Looking Back Part 4 - Star Trek: Picard: Countdown

 

Looking Back Part 4 - Star Trek: Picard: Countdown

Publisher: IDW

Originally Published As: Star Trek: Picard: Countdown #1-3 from Nov 2019- Jan 2020

Writers: Kirsten Beyer & Mike Johnson

Cover Artist: Jim Salvati

Artist: Angel Hernandez

Colorist: Joana Lafuente

Letterer: Neil Uyetake

Reviewer: Michael Nunneley

Why I'm Doing This Series

If I have found one thing to be true when it comes to modern Star Trek it's that reading the comics is just as vital as watching the series on TV if you want all the story. The was particularly important when it came to the Kelvin Timeline films - There was a whole other movie's worth of story left out of the 2009 Star Trek film that makes it SO MUCH better - and it is proving to be the case with the new shows on CBS All Access as well. The comics tie things together and fill in the blanks which, in turn, sets up the world we see in shows like DISCO, Short Treks, Lower Decks and Picard. For that reason I am looking back on the books that I missed in the last year so I can get the whole story and hopefully you'll like taking the trip with me in this series, Looking Back. Be warned, if you have not read this book there are major spoilers ahead!

This story is a prequel to the Star Trek: Picard series.

The story opens up with Laris & Zhaban (Picard's Romulan friends that were living & working with him as they looked after him on Chateau Picard) in the vineyard tending to the grapes not long after they had arrived there. Zhaban tells Laris that he thinks it was a mistake to come to Chateau Picard because of how they were looked at and treated by others when they arrived. But Laris assures him that they have nowhere else to go and besides that, they both owe Picard for risking everything for them.

After 4 long years and several endangered worlds evacuated, the Romulan evacuation from the coming supernova's destructive blast (roughly 1 year away here) is in full swing. However the Romulans, who have as many secrets as the breathes they've taken, are still being mistrusting of Starfleet & Picard's efforts to save them and even in the midst of this life and death situation they plan to keep their secrets hidden - which is making evacuating them more difficult than it needs to be. Commander La Forge is at the Utopia Planitia Shipyards in the midst of creating a whole new fleet of the latest version of the Curiosity-Class Starships - the toughest, fastest, most powerful ships Starfleet has ever created (like the U.S.S. Zheng He). Admiral Picard currently bouncing back and forth to both sides of the Neutral Zone, ensuring that the resettlements already underway go smoothly. But he is not alone, he has a trusty first officer you'll recognize, Lt. Commander Raffi Musiker - Starfleet's foremost analyst on Romulan Affairs. Also Will Riker & Deanna Troi are on the Titan. 

Currently the USS Verity is at Yuyat Beta - a planet on the edge of the blast zone - & Picard & Raffi have beamed down to figure out the logistics of evacuating the colony there. The Yuyat Beta colony is a simple agricultural society and they are a bit more cooperative (loose with the Romulan mandates) about Picard's & Raffi's freedoms on the planet in hopes to better facilitate the evacuation. But Picard & Raffi soon find out that the Romulans have made slaves of the indigenous population of the planet - whom the Romulans deem primitive & say they don't need to be evacuated any more than the rocks and the trees do. Furious, Picard explains that they are there to rescue all sentient life - not just Romulans. The Romulans' response: take Picard & Raffi prisoner until they can take the evacuation ships by force. But just as things are looking darkest the native people of Yuyat Beta, friends of Zhaban & Laris, attack and rescue Picard - who grabs Raffi on the way out. 

It turns out that the natives are not as Primitive as the Romulans believe, in fact, quite the opposite is true. Zhaban & Laris have been rejected by their own people for helping the Yuyati people - if they go back they will surely die. However, as agents of the Tal Shiar, they were never really among their people anyway. The Romulan governor, Shiana, on Yuyat Beta takes advantage of the situation and contacts the Verity claiming that the Yuyati attacked them and they need immediate evacuation. Lt. Newton had the con on board the Verity and he is quickly conned and the ship is taken over by Governor Shiana. But taking a Starfleet ship is not as easy as all of that and just as quickly as she took the ship her and her partner a beamed directly to the brig and Picard, Raffi, Zhaban & Laris are beamed back aboard the USS Verity. But no sooner are they back on board than Vinux arrives in a Tal Shiar ship and verifies that Zhaban & Laris are in fact Tal Shiar and their names are actually Noctis (Zhaban) & Avem (Laris). For a brief moment it appears that Zhaban has earned Picard's trust only to betray him, but in fact, it was Zhaban & Laris who were now turning on the Tal Shiar. Noctis was impressed by Picard's passion about freeing all sentient life and forswore the Tal Shiar to join him. But not all the guests have arrived at this party. 2 D'Deridex Class Warships arrive as well from the Romulan government and chase off the Tal Shiar. Governor Shian was taken into custody by Vinux and the inhabitants of Yuyat Beta were transported to Vashti in the Quiris Sector.

Hernandez was tight in this one, real sharp. But I gotta say that the colorist, Joana Lafuente was the real stand out for me. Don't get me wrong, Hernandez laid a great foundation with the pencils & inks - one of his best yet IMO. I feel like there was a greater attention to detail here and a great use of space with his paneling and layouts. But Lafuente's colors just took it all to a whole new level for me. She seems to be a master of color choice, lighting and shading - especially when it comes to actual lights; she makes them glow in a very realistic way. I mean just look at the pic below this paragraph, this is how you color people. For all but 1 part of the series Uyetake was as perfect as always. But Uyetake made a big mistake in issue #3 of this series: instead of writing, "is just the..." he put "is the just the..." - an extra "the" in the sentence. It really took me out of the flow of the story - which I was totally absorbed in up to that point. The writing was of course well done. On it's own merit this is a good book and worth picking up if you're a completist like I am, but, while I like the series and it answered a few questions for me, I was much more impressed with the STD titles - Aftermath was awesome! I thought this story was just a little thinner than I normally get from Beyer & Johnson.

 

Score: 4/5