Having picked up a few cheap back issues of the Malibu Comics Star Trek: Deep Space Nine series and enjoying them immensely, not only did I then go back and pick up a few more, ever so slightly pricier issues, but it even got me interested enough to watch the show from the beginning too, something which I’d tried to do and struggled with back in the 90s.

In fairness, I’d never been much of a Star Trek fan, and it’s taken me a good few decades to truly get what’s so special about the franchise. Deep Space Nine in particular feels like the series I would have most appreciated back then, even as a non-Trekkie, given its interesting character dynamics and a more open approach to conflict and disagreements amongst the station’s crew.

It’s a testament to writer Mike W. Barr and artist Gordon Purcell’s brilliant work on the comics series that it got me to watch a show that I’ve spent over 30 years without having seen more than a handful of episodes of, and this opening issue is a great example of their work.

When Jake and Nog accidentally release some sort of rapidly growing and infectious mould on Deep Space Nine, it kicks off a terrifying and immediate emergency that puts the entire station in jeopardy.

There’s a lot to like here; despite the show still finding its own feet at the time this comic was written, there’s definitely the sense that Barr already has a handle on most of the characters and their personalities, and Purcell does a great job of making each of them look strikingly like their onscreen counterparts.

It’s a great story too, though it’s only part 1 of 2, ending with an excellent cliffhanger to boot.

Malibu were in a stronger position in the comics industry in the early 90s than may be obvious now, and their licensed comics in particular were particularly well handled. That’s definitely the case with Deep Space Nine, which enjoyed a great, 32 issue run at Malibu before they were bought by Marvel, and the comic was relaunched. I’ll definitely be checking out more of these issues, and thanks to these comics, I’m also pretty addicted to the TV show they’re based on as well!

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