Order Waypoint #3

Set in the milieus of Voyager and Deep Space Nine, the two stories included in this month’s Star Trek: Waypoint #3 are equal measures of sweet and simple.

While these stories are hardly the edge of adventure or Borg-defeating action stories, they have an appeal that reminds us of the relationships formed between these characters. Every now and then, it’s good to remember that Gene Roddenberry wanted to export humanity to the stars, bringing with them their vices as well as their virtues.

Is that wrong for Star Trek? I don’t think so. The great thing about having fifty years of this amazing universe is that there are a great deal of settings in which to create stories. It’s a writer’s delight and there’s plenty of room for a couple of charming tales.

The other thing that I really appreciate about this comic is that it gives writers and artists a good amount of exposure. The Star Trek angle aside, I see what IDW is doing with this and it’s a damn good thing.

The first story is titled The Wildman Maneuver and features everyone’s favourite Captain’s Assistant, Naomi Wildman in a carefree child’s fantasy tale in which only she can rescue Voyager by securing the vital coffee needed by Captain Janeway to wake up and save the crew from enslavement.

Written by Mairghread Scott and drawn by Corin Howell, this story gives some love to one of the show’s minor but adorable cast members. Anyone who has known a precocious and imaginative child can’t help but be amused by the adventure of young Miss Wildman. There is a precious innocence about this story that is not only refreshing but enough to give you that ‘feel-good’ vibe for the rest of the day.

This isn’t a sophisticated story by any stretch of the imagination, but its virtue is that it forces the reader to enjoy simpler things. Plus, the ‘comic-within-a-comic’ definitely has a witty but subtle appeal that is impossible to overlook. Corin Howell’s work demonstrates wonderful alacrity in the way she switches from the child-like etchings of Wildman’s (sorry … ‘Wild-Man’) comic to the rendering of Naomi’s actual life on board Voyager.

The second story, Mother’s Walk, has more serious overtones about Major Kira’s observance of Bajoran ceremony that highlights the bonds between mothers and daughters. With the loss of her mother during the Cardassian Occupation, of course this is a ceremony Kira believes she will be unable to perform, yet for the steady stream of volunteers from her DS9 crewmates to stand in her mother’s stead.

Cecil Castellucci is the writer behind this tale and she strikes a chord with many female Trek fans as they reflect upon their own relationships with their own mothers. But moreover, there is a military theme in this short story as well when a reader considers the resiliency of women in occupied warzones. What is striking in this story is the mention of how threatened the Cardassians felt by the collective willpower of the Bajoran women determined to observe the rite of Shar D’an.

As usual, IDW has a variety of covers for their titles.

• The standard cover by Daniel Warren Johnson is a generic scene of the Voyager bridge crew crash-landing on a planet’s fiery surface. Aside from the obvious Voyager story in the book, there is no other relationship, so it seems somewhat of a capricious choice.

• The subscription cover is another generic one; the assemblage of the DS9 crew as featured in the latter seasons of the show, as indicated by Kira’s hairstyle. Drawn by David Messina, this is a solid piece of work.

• The retailer incentive is a gorgeous photograph of Jeri Ryan’s Seven of Nine. While I tend not to like photos on comic covers, for some reason, I really couldn’t find anything disagreeable with it.

The commonality between the two stories is the close-knit bonds amongst both crews. Though the lion’s share of attention tends to fall on TOS and TNG, it is good to see these two worthy franchises represented. But of course, this is the whole purpose of Waypoint: to enjoy a wider range of Trek and to allow a variety of fan preferences. After all, there is a whole wide universe of Trek to ejoy out there.

Simple and sweet. Yeah … that’s how I’d see this pleasant section of the Star Trek universe.