“Is it Tuesday already?”
Star Trek: Voyager #9
Marvel/Paramount Comics (September, 1997)
“Dead Zone”
WRITERS: Dan Abnett & Ian Edginton
PENCILER: Terry Pallot
INKER: Al Milgrom
COLORIST: Matt Webb
LETTERER: Chris Eliopoulos
EDITOR: Tim Tuohy
Voyager answers a distress signal and ends up in an energy draining zone caused by a nearby binary star. Also in that area is a group of scavengers seeking to add both ships to their own orbiting fortress. With power low, Kim injured in an explosion, and the scavengers boarding the crew comes up with a desperate plan that allows them to escape the zone and restore power. The scavengers are captures and Janeway offers to help the other ship in putting warning buoys in place so that doesn’t happen again.
What they got right: The plot is a good one. How can the crew fight off invaders used to fighting without energy weapons. There are some good ideas here.
What they got wrong: Just not enough time to properly explore them. Granted as an episode you might have ended up with a lot of padding and I’m guessing a second issue would suffer the same problem. I’m also not sure how the other ship in distress got out unless they also figured out how to ride out the shockwave despite not being clued in (as far as I can tell) on Tuvok’s plan.
What did I think overall: An extra sized issue or something like an annual (maybe with a short back-up to fill the length) might have been better suited for this story but for the most part a pretty good one.
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