know about Khitomer, Romulus, Duras and of course Mogh. Despite sone false starts and misunderstandings, the Federation and Klingons proved to be firm friends, for the most part succeeding in the Dominion War, at least eventually. This new series from IDW looks to redress that balance and bring back the honour of battle to this once fiercest of races.

Following the massacre at Korvat (seen in the Free Comic Book Day teaser), Emperor Kahless has uttered a challenge, follow the Red Path of become the enemy of the Klingons. With two starships left to stand against Kahless, it is up to the once-man-once-god-now-man Benjamin Sisko and the renegade Worf to bury their respective bat’leth’s and work together along with the rag tag crews of familiar friends and frenemies.

I will say that I have been looking forward to this mini-series since Free Comic Book day and I am pleased to say that this first issue doesn’t disappoint. The triumvirate of writers, Christopher Cantwell, Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing have brought best out of other. Initially, I wasn’t a big fan of a fan favourite type of crew, but the respective voices are well intoned; each character sounds like you would expect them to, Sisko is exemplary as the returning Emissary, favouring the finite life of human life over the immortality of the Prophets. Lore is also surprisingly well developed, though this is as much to do with art as it is writing. I will say that one of the benefits of the “mixed” crews is that you get to see characters that can often fall to the wayside. Has there ever been a really good Doctor Crusher episode for example? The trio work hard to give each character some panel time, but with two crews it was always going to be a hard task. Maybe the five issue format will allow for greater interaction in line the character own main book.

The art from Ramon Rosanas works well when it comes to the majority of faces; body shapes can be a little off kilter in places. I personally don’t ind the art delineation in this manner, tie-in books require that characters look like their TV counterparts. As mentioned, the work on Lore stands out with Rosanas perfectly capturing his smarminess perfectly. On the other hand there is a head but and I had to double check that it wasn’t Worf involved! Rosanas works hard to capture the right amount of background art that Trekkers / Trekkies will no doubt appreciate. Colorist Lee Loughridge work is also of a high standard. The barren environs of a scrapyard are spectacular, with the more standard aspects also well documented. When you need an alien language font, a standard font and meandering monologue, who else would be up to the task but Clayton Cowles, letterer extraordinaire! Cowles, as you would expect, doesn’t disappoint! As you would also expect, there are few covers to choose from; it’s buyers choice.

The impact of a resurgent Klingon Empire, at least resurgent in the warrior sense, could lead to a raft of implications for the Trek universe. Gone could be the sanitised version of the universe where every enemy seems to be either the Dominion or the Borg; it would be fun to see other factions in this particular gallery come to power.

Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 4 Stars
Colors – 4 Stars

Overall – 4 Stars

Written by; Christopher Cantweel, Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing
Art by; Ramon Rosanas
Colors by; Lee Loughridge
Letters by; Clayton Cowles
Published by; IDW Publishing

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network