After reading the final chapter of Star Trek: Discovery — The Light of Kahless, the issue that comes up in my mind is: I hate being lied to.

It doesn’t matter how much hair, extra nostrils or even if they have forehead ridges or not, a Klingon is still a Klingon and they have this sticking point in their character about honour that really gets in the way when you’re trying to tell a story about them.

In The Light of Kahless #4, we learn more about T’Kuvma’s path towards unifying his people in the name of Kahless — or, in other words, how he trying to remind them of the nature of their character in bring them together in the face of who he perceives as the biggest threat they have known.

Honour is a driving principle in the Klingon mentality, and it exists on a near spiritual level. One only has to remember how pigheaded Worf was throughout his time on The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine to get a sense of this resolve. That’s what veteran IDW writer Mike Johnson and Discovery writer Kirsten Beyer are exploring in this latest issue in the series, as we learn more and more about the background of a character who we barely got to meet in the television series.

The story so far: Voq is still being taught T’Kuvma’s history by L’Rell, and in this issue, she describes T’Kuvma’s ascension to warrior status — someone the Empire now has to take seriously. He has gained a name for himself by freeing the enslaved multitudes of the Empire, preaching the word of Kahless, and commanding a battlecruiser that is rumoured to be crewed by the dead. This is the story of how T’Kuvma became a hero to his people, while simultaneously becoming a threat to the status quo of the Empire. This is the mantle that Voq will inherit.

The Light of Kahless #4 sets us up for the television series in a way that allows us to understand more of the desperation of the Klingon people. Despite their war prowess and skill at battle, they are still a fractured people, searching for a single purpose to define them. In this issue, that purpose has not been found, only manufactured to cement their identity in dealing with a new species in the only way they know… by defeating them in battle.

A lot of this context was not included in the show, begging the question just exactly what else was left out that might have provided more background and added appreciation to the Star Trek: Discovery premiere? That’s a question only Kirsten Beyer can answer.

In terms of character, we also learn more about Voq and L’Rell from this issue. While the former is struggling with his new place of leadership in T’Kuvma’s absence, L’Rell is trying to harden him to the decisions of that role.

He now has to learn a secret of the Beacon of Kahless that T’Kuvma believes it is his destiny to find…. which I’m not going to give away. But suffice it to say, it’s a revelation that places the entire Federation-Klingon War into a new perspective, and perhaps gives Michael Burnham’s conscience a break.

The art for this book is done by my favourite Star Trek comic penciller, Tony Shasteen. Shasteen’s work is not only intensely accurate, but his speed is legendary. We haven’t seen enough of Tony’s work, and I’m hoping that there will be more opportunities to do so in the future.

The covers are pretty striking on this issue.

• Cover ‘A’ is Tony Shasteen’s depiction of L’Rell prior to her facial scarring, and it’s hard to distinguish this from a photograph. Tony has Mary Chieffo’s fierce expression rendered perfectly on this cover; it’s stunning and definitely conveys L’Rell’s warrior spirit.
   
• Cover ‘B’ is actually a photograph from the Discovery pilot. As much as I can understand the desire for direct connections to the show, the presence of a photo on a comic cover is just something that I’m opposed to. Given that Shasteen’s work is photo-perfect, give the work to the artist. Is the budget for the book that low?
   
• The retailer-incentive ‘A’ cover is another knock-out portrait by Angel Hernandez. His work is spectacular and, in this case, features T’Kuvma leading a mob of downtrodden, oppressed Klingons into battle. It says something about the nature of the character we are reading about, and is a wonderful suggestion about the interior story.
   
• Finally, the retailer-incentive ‘B’ cover is another ship cover by Declan Shalvey. Shalvey has been doing a number of these ship renderings lately and in this particular case, it is the USS Discovery in angular flight. As much as I love Shasteen’s work, I have to give the nod to Shalvey. What can I say? I’m a ship guy and I love seeing a Federation starship in flight.

The best line in this book belongs to L’Rell: “Only a child believes that the great are infallible. Now that you are leading us in T’Kuvma’s place, you can no longer cling to that childish view.”

As much as I hate getting lied to, I am no longer a child. Sometimes the truth isn’t something that needs to be found as much as it needs to be explained. That’s the meat of this story and while the discovery of the nature of T’Kuvma’s truth may be a burden for Voq, it’s one that he will need to endure for the sake of his people and the sake of T’Kuvma’s message.

That’s something that couldn’t have been explained to us in the show. Backstory is fun, but it can take forever to explain. That’s why supplemental stories are so important to a franchise.

Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson have that freedom to go back in time, look at different characters and present their full nature to us to gain a better appreciation of the hard work and effort that have gone into the production of the show… and that’s no lie.

Lots of Star Trek: Discovery comic action is still on the way — watch for my review of the next entry, Succession #3, later this month!