Star Trek: Boldly Go #7 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 7, April 2017

Appearing far too similar in narrative to D.C. Fontana’s November 1967 “Star Trek” television story "Journey to Babel", Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott’s script for this “two-part whodunit” contains little in the way of any action, except perhaps Jaylah’s wholly unwise rescue attempt of Shev at the magazine's conclusion. Indeed, considering that this twenty-page periodical features both the ever distrustful Romulans and Commander Valas’ return to Federation space, this book’s audience must have felt remarkably cheated by the comic’s endless diplomatic dialogue.

Equally as disconcerting is the writing team’s frustrating attempt to replicate Spock’s infamously strained relationship with his father, Sarek, with the wilful Cadet Shev and the Andorian Ambassador. Angered by his son’s readiness to put his “responsibilities at the academy” ahead of those of his “family and our race”, many of this franchise’s long-running fans must have struggled not to hear actor Mark Lenard’s voice speaking the Babel-bound politician’s unoriginal lines as he scolds his blue-skinned offspring for daring to forget he is an “Andorian first”, and threatening to “revoke your place at the humans’ school” if he embarrasses him “in any way” at the conference.

Fortunately, whilst not having all that much positive impact upon this particular edition, Issue Seven of “Star Trek: Boldly Go” does at least suggest the title’s subsequent edition may at least involve the U.S.S Endeavour engaging in some much-needed space combat. True, Captain Kirk’s temporary command of the Federation starship adds very little to the pacing of this particular comic’s prose on account of the character being disappointingly confined to simply scanning the Stellonian asteroid belt for the jettisoned escape pods of an “unregistered vessel”. But it soon becomes clear “there’s no way” the fleeing spacecraft will be able to outlast the NCC-1805 forever, and that a taut confrontation between the hunter and the hunted is ‘just around the corner’; “If they think a few rocks are going to stop us, I’m happy to prove them wrong.”

Despite making a good job of capturing the crew’s ‘Silver Screen’ likenesses with her ‘clean style’, Megan Levens’ somewhat cartoony breakdowns also appear as disconcertingly disagreeable as the comic’s trite writing and resultantly seem a little at odds with a supposedly tense tale of subterfuge and treachery. In fact, the Savannah College of Art and Design graduate’s illustrations would seem far more suited to a fun-loving, humorous adventure, such as one inspired by “The Trouble With Tribbles”, than this book’s dialogue-heavy political drama…

The regular cover art of "STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO" No. 7 by George Caltsoudas