Star Trek: The Mirror War #2

Star Trek Mirror War #2

IDW Publishing 2021

Written by Scott & David Tipton

Illustrated by Gavin Smith

Coloured by Charlie Kirchoff

Lettered by Neil Uyetake

When one of Picard’s secret supply caches is raided by “The Obnoxious Okona”—putting an obstacle in the way of the crew getting to Faundori—the Captain vows revenge. Meanwhile, Worf remains on their trail…

Ya know normally when we get a Mirror Universe story we don’t see this much of it, it’s generally one universe versus the other so that we’re seeing all this taking place there is rather illuminating. I’m loving the contrast in personalities that we see and how the manipulation, machinations, duplicity and the sheer volume of vitriol coming off the pages make these characters a lot more interesting than one might imagine it being. The Tipton’s and their writing skills are amazing and how we see them take us on a journey that is so outside the normal purview of what we expect out of these characters. Except of course for Wesley Crusher, no matter what universe he’s in he’s still apparently one of the most annoying useless characters in the Star Trek mythology. This is far and away one of the best Next Generation stories that I have read and considering that I don’t care for this crew that they’ve got me enjoying this immensely, this immensely is saying something.

I am very much enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information is presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter continues to do a magnificent job in bringing these personalities to life. The pacing is excellent and as it takes us through the pages revealing more of the story the more we want to see.

I really enjoy the way that this is being structured and how the layers within the story continue to emerge, grow, evolve and strengthen. I’m a huge fan of the way that we see the layers opening up new avenues to be explored and whether or not they will be, they all add this great depth, dimension and complexity to the story. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward is immaculately achieved.

I’m loving Gavin’s work on the interiors here. The linework is exquisite and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create this level & quality of detail within the work we see throughout is extraordinarily well rendered. The creativity and imagination that we see in how the Mirrorverse shows these characters is amazing. The way that we see backgrounds throughout being utilised to enhance and expand the moments are perfectly done. How we see them within the composition of the panels being utilised to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story is amazingly well rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels shows a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work show an impressive eye for how colour works and how to maximise their effects.

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What started out as one thing has quickly turned into something else and I have to say that I’m thoroughly enjoying this jaunt through the Mirrorverse. There is an intensity to the story that we’ve been missing in the past and a sense of urgency that we aren’t familiar with either and these, plus so much more, are aspects that make way for some outside the box thinking and ways of telling this story. With some inspired writing and smart, crafty characterisation alongside some utterly brilliant interiors it’s no wonder fans continually flock to stories from the Mirrorverse.