Christopher Cantwell’s Star Trek: Defiant Vol. 1, a book so tough it doesn’t have a subtitle, has less overhead to deal with than Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing’s Star Trek Vol. 1: Godshock, and so in that way feels a bit zippier.

Godshock necessarily had to spend a couple pages on Benjamin Sisko returning and on the introduction of a brand-new ship, nor do I begrudge a book about a new ship introducing some new crew members, too. But Defiant in contrast hurtles through its set up, spending just a handful of pages on how Spock joined Worf’s mission to save his son before it mostly elides how Worf teamed up with B’Elanna Torres or managed to abduct Ro Laren. Worf and Spock commandeering the Defiant equally goes by fast. Again, credit to Godshock for doing the hard work of establishing this Trek era and its situations, but Defiant is clearly the beneficiary.

[Review contains spoilers]

No knock against Godshock, which I enjoyed, but I’m also more taken with Cantwell’s cast than Kelly and Lanzing’s. From the jump, again, we’ve got Worf, Spock, Torres, and Ro, arguably a good spread among Trek’s “first four,” plus Lore and Sela. Maybe that becomes a lot of Next Generation but it feels more diffuse than Data and Crusher on the bridge in the main title. Cantwell takes a while before introducing the Defiant’s doctor, a new Orion character (or at least we don’t know her connection yet), and I think the approach of waiting before bringing in new characters pays off.

Spock and Worf pair better than one might expect, though this is a pairing I’ve liked for a long time — or at least, I thought I did; I was sure Keith R.A. DeCandido’s novel Diplomatic Implausibility paired ambassadors Worf and Spock, but that doesn’t seem to be the case, so now I’m not sure what I was thinking of. Cantwell’s Spock compares Worf to Kirk, which feels a stretch but we all knew it was coming. I thought Cantwell did particularly nicely making “TNG Spock” feel of a piece with original series/movie Spock, getting in references to Spock’s death in Wrath of Kahn and the V’ger entity. Though, notably so far both the Defiant and Star Trek series seem to have avoided direct references to Discovery or Strange New Worlds; we’re largely in the “first four” era and continuity.

As a Voyager fan I’m pleased to see B’Elanna, and the use of the Klingon Korath from Voyager’s finale is inspired; also I was happy Ro would be included, having become a Ro fan with the Deep Space Nine relaunch novels. Cantwell’s Ro is more awkward than I expected — trying to bargain with Orion pirates, she says, “My name is … Ro Laren, I guess,” which is weird — though I don’t know if it’s true to the character and I’ve just imagined the character wrong. I did like the tension between B’Elanna and Ro, reigniting some of the political tone that the Maquis brought to Trek. Between the two they have nontraditional paths into and out of the Maquis, and it’s interesting to see how they work out their own conflicts by sniping at one another.

It’s a heady conflict that all of these Trek comics writers have set up. This first volume of Defiant is concurrent with the second volume of Trek, so I’m not yet sure how it’s shaping up over there, but I thought it was interesting here when B’Elanna and Spock point out they’re facing Romulans, Klingons, and Orions all joined together, a cult, Worf says, that’s “spreading so fast it is leaping the typical boundaries of race, culture, and even opposing ideologies.” Obviously that’s bad, but also it’s a kind of peace, these species battling a common enemy instead of one another. That’s a good spot for Star Trek to be in, something a little morally gray and not so easily decided even if we ultimately know who’s side we’re on.

I’ll note that in both Godshock and Defiant, there’s been a couple instances of clumsy word balloon placement, attribution lines having to snake behind characters and such. Artist Angel Unzueta thankfully draws the entire book and his depictions are crisp throughout, but coordination with the letterer sometimes seems fraught. Also, while Kelly, Lanzing, and Cantwell’s frequent “PADD pages” were entertaining to start, I have found myself skimming sometimes the long Starfleet edicts, which perhaps are not as interesting as the authors think they are.

But overall, Star Trek: Defiant Vol. 1 is a fine start, better than Star Trek Vol. 1: Godshock, but again, possibly Godshock’s loss is Defiant’s gain. Too I’m eager for the upcoming crossover, Spock with Scotty, Data with Lore, Tom Paris and B’Elanna together, maybe Crusher’s got something to say to Ro. We want these successive volumes to trend upward, and this is trending upward.

[Includes original and variant covers]