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


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