Hi everyone! I hope you’re all well. Today is Friday, and it’s time for another review. Today, I’m sharing my review of the graphic novel Star Trek: The Next Generation: Mirror Broken by Scott Tipton, David Tipton and J.K. Woodward.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Mirror Broken was published in 2017 by IDW Publishing and is 128 pages long.
The Plot
In this timeline, decades after Mirror Spock’s reforms weakened the brutal Terran Empire, the Empire has been battered by the Klingon–Cardassian Alliance and retreated to the Solar System, clinging to its last scraps of power.
We open aboard the ISS Stargazer, commanded by a mirror version of Jean-Luc Picard. Picard is stuck with a worn-out ship and a crumbling Empire—but he’s still ambitious, ruthless, and absolutely convinced humanity should be in charge. When a run-in with a Cardassian vessel brings the Stargazer to Utopia Planitia on Mars, Picard learns rumours of a secret new Galaxy-class warship: the Enterprise-D, potentially powerful enough to turn the tide of the war, and he wants to steal it.
Characters
Picard
Mirror Picard still has the prime version’s charisma and tactical brain, but has very different ethics. He’s ambitious, cruel at times, and openly contemptuous of Spock’s reforms and the weakened Empire. He genuinely believes in human supremacy and is willing to use manipulation, intimidation and outright murder to get the Enterprise and “restore” Imperial glory.
Data
Mirror Data is fascinatingly creepy. Rather than striving for humanity in a moral sense, he’s an experimental cyborg who grafts new weapons and tools into his own body, treating himself like a walking prototype. In this universe, he owes Picard his life, which skews their relationship from mentoring to a kind of dark patronage: Data is loyal to Picard personally, but also curious and calculating, weighing where his best odds for survival and self-improvement lie.
Barclay
Mirror Barclay is still anxious and neurotic, but here that insecurity curdles into resentment and ambition. Bullied in Engineering on the ISS Stargazer, he dreams of climbing the ladder, the only way the Terran Empire allows – through treachery and opportunism.
Troi
Deanna Troi becomes “Inquisitor Troi”: a feared interrogator who uses her Betazoid abilities to sniff out disloyal thoughts. She’s Picard’s closest ally and confidante, and very much his enforcer – not a soft presence but a power centre, playing psychological games with everyone around her.
Geordi La Forge
Geordi is essentially the mirror-engineer archetype: still brilliant, still the go-to technical mind, but harder, more cynical, and ready to align with whichever captain offers him the best odds of survival and advancement. His position in the shipyards at Utopia Planitia makes him crucial to Picard’s plan to reach the Enterprise in the first place.
Riker
Riker starts as Jellico’s first officer on the Enterprise, with a long, prickly history with Picard and Troi. He knows the ship intimately and sees Picard as both a threat and an opportunity. A lot of the tension in the back half of the book comes from watching Riker weigh his options in a world where loyalty is a liability.
Beverly and Wesley Crusher
While they’re not as central as the characters above, mirror Beverly Crusher and Wesley Crusher appear aboard the Enterprise with a thorny past connection to Picard. Their presence adds extra personal tension and hints at how far his ruthlessness extends into his private life.
Writing Style
This is how I like my Star Trek graphic novels. It’s pulpy and ruthless but still very Starfleet-y in how it handles tactics, ship-to-ship combat, and political manoeuvring. There’s a nice blend of back-stabbing mirror politics and classic “how do we out-think the enemy fleet” starship strategy.
The script leans heavily on wider Trek canon – Spock’s reforms, the Klingon–Cardassian Alliance from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the Mirror Universe’s Terran Empire and its collapse – but it stays accessible even if you only have a rough sense of those pieces.
On the downside, because it’s rather short, some character beats feel sketched rather than deeply explored; you may wish we got more page-time with, say, Beverly or Wesley, or a more extended look at how ordinary crew members live under Picard’s rule. But as a focused “Picard steals the Enterprise in the Mirror Universe” story, it’s efficient and satisfying.
Artwork
J.K. Woodward’s painted style is distinctive—almost photorealistic, with rich textures and strong use of shadow. Faces resemble the actors convincingly without feeling traced, and the darker palette suits the authoritarian mood of the Empire.
The visual tone leans heavily into reds, blacks, and metallic greys, reinforcing the oppressive atmosphere. Ship interiors feel weighty and militaristic. Space sequences are polished and cinematic.
Occasionally, the painted approach can make action scenes feel slightly static—beautiful tableaux rather than kinetic bursts—but the overall aesthetic is cohesive and confident. It looks like prestige Trek.
Final Thoughts
Overall, as a self-contained graphic novel, Mirror Broken is a sharp, visually striking “what if?” that allows us to see the Next Gen crew as their alternate universe counterparts. The plot is straightforward but compelling, the character work hits a nice balance between familiarity and nastiness, and Woodward’s painterly art gives the whole thing a prestige feel.
If you enjoy darker Trek, alternate timelines, or just the idea of a ruthless Picard scheming his way to the captain’s chair of the Enterprise-D, this is very much the book for you!
I’m giving this one a 7/10.
Have you read Star Trek: The Next Generation: Mirror Broken? What did you think?
As ever, thanks for stopping by and reading my review!
Until next time,
George
© 2026 GLT
Categories: Book Reviews, Reading
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