I’ve been waiting for this one for months. A Star Trek comic written by Charlie Jane Anders, one of my favorite sci-fi writers of the current era? How could I resist? And now that it’s here, the comic does not disappoint.

Taking place a few years after season 3 of Star Trek: Picard, we open with Raffi, after having spent some time serving aboard the Enterprise (under the command of her wife Seven of Nine), now being given command of her own ship. Not just any ship, either. The (highly classified) mission of the USS Endeavor is particularly suited to Raffi’s experience in intelligence and covert ops: find and stop threats to the Federation before they happen.

How do they find these threats before they become threats? With the help of the galaxy’s most advanced supercomputer. It includes a positronic brain made from schematics by Dr. Noonien Soong, programming based on Voyager’s holographic Doctor, and an interface that looks like Uhuru. In short, this AI is designed with all the right buzzwords to make the crew, as well as us, the readers, trust her, trust that she knows what she’s doing, and trust that she has only the best interests of the Federation in mind.

Of course, not everyone is convinced. Raffi’s XO is D’vana Tendi, the Orion from Lower Decks—which means she’s genre-savvy enough to know all the reasons why trusting a sentient supercomputer is a bad, bad idea. It also doesn’t help that their first mission has a high risk of destroying the ship and killing everyone on board.

This comic was clearly made with a love of Star Trek both new and old, and it brings the two together in a myriad of ways. There are familiar characters, familiar events, but also plenty that’s brand new and well worth exploring. If you haven’t seen the newer series, particularly Picard: Season 3, you may be a bit confused about who some of these people are, but the comic tells you everything you need to know.

This issue is a great beginning, and there’s plenty of potential for more. If the sentient supercomputer doesn’t turn on them, it could conceivably run for years. Whatever’s in store, I’m very excited to see it.

Creative Team: Charlie Jane Anders (writer), Isaac Sánchez González (artist), Jodie Troutman (letterer)
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Click here to purchase.