Wet Behind the Ears

Trial by fire! – "Wet Behind the Ears" was the 32nd issue of DC Comics' 1989 series of Star Trek: The Next Generation comics. The issue consisted of a 24 page story, as written by Michael Jan Friedman. The art was pencilled by Peter Krause and inked by Pablo Marcos, with Kim Yale credited as editor.

ReferencesEdit

CharactersEdit

Barron • Sonya Gomez • Keane • Kozinski • Geordi La Forge • McIver • Miles O'Brien • Jean-Luc Picard • William Riker • Ro Laren • Timmins • Deanna Troi • Worf • unnamed Catarr (Catarr captain and officer) • USS Enterprise-D personnel (unnamed USS Enterprise-D personnel: engineering ensign) • unnamed Starfleet personnel (cadets)

Referenced only: Ajanian • Kieran Duffy • Nagurski

Starships and vehiclesEdit

Catarr starship • USS Enterprise-D (Galaxy-class explorer) • USS Odyser • USS Tubman (Constellation-class exploratory cruiser training vessel)

Referenced only: USS Akagi • USS Berlin • USS Enterprise • USS Fearless

LocationsEdit

Shipboard localesEdit

USS Enterprise-D: bridge • engineering • ready room • ten forward

USS Tubman: bridge • engineering • sickbay

Catarr vessel: bridge

ChronologyEdit

2365: Gomez remembers spilling hot chocolate on the captain. (TNG episode: "Q Who")
2368: Picard is surprised Geordi chooses Gomez for the cadet mission.

AppendicesEdit

BackgroundEdit

This story is a sequel of sorts to Sonya Gomez's appearances in TNG episodes: "Q Who?", "Samaritan Snare".
The other Federation ships shown all have registry numbers with an alphabetical suffix, a rarity in canon productions.
The characters of Ro, Riker, Worf, Troi and O'Brien all appear in this issue's artowrk but do not have dialog. Ro in particular appears on the cover, even though she only appeared in cameo in the story.
This is the second issue where Ro is shown at a bridge station wearing an operations division gold uniform rather than her normal command division red uniform.
In a commonly made mistake, Picard states in dialog that the Tubman was a Constitution-class vessel rather than a Constellation. He even goes so far to claim it is not unlike the original USS Enterprise, even though numerous dissimilarities are visible in the designs. Possibly the vessel had been converted since Picard last knew it, the cover and interior artwork show it to be a Constellation.
The Catarr race was devised for this issue to serve as the story's villains. Their appearance and the appearance of their Catarr starship was probably designed by issue penciler Peter Krause, although some details may have been contributed by inker Pablo Marcos and colorist Julianna Ferriter. Additionally, a variant look for their ship was seen on the cover, as drawn by J.K. Moore. The cover version of the ship has very little in common with the vessel seen on the inner pages, which is a contradiction unless one can entertain the possibility that the ship could alter its shape.