And there’s 2020 giving us the finger as we drive away.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #3
Marvel/Paramount Comics (January, 1997)
“The Cancer Within” part 1
WRITER: Mariano
PENCILER: Tom Grindberg
INKER: Al Milgrom
COLORIST: Matt Webb
LETTERER: Jim Novak
EDITOR: Bobbie Chase
A lost Federation shuttlecraft docks with Deep Space Nine, releasing a plague on the station. As the staff tries to control it we learn it was engineered by the Maquis to attack Cardassians but it mutated and started attacking other races. Two Maquis operatives try to destroy the shuttle to hide that information and wipes out the station’s power, forcing a mad dash to repair the station before the infected in stasis die. One of the Maquis scientists brings in her estranged mother, Dr. Pulaski, but doesn’t tell her the virus was man-made. Pulaski learns it on her own just as her daughter is stricken with the plague.
What they got right: The plot itself could have worked for the show. Not only does the DS9 crew show their competence in dealing with the plague and the damage (O’Brien comes up with a great plan when their spacewalk repair becomes dangerous) but Dr. Pulaski isn’t as annoying as she usually is…although that could be because her daughter and the Maquis are just that much worse in this story.
What they got wrong: We get a huge exposition dump from one of the Maquis to get the audience up to speed on the origins of the virus that just feels out of place in the dialog.
Recommendation: Part 1 of this story seems pretty good thus far. If part 2 is the same this might be a storyline worth checking out.
