Star Trek: The Next Generation and the original series are by far the most popular of the Trek universe. However, it could be debated which is the most popular film. Some would say The Wrath of Khan, some would say the 2009 film, and some would say First Contact. The Borg is part of Star Trek culture, when they appear, you know things are about to go down. It’s only natural that a mini-series would look to incorporate these guys with First Contact and a Next Gen history backdrop. Other than some comic stories, Next Gen hasn’t been seen since Nemesis, so this would be the story that takes place after it. The Borg has won, they have assimilated everything. Now what? Interesting, isn’t it? Hive #1 is a fantastic start to a mini-series longtime fans will really enjoy.

Here’s the official description from IDW:

Celebrating the 25th anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation! In the distant future the entire galaxy has been completely assimilated by Borg and it’s King Locutis! The only hope for the future lies in the past, in the hands of Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the starship Enterprise-as Picard faces off against the Borg collective in one final, terrifying and definitive encounter!

The Next Generation is how I entered the Star Trek world. Therefore I’m of course a little biased to that era. Voyager and the original are good too, but Next Gen, those are the characters I know. The Best of Both Worlds is arguably one of the most important stories in the entire Trek universe. Without it, we would have no First Contact. This series is using the history established in the Borg stories extremely well. Truly, only longtime fans will get the most out of it. Here we have an older Captain Picard, whose still captain of the USS Enterprise. Commander Riker is still around, it’s good to see these guys back in a new story. (Nemesis came out ten years ago.) That’s not all, but characters whom only fans will recognize appear, it’s truly a fan service. (But with a really good story.) The writing is very good, straight out of an episode. My favorite piece was “We pursued total assimilation of the galaxy. We attained the power to do this, but lost the ability to ask why it was worth doing.”

The art is simple, it doesn’t try to draw attention to itself, it compliments the story. The characters and reactions match the show. The main cover is by far the best, one of the greatest covers this week. Interestingly enough, a plotline with the Borg here seems to be slightly based on the story arc Scorpion from Voyager. Species 8472, the beings that first beat the Borg and had ships that could easily destroy their cubes, something like that is seen here. Maybe I’m looking into this too deeply, but that plot is very similar. It’s not bad, and maybe it was meant to be a homage for the fans. Either way, the other things I’m comparing to Species 8472 are pretty awesome looking. With a pretty shocking ending, (that again longtime fans can appreciate) you’ll be back for the next issue.

Overall, this is definitely a great start to this event. If you want to see these characters again with the popular Borg as the threat, you’ll definitely want to pick this up. The writing is smart, and c’mon, it’s Next Gen with the Borg, not much else can get better than that.

5/5