Star Trek: Holo-Ween II #3 is written by Alex Segura and published by IDW Publishing. Artwork is by Bailie Rosenlund, colours by JP Jordan and letters by Jeff Eckleberry. Main cover art (left) is by Rosenlund.
Star Trek: Holo-Ween II#3 is available from today, in comic book stores and on digital platforms where all good comic books are sold. Grab your physical copy from Forbidden Planet or digitally from Amazon Comixology UK.
Synopsis
Part three of our Halloween event! A dire, garbled warning breaks through from Benjamin Sisko—he’s identified the suspects, and they’re extremely dangerous. Then the signal dies. With communications severed and panic spreading, Worf and Odo move fast to protect the civilians and visiting dignitaries, sealing off the station and turning Deep Space 9 into a high-stakes locked-room mystery. But just as order seems within reach, a chilling realization hits: Bashir and Dax are missing…and no one knows where they’ve gone.
Review
IDW’s brilliant Star Trek: Holo-Ween II returns to comic book stores today with its penultimate issue. Alex Segura’s brilliant twist on the Star Trek Halloween story shows just how capable it is to lean into classic Trek storytelling, pulling on existing plot threads to craft a story which fits perfectly into spooky season without alienating long-time fans.
I remarked in my review of issue #2 how cleverly Segura had taken the idea of this Holo-Ween series and brought it closer to something traditionally Trek. I came into issue #3 fully anticipating last week’s cliffhanger to send the book off fully into holodeck – or in this case holosuite – territory. So I was very pleasantly surprised to find the book splits its time between action on the main space station and the U.S.S. Defiant as well as catching up with events for Worf, Dax and Chief O’Brien trapped in the holosuite.
Segura is doing a sterling job of balancing a number of different plot threads. This issue goes a long way to having them collide, setting up plenty of action to steer the book into space port next week for its finale. But what is refreshing is just how much those various plot threads pull from Star Trek’s many legacy storylines. Having the Maquis behind the arrival of the U.S.S. Valera and tying the series’ villain into classic Deep Space 9 season 2 episode “Invasive Procedures“ is a very smart move.
This issue leans heavily on Odo and Bashir for well crafted exposition dumps which bring us up to speed. Both characters are well established for this through their live-action counterparts ensuring these moments feel organic to the story. There’s plenty of mystery that needs to be worked through and quickly given we only have one more issue to go. Their scenes might be dialogue heavy but they’re offset by the action taking place elsewhere in the story meaning that issue #3 feels generally very well balanced throughout.
What is surprising is how slow-burn events in the holosuite have played out. Given that Chief O’Brien was taken early in issue #1 we’re still somewhat in the dark as to what is going on. Whilst it’s now tied heavily into the search for the Blade of Jeraddo it still hasn’t quite revealed all of its cards just yet. Shaping these moments into something of a Knives Out style murder-mystery is a fun twist which can hopefully be steered to a satisfying conclusion next week.
Once again Bailie Rosenlund and JP Jordan’s artwork is outstanding, breathing fresh life into characters and sets which have existed in the minds of fans for over three-decades now. With the action beginning to skew more heavily towards the holosuite there’s more room to have a little fun this issue. Costumes and locations are more unexpected and it’s interesting to see how they approach taking this beloved characters and putting them somewhere new.
All-in-all Star Trek: Holo-Ween II has been a really fun and unexpected rollercoaster so far. I can’t wait to see where next week’s conclusion takes us.
Verdict
Star Trek: Holo-Ween II #3 continues to defy expectations, balancing a very recognisable Trek story against its Halloween gimmick. With just one issue to go there’s plenty of ground left to cover and more than enough intrigue to keep readers hooked to the very end.
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