The second arc of the critically acclaimed Star Trek flagship comic series continues with Benjamin Sisko’s quest to stop celestial genocide!
Sisko returns to Deep Space 9, and it’s the family reunion we’ve all been waiting for—or is it? As Sisko reckons with the sins of his past, the Theseus travels to a mysterious corner of Cardassian space to uncover the secrets of the Prophets…and learn how far the Red Path have infiltrated the galaxy!
In the follow up to Star Trek, Vol. 1: Godshock, Volume 2 collects Star Trek issues #7–10 and the 2023 Star Trek Annual by writers Collin Kelly & Jackson Lanzing (Star Year Five) with artists Mike Feehan and Rachael Stott.
I'm not as up on my Dominion War lore as might be required to deeply appreciate this continuation of Sisko's story but there was plenty enough here to delight and entertain even this casual Trekkie.
Getting better in finding its own way. I think the series is overall still a little too heavy in the fan service but it seems to be trending better, last issue aside.
Captain Sisko's return to 'Deep Space Nine' is cut short by events which require him to go to Cardassia Prime to seek some captured Tears of the Prophets. Whilst on Cardassia, he faces arrest for crimes committed during the Dominion War.
A beautifully drawn and coloured book, which has a meaty plot where characters must deal with the consequences of choices made by then and for them. The Annual supplemented at the end of the main story feels like a new direction, especially for Scotty and the narrative feels like it has a heading and is just waiting for the offer to go to warp speed.
This was such a good time. Worth even the cringe of the crew playing DnD. Baseball, I accept. Poker? Sure. Dabo - ideal. Boardgames... urgh. Especially when we could be starting at the second shap.
This Star Trek series continues to delve deep into the lore, with The Red Path focusing on the outcome of the Dominion War. Fortunately, the authors provide a good deal of backstory in between the panels, making it clear why Benjamin Sisko could be accused of war crimes.
The tangled courtroom drama is plenty engaging, and the quest to identify the Red Path and associated God-baubles continues intriguingly. The Red Path is a strong story that will likely be more fun for the true Trekkie, but I found it plenty enjoyable nonetheless.
i rly cannot overstress how completely bonkers this was. sisko is put on trial for war crimes. garak is his lawyer. scotty and crusher and sisko and data and shaxs play dnd in crusher's quarters. hoshi's great-great-great-great-granddaughter meets her and thinks she's hot. there's a threshold reference and a captain proton reference. they put solar sails on the theseus and tom uses a wooden ship's wheel to steer the conn. pike is a bisexual space cowboy and he and sisko bond.
This was just darling! I am thoroughly enjoying this new Star Trek series. I love Sisko in these books. He’s an incredible captain and such a smart strategist, with the biggest heart. This collection of characters is a delight. Almost screamed when I saw Shaxs. The last issue was gobsmackingly good. Who comes up with these incredible stories? You can just see the unending love for Star Trek here. I can’t wait for more.
3.5 stars. A distinct improvement over the first volume and an entertaining overall read. Heavy on the lore, though, so possibly not for the uninitiated.
Issue #7 - This is mostly an expositional issue, though there is a neat but quick spaceship battle towards the end. There is a lot to unpack in this one, and I have to say, I really enjoyed it. Sisko is reunited with Kassidy Yates and meets his daughter Sarah for the first time. There's a neat interaction with Data, Quark and Crusher. Sisko also sees Kira again for the first time since the series finale of DS9, and she brings in a surprise character for an unexpected crossover. There's a great little Easter egg on the panel where that character is working out, if you're really paying attention. I appreciated it. There's a funny scene where Tom Paris, Scotty and a new character get sloshed. You also get to see some of the rebuilt Cardassia at the end and the next big problem presents itself at the end. So far, a great start to volume 2.
Issue #8 - I find it interesting that they're turning Shaxs, who is more of the over the top to the point of ridiculousness tough guy on "Lower Decks" into a grizzled, hardened veteran, someone to be taken seriously - in a comic book no less! Then there's the DS9 cameo we've all been waiting for as Sisko's advocate in his trial. There's a moment in this one that reminded me of the Tom Paris cell phone from the first issue, but this time it feels earned, like he's having fun. Overall, more of an exposition issue but still enjoyable nonetheless.
For the Annual: this is an enjoyable interlude to the building tension of the Cult of Kahless conflict. It ends up being a follow up to a particularly thoughtful episode of Voyager, and has characters from all the different series spread throughout the story. My favorite panel was definitely the two page spread of all the different ships firing at one point. The art was very good in this issue, and the book itself walked a fine line of being more lighthearted than the main story of the series but also not feeling entirely like filler. It's nice to expand on the crew of the USS Theseus as well.
