TrekInk: Review of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Fool’s Gold #2

The chaos at Deep Space Nine continues this week in the second issue (of four) of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Fool’s Gold." Sisko, Odo, Kira and O’Brien are all busy investigating why so many strangers have taken an interest in visiting the station. Find out how it all works out in the review below.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Fool’s Gold #2
written by Scott and David Tipton, art by Fabio Mantovani

Deep Space Nine is overrun by visitors claiming to be sightseers. Operations is barely able to avert a docking pylon disaster. O’Brien is certain that all the damage to the station is being done by someone looking for something. While sick bay fills up with injured tourists, Sisko has an unsatisfactory chat with Gul Dukat looking for information. Odo and Kira interrogate the visitors who injured Jake, playing on their fears. Finally, one of them explains what everyone is looking for and why the station is being torn up.

The brothers Tipton, Scott and David, are crafting an entertaining Deep Space Nine mystery for us. I like the way the story is unfolding, particularly the interrogation scenes with Odo and Kira that conclude this issue, playing mind games with the prisoners even though the DS9 crew isn’t quite in control of events yet. A smarmy Gul Dukat makes a brief and welcome appearance. My guess is we’ll see more of him as the mini-series continues. The Tiptons haven’t laid out all their cards yet, but I’m sure there’s a Ferengi yet to be played.

Pigs in space!

Artist Fabio Mantovani continues to give us a richly detailed backdrop with coloring by Davide Amici. However, I’m disappointed with his rendering of Sisko, particularly when displaying anger. The Sisko I remember from the television series never snarled like he does in Fool’s Gold. I don’t know what to make of Mantovani’s Sisko. Examining some of the other characters, I can see a lot of them snarling to some degree. I guess this is a way of expressing emotion, but I get all the snarling I can stand at work, so I’d like to see a wider range of emotions in my comics. That said, the story and the rest of the art are sufficiently entertaining to keep me coming back for more.

Always a pleasure to speak with you, Dukat.

Fool’s Gold #2 has three covers. The first of two regular covers is by the Sharp Brothers (Joe and Rob) and features Odo and Kira holding off a crowd. It’s an unusual cover that suits the mood of the story. David Messina provides a portait of Kira colored by Giovanna Niro over a Bajoran Militia graphic for the second cover. The retailer incentive cover features their artwork without trade dress. I really like the iconic portraits drawn by Messina and Niro for the B covers of this mini-series. I don’t know if we’ll see this style of cover for all the remaining issues, but I hope so.

 
Cover A: The Sharp Brothers, Cover B: David Messina, Giovanna Niro

Cover RI: David Messina, Giovanna Niro

You can spend your latinum on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – Fool’s Gold #2 at local comic shops this Wednesday.

If you can’t make it out to the promenade in person, go online to TFAW.

Fool’s Gold will be collected in trade paperback this summer, July 2010.

Mark Martinez is an obsessive-compulsive Star Trek comics reader and collector. You can visit his website, the Star Trek Comics Checklist for more than you ever needed to know about Star Trek comics.