In Space No One Can Hear You Yawn — Reviewing ‘Star Trek: Picard’s Academy’ #3

Character studies typically offer valuable insights into why a person in a story behaves or thinks the way they do. While they are not often found in comics – particularly then they dominate an entire issue – they can be effective, even with characters we think we know.

That is the promise of the latest issue of Star Trek: Picard’s Academy. Unfortunately for readers, that promise falls flat.

While Paramount+’s recently concluded Star Trek: Picard dealt with Jean-Luc’s final act, this series attempts to shed light on his formative years well before he took the Enterprise D’s center seat. Writer Sam Maggs portrays Picard as an arrogant young man who is determined to graduate from Starfleet Academy early so he can escape Earth for the stars.

Yet there’s little redeeming in this version of the character. No doubt, he’ll be a changed person by the time the series ends, but this issue spends so much time making Picard unlikable that literally nothing happens. Picard and his team of fellow cadets are preparing for a big test in space. That’s it. Nothing else happens other than characters explaining their motivations to each other, either through lots of words or a telepathic connection. The final frontier this is not. In fact, readers will likely come to the end of the issue wondering if they missed a page or two, because clearly something has to happen. Luckily in space, no one can hear you scream. (Sorry, wrong franchise!)

Artist Ornella Greco’s illustrations add to young adult feel of the book. Don’t blame her for not having much to draw here. It’s a lot of talking heads in uniform. And Picard is so young (and inexplicably hirsute), that there’s no chance of recognizing him without being told it’s him. Only one double-page spread stands out, largely because there’s little else going on here. Similarly, it’s difficult to be disappointed in Charlie Kirchoff when all he has to color are some red cadet uniforms.

It is hard to imagine Trek fans not wanting to learn more about the background of one of the franchise’s beloved characters. But this issue certainly isn’t giving them much to be excited about.