Issue #9 was terrific. It has a DS9 cameo at the beginning that I can't spoil for readers, but it adds some serious weight to Sisko's predicament. The rest of the issue is an action packed battle between Theseus crew ground forces and the Red Path Cardassians. Shaxs is in all his glory in this one, and you learn a bit more about Damar's nephew. The art was sharp in this one as well.
It ends on quite the cliffhanger, and I'm looking forward to the conclusion of this story arc.
Issue #10 felt like it should have more emotional weight, but I just didn't feel it for some reason. It's a solid issue, there are a few twists throughout and the ending builds up towards the Day of Blood crossover, but it didn't have the feeling of desperation or something similar that I expected. The art is solid as usual, as it has been throughout this run.
Overall this volume was very good and possibly better than the first one, Godshock. I eagerly await the Day of Blood crossover and the continuation of this series.
I really enjoyed this book. I wish the story had been fleshed out more—because there are several subplots that eventually tie in together, we didn’t get as much meaty stuff with the Theseus crew together. The editing and writing was a lot better here, which was a relief. I think there’s still so much more to explore regarding Cardassia Prime and their culpability in their own demise, but that’s probably been explored in other books I haven’t read yet.
I especially like all the throwbacks in the book. There are some sweet moments especially as Sisko rejoins his family, Scotty finds meaning with his new crew and Tom, adorably, can’t enjoy a brand new experience because he misses his wife. I’m glad he gets over it eventually and is back on the holo deck playing silly holonovels.
We still don’t known everything about T’Lir and I’m so curious. I also love that we find out Lily’s connection to the Enterprise. How sweet.
I loved the annual so much. It’s a dream come true for any Trekkie. Pretty much every Trek property is showcased, exactly Prodigy and the Kelvin timeline. It was so cute and heartening to see all these disparate characters interacting with one another. I was giddy reading this. That panel of all those holograms together was delightful. I wish they’d remembered to put Culber and Bashir in with the rest of the doctors. And I also wish that panel had been thoroughly illustrated because I couldn’t make out all the characters in the background. Some people have distinctive hair and outfits, but others don’t.
Loved this little mini series. I’m just so dang relieved Ben returned and his family is happy.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
With the true culprit behind the god-killings across the universe unveiled, Sisko and friends are in a race against time to gather intel and assistance before the Day Of Blood is unleashed across the galaxy. First on the board - track down the Red Path.
What I really enjoy about this series is that it manages to draw on all of the continuity that came before it, without ever making me feel dumb for never having seen most of Deep Space Nine. It does mean that I grinned like an idiot when a friend from Lower Decks showed up to help, so I get that I'm missing out a little, but it's still a solid adventure story with a dash of political maneuvering going on at the same time.
Also included here alongside the four issue Day Of Blood prelude is the 2023 annual, which sees the USS Theseus really step up as part of the crew in a way that means we get to see lots of faces from the past in the process.
Mike Feehan steps in as the main penciller for this story, while Rachael Stott handles the annual. Like Ramon Rosanas on the previous arc, they get the job done well and you can always tell who's meant to be who, so boxes successfuly ticked there.
Star Trek's marching into the end of its first year, and it's still building a nice amount of momentum. Fingers crossed Day Of Blood lives up to the hype.
Again, I got reeled into this by listening to the author of Defiant on a podcast. LOL, I had to read vol. 1 for my completionist tendencies and now I had to read vol. 2 for the same reason. I'm still mildly rolling my eyes at the all-star, all-inclusive cast (). But overall, I'm just having so much fun with the various plots, threads, and, despite myself, the all-star cast.
I want to talk about all the post-DS9 juicy bits with the friend I'm re-watching DS9 with (I'm re-re-re-re-watching, he's watching for the first time)... alas we're only at the start of season 6 so it's too soon. LOL, he may be getting a bit bitchy with me for fanning out over all the Cardassian stuff while trying not to spoil too much. HE doesn't mind spoilers but I do, lol...
I'm only giving this four stars because for each of the entries in the series so far, I've forgotten all the happenings as soon as I finished. Not even joking. I had to re-borrow vol.1 before reading Defiant (thank you for being in my public library-supported Hoopla app) and I pretty much forgot all of Defiant before reading vol. 2 (I'm sure I'll have to re-borrow that, too before reading vol. 3). Not sure if that's a me thing, or a them thing...
First and foremost, docking this volume a star for the depiction of Star Trek Characters playing the 21st century tabletop version of D&D.
No, just no.
That transgression aside, there was a lot to cheer in this volume.
Any concerns that I had regarding this slapdash crew being brought together at the sacrifice of plot quality is now gone.
