Star Trek The Mirror War Data #1

Star Trek The Mirror War: Data #1

IDW Publishing 2021

Written by Celeste Bronfman

Illustrated by Roberta Ingranata

Coloured by Valentina Pinto

Lettered by Neil Uyetake

The spotlight turns to Data in this one-shot set in the Mirror Universe of The Next Generation! Expand upon the world of The Mirror War! Data and Barclay’s relationship has been strained since Barclay returned from the Prime universe. When Barclay becomes preoccupied with revenge, Data determines to help him right past wrongs so that the human can return to peak operating efficiency. Can the two put aside their differences and work together?

I am of mixed emotions with this one. I want to see Data being cold and clinical, calculating even but he still feels like Pinocchio looking to be a real boy. Barclay, however, is the perfect “straight man” to Data and the two of them make this really odd couple who aren’t friends but are working together. Data’s reasoning is there and Barclay has already been through a lot so it isn’t surprising to me that he’s featured heavily in this story and that Data who has a hard enough time understanding human emotions to begin with that the exchanges really do make for some great reading. Huge bonus is Roberta’s interior artwork here because she’s an extremely underrated illustrator/artist and does some absolutely gorgeous work.

I am enjoying the way that this is being told. The story & plot development that we see through how the sequence of events unfold as well as how the reader learns information are presented exceptionally well. The character development that we see through the narration, the dialogue, the character interaction as well as how we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances which they encounter does a marvellous job in expanding their personalities. The pacing is superb and as it takes us through the pages revealing the story and the characters we are treated to an interesting tale indeed.

I have to say I like the way that we see this being structured and how the layers within the story begin to emerge and grow. I am also liking the way that we see these layers opening up new avenues to be explored. What these avenues do is add depth, dimension and complexity to the story whether they are explored or not. How we see everything working together to create the story’s ebb & flow as well as how it moves the story forward are impeccably handled.

I am so utterly impressed with Roberta’s portrayal of Data and his face as it is so consistently the same throughout and the lack of emotion that we see fits perfectly into the way he is. The linework is stupendous and how we see the varying weights and techniques being utilised to create the detail within the work that we see is extraordinarily well rendered. How we see backgrounds used to enhance and expand the moments as well as how we see them work within the composition of the panels to bring out the depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the story exceptionally well rendered. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work shows a stellar understanding of how colour works and how to maximise their effects.

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I very much appreciate how we see the characters here being expanded upon. This really is our first extended look at the characters in the Mirrorverse and I really like what we are seeing. I am infinitely more interested in these characters then those in the Prime Universe that’s for sure. With some strong clever writing and interestingly pointed characterisation and these brilliant interiors bringing it all to life keeps us wanting to see more stories like this one.