In this review of Star Trek: Defiant #22, the Defiant and her crew falls under the leadership of a new captain – B’Elanna Torres.
Star Trek: Defiant #22
Writer: Christopher Cantwell
Art and Main Cover: Angel Unzueta
Variant Covers: Jorge Corona, Takashi Okazaki
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: January 8, 2025
This review contains spoilers:
Star Trek: Defiant #22 begins with a text readout of an ominous message from Stellar Cartography Relay Station 41 (SCRS41) to Deep Space 3 (DS3) regarding a potentially dangerous yet impossible change in the electromagnetic spectrum. SCRS41 determines that their readings are likely a systems error but requests that DS3 run their own scans.
The story shifts to the U.S.S. Defiant and its newly minted captain, B’Elanna Torres, who has taken command of the vessel from Worf with the express directive to return home immediately. As Torres files her first official Captain’s Log, she reveals her own trepidations regarding what awaits members of her crew including Miles O’Brien, Julian Bashir, Ro Laren and others who after several harrowing (and unofficial) missions and are still considered mercenaries by Starfleet.
Torres is most concerned with Ro Laren’s status as a fugitive, and also with Torres reuniting with her estranged husband Tom Paris and their daughter Miral who are onboard the U.S.S. Theseus captained by Benjamin Sisko. Torres repeatedly attempts to contact the Theseus but she is interrupted by Chief Miles O’Brien who has a request for the Defiant crew before returning home. As a professor on Earth, O’Brien was confronted with the fact that a series of self-replicating minefields he had helped create during the Dominion War are still in use in the Gamma Quadrant. These minefields still endanger numerous planets in the system.
Torres agrees to O’Brien’s request, but all does not go as planned as the mines replicate faster than the Defiant can destroy them. The crew are then confronted by the Starship Marabou from the covert organization Section 31. The commanding officer, Captain Frears wastes no time in ordering the crew to stand down, admitting that he would prefer to just destroy the ship altogether. Before Torres can respond, a Cardassian Destroyer arrives.
The bulk of the story takes place on the planet Beta Penthe V, where Worf has taken his son Alexander to partake in the Klingon Quv rite so that Alexander can atone for his crimes committed during the “Day of Blood” massacre. Worf tells Alexander he must complete the Three Errands of the Quv Rite in order to restore family honor. First Alexander is challenged with the Errand of Punishment where he cannot fight back as his Aunt D’Yestra and Worf’s protégé Gin’Tak, attack him.
Worf presses his son to stay on the path to redemption, even if it means Alexander’s death. Alexander completes the first errand, suffering many injuries but having a greater respect for the rite., Later Worf confesses his own complicity in Alexander’s crimes by failing him as a father. Worf then warns Alexander that his next test, the Errand of Valor, is “impossible”.
The final story page is another transcript of a communications log between SCRS41 and DS3. The electromagnetic distortion is increasing exponentially and both teams have lost contact.
Analysis
Star Trek: Defiant #22 was a well-plotted issue that moves several storylines along without rushing any of them. Christopher Cantwell’s (Iron Man) dialogue is fast-paced, clever and distinct, evoking the voices of Miles O’Brien, B’Elanna Torres and Worf as effectively as if spoken by the actors from a script written by Ronald D. Moore. There is plenty of the requisite Star Trek “technobabble”, as well as a deep dive into the Klingon Quv ritual. The text-only communications log between SCRS41 and DS3 are chilling and effective in only a few short sentences. It is likely that both entities are detecting the ripple effects of the destruction of the universe as chronicled in the Star Trek ongoing comic.
Over the decades character likenesses in licensed comics could be hit or miss, but IDW has a deep bench of artists up to the task. Angel Unzueta’s art style has changed since his early days with DC Comics, where he displayed a kinetic, stylized approach. Now Unzueta has been assimilated into the IDW house style which mixes recognizable characters, technology and environments in greater detail. The lush backgrounds of the forests of Beta Penthe V and the interiors of the U.S.S. Defiant lend weight to the various environments although they appear to be at least somewhat computer rendered.
The angles and character poses for the fight scenes give them the requisite dramatic tension and brutality, but what the art accomplishes best are the facial expressions. We can see nuanced emotion in close-ups of a wounded and frightened Alexander, a remorseful O’Brien and the simmering intensity in a frame of only Worf’s eyes and ridged brow as he awaits his son’s fate. The only drawback in Star Trek Defiant #22 are the two panels showing Captain Frears on the Defiant viewscreen. The effect is supposed to make Frears appear digitized, but instead it makes his face look strange and distorted.
Marissa Louise’s colors cast cold, dark tones across the decks and quarters of the Defiant, while on Beta Penthe V, natural sunlight and lush greenery are shown in brighter contrast. The few outer space scenes are cast with a mix of darker colors punctuated by flashes of brightly lit constellations and other astronomical phenomena rather than the typical black space and white stars.
Clayton Cowles’ lettering is standard black-on-white comic book font for dialogue using both word balloons and caption boxes. Cowles effectively adds a splash of red text when mixing in Klingon words and also for full Klingon dialogue. The balloons and captions are easy to read and do not interfere with the artwork or story pacing. Star Trek: Defiant #22 has only one small sound effect during the battle and a stylized grunt of pain from Alexander in Klingon red which adds to their impact in the story.
Final Thoughts
Star Trek: Defiant #22 is another stand out issue of an excellent ongoing comic. The story stands apart from its sister series by defining its own stakes with a darker tone and more flexible sense of morality while populated with an array of likable but flawed characters. These disparate elements along with fantastic story, art and character accuracy stitch together into another classic Trek story.
IDW Publishing provided The Comic Book Spot with an advanced copy of Star Trek: Defiant #22 for review purposes. If you would like to buy a copy of this title, and help support the Comic Book Spot at the same time, consider purchasing this book digitally at Amazon or physically at My Comic Shop.
