It’s been 10 months since IDW comics launched us into a rollercoaster ride of a miniseries about the TNG Mirror Universe crew. Now, with the Mirror Broken miniseries wrapped (the trade paperback collection was released last week), we’re getting excited for May, when a new arc will bring the Mirror crew face-to-face with their Prime universe counterparts.
First, let’s look back on the end of Mirror Broken. [Warning: spoilers ahead]
With writing by Scott Tipton and David Tipton, and J.K. Woodward’s brooding, dramatic art, Mirror Broken gave us memorable characters (particularly Picard, Barclay and LaForge) and an action-packed story about Picard’s journey from washed-up captain to leader of the flagship of the Terran Empire.
Scene from #3
Picard’s plot to steal the Enterprise is aided by an ambitious Barclay; a deeply loyal Data, who’s augmented himself with Borg technology; and a seductive, manipulative Troi as his “Inquisitor.” Along the way he picks up the rest of our crew, each with their own evil twist. Several supporting characters also make appearances, from Leah Brahms to Captain Jellico to Captain Tryla Scott (if you remember her, take a listen to our episode “Starfleet’s Women in Command”).
In #3 we finally meet Wesley, whose usual genius is mixed with more than a hint of sadism, and Doctor Crusher. The latter felt to me the most under-used of the main characters, but there was so much going on in this miniseries that it would’ve been challenging to include more.
The end of Issue #4 was my favourite cliffhanger in the series, when we first saw Guinan, staring hauntingly through the window of a cargo container.
In Issue #5 (somewhat confusingly #5 is the close of the six-issue arc because of last year’s Free Comic Book Day #0), the Enterprise is in Picard’s control and with some help from Guinan the crew leads the Empire to a significant victory over the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance.
The nature of Mirror Guinan’s relationship to Picard is never fully explained and, although it was good to see her continue to play an important role by providing prescient advice, I wanted more from her appearance too.
Of all the TNG women, Mirror Troi had the most to do in this series – in addition to ensuring loyalty among Picard’s crew and comforting the Captain, she also appears to have a history with Mirror Riker, and pursues a romantic and/or sexual relationship with him, just out of sight of Picard. However, I still would’ve liked to see her be a little more bad-ass, like the Mirror Troi whom the rest of the crew fear, in Diane Duane’s novel Dark Mirror.
Maybe I’d just been missing Mirror Yar, who was sadly killed off in #0, or any woman character whose violence could rise to that level. I wanted Mirror Troi to cackle while blowing up a defenceless ship, or Mirror Crusher to kick Jellico in the face.
The conclusion of Mirror Broken – in which Barclay watches the crew celebrate their victory and wonders how long the peace among them will last – felt sudden and slightly anti-climactic to me. Just when the crew is all together, when we’ve only really had a glimpse of Guinan and a couple of scenes with Crusher, the arc ends.
Mirror Troi in Star Trek: Timelines
I wasn’t even sure it was over! I kept enjoying collecting the new Mirror characters brought to Star Trek: Timelines while I waited for the Issue #6 I was sure must be coming.
Lucky for those of us who were left craving more from the TNG Mirror Universe, IDW recently announced another mini-series coming this May, Star Trek: TNG: Through the Mirror. The Tiptons are signed up to write again, but each of the five issues will feature a different artist. J.K. Woodward is doing the covers and a feature back-story every issue to provide unity between the series.
In this new chapter, we know we’ll see the Mirror TNG crew meet their Prime counterparts. David Tipton has said this will culminate in an “ultimate confrontation between Enterprise crews.” Just as exciting, the official blurb teases that we’ll find out what happened to Spock post “Mirror, Mirror.”
I’m really hopeful that either the main story or the background stories will spend some time with Mirror Guinan and Mirror Crusher. Perhaps a confrontation between the two Crushers and/or two Guinans could be a way to show the readers just how they’re really different, other than their look.
Regardless of how it goes, I’ll be here on the blog reviewing Issue #1 for you as soon as I get access in May.
Long Live the Empire!