The Red Path does an excellent job of providing fan service and setting up homages to the entire franchise, but also telling a riveting story that naturally exists in the Star Trek World: ↪ Interesting progression of the "Kahless/Goddeath story" ↪Sisko dealing with aftereffects of the war that he so convenietly avoided by zipping off to another plane of existance. ↪A very fun holodeck-gone-wrong story with SO MANY familiar faces
Also, a cross-species cult being brainwashed by Klingons? Very yes, please!
And finally, the gem of this volume: SHAXS has joined the party!
Lower Decks is often derided as "just memberberries". I imagine the same would be said of this comic series by the same people if they had read it. And yes, both series fully utilize Trek's rich canon, but both bring plenty new to the table. Lower Decks brings its own original characters that have interesting stories to tell, which is why it is so satisfying to get to see Shaxs interact with Sisko, Beverly, and the rest of the Theseus' crew.
Star Trek New Adventures is light on new characters (and there's not much development for T'Lir here, as much as I was hoping for it after the first volume), but explores those characters (and their new situations) satisfyingly. Hopefully my library system will get more volumes so that I can keep reading them.
I thought this volume was an improvement over volume 1. The story is much clearer. Sisko takes the Theseus to Cardassia on the hunt for some missing Bejoran artifacts. The Cardassians put him on trial for all the people who died on Cardassia during the Dominion War. The rest of the crew go looking for the artifacts before the Red Path can get to them. Then the annual builds off a Voyager episode. I can't believe they even brought in characters from Lower Decks into the crew. These books really seem to be all in.
(clone) Kahless has the Bajoraan Orb of Destruction and there's at least a half dozen Orbs out in the universe to pick from. Wouldn't it be AWFUL if they were like Marvel's 'Infinity Gems'? Each Orb granting a special ability...
*ding ding ding* Sisko is now trying to gather the Orbs before (clone) Kahless gets to them first. The fandom gets another boost in this series with the addition of Lieutenant Shaxs from the USS Cerritos (the animated 'Lower Decks' ST show). All this is in preparation for the big fight coming with The Red Path. Got to bulk up the name recognition.
==== Bonus: When is a Vulcan not a Vulcan (and probably also not a Romulan)?
Much more than the previous volume, this felt like a DS9 continuation, and it felt like a DS9 continuation that really required you to be mired in DS9 continuity. The result felt like a bit of a sharp turn from the shared continuity of the previous volume ... and was just OK.
And good god, they're already spinning off other series AND crossing over with them? I guess that explains the somewhat obscure closure.
What can I say...? CAPT Sisko once again tackling the ugly, unknown, and unbelievable with one of the best supporting cast you can shake a tricorder at; what's not to love! Like Michael "Worf, Son of Mogh" Dorn said, give me CAPT Sisko when I have to fight my way out of any impossible situation. This story is the epitome of that statement . Q'upla, CAPT SISKO... Q'UPLA!
I thought volume 1 of this run was pretty good, but this volume was better in just about every way.
The trial of Benjamin Sisko was just amazing. Every twist and turn of it just had me.
The only thing I would offer as a "complaint" is that you really need to be very familiar with the source material to get the most out of this. I caught so many call backs to different episodes in this that made me truly appreciate it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Sisko and the crew of the USS Theseus must delve into the murky waters of Bajoran orbs (Tears of the Prophets), deicide, faith, and the fallout of the Dominion War and the Cardassian Union's collapse as they go to war with a madman who thinks himself a god.
An excellent follow-up to the debut volume, digging deeper into the potential of Sisko's crew of all-stars and the galactic fallout since Sisko first entered the wormhole a few years ago.
SHAXS!!! I love that they have added a member of the Cerritos crew. If every other show in that timeline gets to be on the Thesus, then someone from Lower Decks should be there as well. Also, he looks so great in a First Contact/DS9 jumpsuit. The actual story is still strong, and I love that they are tying up holes from DS9. Showing that Cardassia is not fixed after only 3 years is really nice. Also, I am all for another version D&D in Star Trek.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
i am enjoying the main plot and seeing new cardassia!! but man the fan service levels are so high it’s hard to take it seriously sometimes. i mean . i hope they focus more on the story going forward. i love t’lir and i really wish we got more new characters instead. so much more to explore there.
Assembling a bit of a rag tag crew on a new ship, the USS Theseus (including Data, Scotty, Crusher and Paris, and crucially Ben Sisko) - this series has proven to have a new vitality compared to past efforts. Of course the storytelling is as broad as ever, with at times an overt focus on comic book violence and action, but the visuals are good and it's never boring.
Better than the first volume. Still a bit too disjointed. Maybe it’s the medium. Comic books collected together into a graphic novel, that is.
Love seeing Shaxz. I think it’s technically before the first season of Lower Decks. And seeing the crew play D&D was pretty awesome. The Cardassian storyline and the hologram storyline were the best, but they had nothing to do with the main storyline.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.