10 Star Trek Comics Fans Need To Read
2. The Q Conflict
In this wild miniseries, Q initiates the ultimate Star Trek crossover between every crew of the classic era. It's the kind of story that can likely never be told on screen and which certainly could never be done in live action today.
The story centers on a conflict between Q and several of the other familiar godlike, noncorporeal entities. These belligerent parties include the Orgonians, the Metrons and Trelane. Their celestial battles have spread collateral damage across the galaxy. Inspired by Picard's admonitions, Q decides to shift their war into a more peaceful contest, using humans as proxies.
Under these circumstances, Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway and their crews are summoned and made to compete. Of course, as with any situation involving Q, it quickly escalates and spirals out of control.
This series is a mad barrage of Easter eggs and fanservice and about as much fun as anyone can have reading a Star Trek comic. The fun comes not just from the many crews in the franchise interacting in new ways as they mix and match but also in the crazy scenarios which come about in the course of the competition.
Nowhere else is a reader likely to encounter the doomsday machine, the Prophets and the Borg all in a single story - to say nothing of omega particles, Q weapons and Iconian portals.
That's not to say the series doesn't miss the mark in some places. Post-DS9 Worf spends the entire series working alongside Jadzia and it only really comes up once. Aside from this and similar squandered opportunities for drama it's also notable that Voyager's Doctor is pretty much left out of the whole story.
The series does succeed in its ambition to explain such things as Wesley's return to Starfleet prior to "Nemesis". It's also an incredibly entertaining story that makes a lot of bold choices without ever betraying the spirit of Star Trek.