After catching up on Echoes, I can say with some confidence that this isn’t the book for me. Marc Guggenheim has never been a writer I’ve been a fan of, and Oleg Chudakov’s art isn’t really a selling feature either. All the characters looked as though they were drawn based off a description alone, and the fact that everyone is wearing TMP uniforms makes them difficult to distinguish from one another. I feel like I should be able to tell if a character is supposed to be Bones or Kirk just by looking at them.
Anyways, with regards to issue three specifically, the story seems fine. Alternate universe Chekov – who doesn’t have the accent that Guggenheim painfully writes into prime Chekov’s dialog, and is named Luthor Akris despite the fact that alternate Uhura is still Nyota Uhura – is negotiating with the Romulans, and is clearly outsmarting them, for access to their technology in exchange for his Bajoran orb doomsday weapon. Alternate Uhura goes off mission to try and kill Akris, and prime Chekov gets shot in the process, but Sulu, and alternate Uhura are able get him on Akris’ ship to escape back to the Enterprise outside Romulan territory, leaving Kirk and prime Uhura behind.
The solicitation copy claimed that Spock and Bones were going to devise a plan to save everyone, but all they actually do is Spock gives Bones shit for wanting to retire, claiming every life lost because he wasn’t there to save them is his fault. Once Sulu and alternate Uhura get Chekov back to the ship, Bones is able to sew Chekov back up, but he losses a bunch of blood, and wouldn’t you know it, he has a rare condition where he can only get a blood transfusion from an exact genetic match, and the reason they don’t have any of his blood already on board is because this is just a shakedown cruise where they never expected to see any action.
I am pot committed to finishing this story now, but it is definitely not as fun as the other Trek comics currently being released.