Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Dog of War - graphic novel

STAR TREK WEEK


 A rare, purebred corgi is on its way to DS9 when the Ferengi Quark procures it for a wealthy buyer. But the dog comes with a little something extra - some Borg technology that could become very useful in the war. Much of this comes to light when Bashir and O'Brien are looking to use a holosuite for one of their adventures but Quark informs them that he needs the suite to take Latinum (the corgi's name) for a walk.  Bashir and O'Brien offer to take the dog with them.

Everyone on the station is completely enamored with the cute K-9 and are reluctant to let Quark sell him but Quark is a Ferengi, after all, and it's all about a financial win for him. Will cute and useful win out over money?

I was honestly a little hesitant to get in to this, but I was in the mood for a Star Trek 'fix' and this was what was most available to me.  The main source of my hesitation was the 'cuteness' factor.  A story about dogs on Star Trek?  That cover, as depicted above, might be considered 'precious' and I'm not into cute and precious Star Trek.

But the story works, for the most part.  Latinum (the dog) doesn't doesn't dominate the story, but he is central to it. That's an odd juxtaposition, but it works okay here.

The corgi story is slightly more interesting than the Borg technology story, which is strange only in that the corgi is not integral to the overall DS9 story arc, whereas the Borg technology could be seen as crucial.  You could take out the corgi, put in a chimpanzee or a tortoise or even another human and not lose too much in the story. But honestly this felt mostly like a filler story. It was a quick four issue series, then bundled together for a graphic novel (the 'novel' could have been 30 pages shorter and still told the story but since it wasn't written as a novel, but as four short stories, it's padded to make sure readers are fully caught up, even if they don't start with the first installment.

The artwork is decent but not particularly exciting. The characters were recognizable but despite the computer artwork advancements in coloring and shading, this felt quite flat.

Looking for a good book? Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Dog of War is a decent graphic novel, worth passing the time for dedicated Star Trek fans.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

3-1/2 stars

* * * * * *

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Dog of War

author: Mike Chen

artist: Angel Hernández

publisher: IDW Publishing

ISBN: 9798887240749

paperback, 136 pages


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MURDLE VOLUME 1 - G. T. Karber

Image
 I enjoy puzzles of many different varieties. I had not heard of 'Murdle' before this but essentially this is a combination of the game of Clue and a Sherlock Holmes micro story. With suspects, possible murder weapons, potential locations, and/or motives plus some very brief hints, readers are meant to combine the logic of what's know with deductive reasoning to identify the killer (or killers?) in 100 different mystery word puzzles. I will admit right off the bat that I did not do all 100.  I didn't even do half of these, but I did so some random sampling through all the categories (Elementary, Occult Medium, Hard Boiled, and Impossible). I did not get any correct in the Impossible category (of course not ... they were impossible!) and only one correct in the Hard Boiled (of five). The Elementary puzzles were, as expected, pretty easy and the Hard Boiled only a little bit more difficult. Each mini mystery comes with a grid printed in the book to help the reader-detecti
Read more

VINYL RESTING PLACE - Olivia Blacke

Image
 Juni Jessup and her two sister, Tansy and Maggie, have gone into business together in their hometown of Cedar River, Texas, opening a combination record store and coffee shop. Vinyl LPs are making a comeback after all, despite critics thinking the medium was dead.  But speaking of 'dead' ... finding a dead body in the supply closet just as they are looking to have a grand opening is not part of the plan.  Juni's life gets more complicated when their uncle, Calvin, already a suspect in the murder, disappears. And the police officer leading the investigation is Juni's EX-boyfriend (who passive-aggressively keeps putting himself back into her life). Convinced that her uncle would never murder anyone, Juni sets out to prove his innocence - which isn't easy since he's making himself look guilty - because Calvin is family and family is EVERYthing to Juni. As readers of my blog know, I'm not a big fan of most cozy mysteries, but the setting caught my eye and my in
Read more

THE RAVEN THIEF - Gigi Pandian

Image
 With Tempest Raj now a member of the company, Secret Staircase Construction (a company who, as their title suggests, builds mystery-themed, secret rooms inside homes) has finished their first job. Their client now wants to celebrate to kick off her new beginning - new home and new life now that she's divorced from her cheating ex-husband, famous mystery author Corbin Colt. First up, a mock séance to remove any trace of Corbin from the property, led by Tempest's friend, Sanjay.   But during that séance, while all those gathered sat in a dark room holding hands, Corbin's dead body crashes the party, falling across the table in front of everyone. There were eight people in the room, and they were all holding hands, but all the evidence points to one of them being the murderer.  Suspicions point to Ash, Tempest's grandfather, because he was the only one with Corbin's blood on him. Of course, as a doctor, he was also the only one who checked on the body - wherein he acq
Read more