It’s Picard v Jellico In Star Trek: TNG: Mirror Broken #3 – Review & Preview

Review: Star Trek: The Next Generation – Mirror Broken #3

Publisher: IDW Publishing
Written by: Scott and David Tipton
Art by J.K. Woodward, colors by Charlie Kirchoff

Space… The final frontier. These are the voyages of the I.S.S. Enterprise. Its continuing mission: to conquer strange new worlds, to enslave new life and new civilizations… To boldly go where no one has gone before!

We’ve made it to the halfway point of the TNG Mirror Universe saga. When we last left things, Picard and Riker had beaten the pulp out of each other like Iron Man vs. Captain America – except with a much happier ending. After a stalemate, Picard was able to convince Riker to join in his coup of the Enterprise-D.

Cover art by J.K. Woodward

We begin in the shuttlebay, where Edward Jellico is being sworn in as Captain of the I.S.S. Enterprise, in a scene that “mirrors” Picard’s in “All Good Things.” It’s clear from the start that Jellico is a perfect fit here – his temperament is just as we saw in “Chain of Command” and, on cue, he goes off on Riker. Jellico has zero tolerance, even throwing an officer in the agony booth because his tunic wasn’t properly pressed. This version of Jellico is not messing around.

Hey, look. Another Captain that hates kids.

In Sickbay, Jellico is introduced to his new Chief Medical Officer,  the best doctor in the fleet and one he has hand picked to treat all of the casualties he’s expecting during their mission. She agreed to this assignment on the condition that she could bring her son, Wesley, along. As fantastic as Woodward’s art is in this issue, the one thing I don’t get is why Wesley looks nothing like Wil Wheaton and, instead, looks like Seth Green. I’m curious if that was intentional or not.

We follow Jellico to the bridge – which curiously looks just like the one in the Prime universe.

There’s something very familiar about this ship…

With this being a state of the art warship designed to battle the Klingons and Cardassians, I was expecting something similar to the bridge from “Yesterday’s Enterprise.” By contrast, the outside of the ship looks exactly like the Admiral Riker-led Enterprise-D from “All Good Things,” complete with the phaser cannon located on the underside of the saucer section and a third nacelle. I do wonder, though – what happened to Enterprises A – C to get us to D? Maybe that’s a whole other story to explore or perhaps they will address it later.

Can Data communicate with the Borg Queen in the Mirror Universe?

If last issue was all about Picard’s jacked physique, this one is all about Jellico’s lack of one. In a startling maneuver, the Captain removes his outer jacket, revealing his shockingly scrawny arms. Not only that, but Woodward highlights his horrible posture, revealing him to look insecure and consequently, weak. It’s a subtle move that pays off brilliantly once Picard and his band of mutineers beam aboard the ship.

Picard is back where he belongs

This was my favorite issue of the series so far. My only criticism is that I wish we would’ve gotten to the Enterprise sooner. But now that we’re there, it’s full speed ahead. The ending is satisfyingly perfect and sets up what’s sure to be an exciting second half of the series.  

5-Page Preview: Star Trek: The Next Generation – Mirror Broken #3

Click thumbnails to enlarge

Available Now

Mirror Broken #3 costs $3.99 and comes out today. You can buy it at a discount at TFAW. They also have the Caltsoudas alternative cover version available.

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In this Mirror Universe, is Jellico’s catchphrase, “Get it done … bitch”?

Those illustrations look like Wil Wheaton to me, maybe Seth Green’s hair style but definitely Wil Wheaton.

Yeah, but Beverly’s hair reminds me of the German woman who was Dr. Evil’s assistant. An “in-joke,” maybe? Because the hair looks like Seth Green’s in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery :-D

Who was the chief who got vaporized? It kind of looks like Miles O’Brien, but he’s on DS9.

It might have been interesting to have a temporally-displaced Montgomery Scott in the crowd as well…

I can’t resist this particular line of comic book. I get as many of the variants as I can. I think it’s cool I love IDW’s style.

Oh my word!the nineteen seventy nine star trek poster!yeah,I saw this film in high school…all those year”s ago!it was my last year in high school!star trek the motion picture was on in December!from:betsye j.lee

Picard’s a little too jacked. He would look better if he was drawn slightly leaner but still athletic.

Agreed. He looks like, if he was standing at attention, his arms would be at 30 degrees off the vertical axis. Like a goon in a Robert B. Parker mystery.

Poor Jellico. A superb, authoritative captain, always written as a bad man, but, thanks to Ronny Cox, actually a badass and a good guy!!