Review: ‘Star Trek: Defiant’ #8 Finds A New Mission

The Day of Blood has ended. The threat of Kahless’s Red Path is dormant. Now, Star Trek: Defiant starts on a new path.

Christopher Cantwell, Mike Feehan, Marissa Louise, and Clayton Cowles continue to boldly go.

With Kahless on the run, Worf and his crew expect to return to Earth for commendation. Instead, they find themselves disavowed, exiled from Starfleet. However, there’s more to it than that, as the quintet find themselves “hired” by Starfleet Command, off the books. Their mission? To find and capture some of the highest profile fugitives in the Alpha Quadrant.

I’m frankly a little surprised to see Defiant pivot on its mission so soon, but it’s definitely one that will easily go back to the main mission of the line. Cantwell centers this in the characters though. Worf continues to be the focus, and we dwell on his internal thoughts. The desire for command, his anger at their new mission, it all makes the plot deeper and more than just what it seems.

Feehan is working his way towards all-star status with his work on these titles. He steps in this issue for Angel Unzueta, who drew the majority of Day of Blood. His characters are expressive, and slightly more cartoony than Unzueta, but he still captures the spirit and likeness perfectly. This is a mostly talky issue, and through that he keeps it visually engaging, changing up point of view, using close-ups and unique angles tokeep that up.

Louise’s colors add a sense of continuity from the earlier arcs. She keeps the art looking realistic, while maintaining the palette of the shows that inspired it, and the overall feel of Star Trek as a whole. Cowles packs in a ton of information, but always does so clearly, and never to the detriment of the story.

Star Trek: Defiant #8 is available now from IDW Publishing.