Star Trek: Hive Review

This week is a truly wonderful week for fans of Star Trek comics! I’ve already reviewed ​The Redshirt’s Tale​ (which you should really check out) and I should be reading the ​Romulan Treasury Collection​ before the end of the week. But enough of all that, let’s jump into ​Hive,​ an all new story that takes place in ​The Next Generation​ time-frame. Long time writer, producer and creator of Star Trek mythos, Brannon Braga has crafted a story he boasts as “the final chapter for the Borg” scripted by Terry Matalas and Travis Fickett with pencils by Joe Corroney.

For starters, if you’re a Trekkie, you’re going to want to read this series and it’s impossible to adequately discuss the finer points of this issue without spoiling some major things. So bookmark this review and head to your local comic shop. What are you waiting for? Boldly go buy this issue already and then come back here to discuss it! Make it so and all that! If you’re still here then I’m going to assume you’ve read it or just don’t care about spoilers. Either way, you’ve been warned!

The first issue of the four-part miniseries starts off at warp 10. So much is packed into this one little issue that I had to read it a second time to make sure I really caught everything that was happening. We have two stories, 500 years apart, happening in tandem. Locutus of Borg sits in the 29th century reflecting on the total assimilation of the galaxy and how the Borg no longer have focus or purpose. Five centuries earlier (and several years after the events of ​Nemesis​ and ​Voyager​) Jean-Luc Picard is contacted by the Borg Queen seeking the aid of the Federation with a new species that threatens to destroy all life in the galaxy. It seems in their lust to assimilate more species, the Borg collective has developed means to travel into other dimensions. In one such dimension they encounter the Voldranaii, who are un-assimilable and understandably holding a grudge at the Borg’s attempts.

The issue is a lot of fun, but, like most opening issues in a series, it left me with more questions than answers. What happened to let the Borg assimilate the whole galaxy? When and why did the collective download a copy of Data’s positronic matrix and why wait so long to restore him? These aren’t plot holes, by any means, but curiosities I’m interested in learning more about in the next 4 months. More than anything, there was one unexpected twist that just makes me uncomfortable. When Picard agrees to assist the Borg with the Voldranaii, they send Seven of Nine to work with him. Seeing her returned to the collective was a bit jarring. Why would she rejoin after all her work to embrace her individuality on Voyager? Such a choice seems to almost completely nullify that character for me. However, with Star Trek and time travel, who knows what the actual status quo will be at the end of this story.

Definitely pick up this issue! It’s a great start to what I can only assume will be a quality Star Trek story. The almost photo-realistic art and intense story offer a lot of promise for the remaining issues.