I really enjoyed Shaxs' Best Day. It's like 30 perfect pages of comic featuring one of my favourite characters, written by one of my favourite writers. It doesn't have much impact on the larger Day of Blood storyline, but that's fine because it as just about Shaxs unleashing his Bajoran fury on an entire planet full of Klingon fascists.
Also,
spoiler
there's a Klingon mech.
Shaxs' Bucket List:
• Beat up the Klingons (all of them) ✔
• Crashing a shuttle into a Pak'led Clumpship to beat the tar out of the Pak'leds while Baby Bear (Rutherford) installs a virus, and die a glorious death ✔
• Eject the warp core to use as a mine to destroy pursuing A.I. controlled starships ✔
This one was written by Aaron Waltke, the head writer on “Prodigy”.
And I agree there’s not much to write home about with this one, but unlike the previous entires, I personally did not find it actively terrible.
Kinda? They was certainly a few scenes early in where something about her animation seemed odd.
Yeah, I don't want to rewrite the episode too much, because that's not what I'm here for, but what Rutherford and Boimler showed up on the bridge, still struggling to get their Twain cosplay off? The episode already had Rutherford decrying how complicated vests are. They get called to the bridge, and they're still half in costume when they interrupt Freeman's negotiations with Coqqor and he demands an explanation. They stumble over one another trying to provide context for who Twain is, and that they were in an argument, but by both engaging with the character they were able to sort out their differences. The camera pulls in tight on Coqqor's face as his eyes narrow, and after a pause he says, "Show me."
Freeman's willing to entertain anything at this point but isn't convinced. However, Coqqor really gets into the character. After some coaching from Boimler and Rutherford, Freeman is able to reach an agreement with Coqqor, and in addition to scanning access, they agree to a cultural exchange. They give Coqqor the Cerritos' library of Twain writings, including a printing of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" that's been in Boimler's family for generations, but he's willing to part with for the sake galactic diplomacy. Coqqor then immediately eats the book.
There is a handful of ships we’ve seen on LDS that were previously only in video games or, concept art, or now in a comic, and I really like that the crew behind the show has all these deep cut references, in addition to making their own inclusions.
I was immediately excited to see a Chalnoth show up. I thought LDS could have some fun with a species that is, at least according to “Allegiance”, completely lawless trying to do science.
The bit about the Chalnoth not trusting Starfleet scans because they’re too nuanced and through I thought was good, but the rest of the b-plot after that didn’t really work for me. Maybe if Coqqor had actually engaged in the Mark Twain conflict resolution strategy. That would have been fun.
Fortunately the a-plot was really strong on this one.
This is silly.
Worf doesn’t worry about that.
What does a Koala need with a space ship?
To travel through the quadrant and obliterate other ships, but leave no bodies behind, clearly.
Though LDS already leaned pretty heavily into “Star Trek: The Final Frontier” in “Crisis Point 2: Paradoxous”.
Best boss I ever had.
It’s bullshit that Tom didn’t immediately get promoted to lieutenant commander; Will got his rank bump for that mission; Tom deserved it just as much, if not more.
I don't think I will be sticking with Picard's Academy. A story about how young Jean-Luc Picard was a dick, and needed to learn how to make friends doesn't hold much appeal. We know from "The Samaritan Snare" and "Tapestry" that during his Academy days Picard was a bit of a rover and rabble rouser, so seeing him here as a guy obsessed with getting top marks and being alone doesn't really fit. Granted, he's only second year here, but regardless.
Some aspects of the story are the writer, Sam Maggs, trying too hard to be cute, like Picard asking Boothby if he has coffee instead before settling for tea, and some choices are just bizarre. A couple pages in, a caption box describes a characters as "Always drinks his respecting-women juice." Which is just a wild thing to put in a Trek comic for one, but also not relevant to the scene they're in, and we don't see the character again for the rest of the issue.
I also hate the art choices. For some reason the artist decided a Bolian character -- the respecting-women juice drinker -- should have a fin on his face and head as opposed to the bifurcation line that we see Bolians typically have. There's a Betazoid that appears to have a number of extra nostrils like an Ilari from the VOY episode, "Warlord", and if the cover is any indication they glow. In a holodeck simulation, there are a number of ENT era vessels, some of which have their nacelles connected at what appears to be 45° angles to the ships' centreline.
All in all, not much to recommend.