While the first 2 issues of Star Trek The Next Generation Doctor Who Assimilation were a little slower paced than I would like I thoroughly enjoyed #3. It picks up with the Enterprise crew and the Doctor running from the Borg/Cybermen. They find a place to hide temporarily in classic Star Trek style – within a nebula. Picard and Data use this time to search the archives for a reference to Cybermen, and they find just 1 single instance. The majority of the rest of the comic plays out as a flash back to Kick and Spock who had an encounter with just a handful of Cyberman and a previous iteration of the Doctor.
The flashback not only tells the story of the Kirk’s run in with the Doctor, but it does so in a traditional art style for that period. You really get the flash back feel seeing these character in the appropriate art. I did not even notice it at first but when this Captain’s Log from Kirk ends and the art changes back to a modern look it caught my attention. The flashback gives a few clues to what the Cybermen might be doing in this universe, but not enough that the reader knows more than the characters involved in the comic.
So, while we’re not much close to discovering what the Cybermen and the Borg are doing together it seems like the Doctor is starting recognize there is a major issue. He is remembering things he does not remember which should not be possible. Much like when he first knew what a Klingon was even though he had never seen one before. Hopefully next issue we get a little more details about what the Cybermen’s plans are and some action with the current crew, but for the first time in this series I really enjoyed the pacing.
