We will kick this review off with a full confession: this is the first Star Trek story that I’ve ever read. While I love Star Trek movies and TV shows, I’ve never gone out of my way to read a book or comic. There’s no explanation for it, but it’s true. However, that changed recently when I checked out Star Trek: Deep Space Nine–The Dog of War from IDW Publishing.

I came to Star Trek in my 20s, not as a kid. While I obviously enjoyed The Next Generation like everyone else, I had a special affinity for Deep Space Nine. The main cast were all excellent, and the show nailed nearly every secondary cast member. Then, throw in all of the excellent stories, and you can see why I would jump it up to be my favorite in the Trek universe.

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine–The Dog of War is billed as a “lost episode” of the show. The digital copy of the trade paperback that I read collects all five issues of the series, and it was a super fun read. Everything flowed so well and felt like an episode of the TV show.

The story is set on DS9, shortly after Starfleet recaptured the base from the Cardassian and Jem’Hadar forces. A mysterious collector has left a pure-bed Pembroke Welsh Corgi, along with a piece of Borg technology, with Quark. The dog is affectionately named Latinum by the Ferengi bar owner and quickly ingratiates with the crew.

Latinum isn’t the main focus of the story, but he is integral to the plot. The Borg tech takes center stage throughout as Starfleet is working to come up with any advantage they can find in the Dominion War.

Plus, as a Star Wars fan, I got an “aggressive negotiations” joke from Worf. Outstanding.

The art from Angel Hernandez is truly great. Every character looks just like their TV counterpart, and the coloring from Nick Filardi is top-notch. There are times in comics based on an existing property that the characters will look a little uncanny valley-ish, but they’ve presented a book here where everything looks terrific.

I really enjoyed the book, and I would highly recommend it to any Star Trek fans, especially if you loved DS9. It’s encouraged me to look for more Star Trek books and comics in the future.

Thank you NetGalley and IDW Publishing for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own.

You can pick up this comic here. It goes on sale February 13, 2024.

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Comic: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine–The Dog of War

Publisher: IDW Publishing

Writer: Mike Chen

Artist: Angel Hernandez

Colorist: Nick Filardi

Letterer: Neil Uyetake

Cover Artist: Jake Bartok