Star Trek: Boldly Go #18 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 18, March 2018

As series finales go, Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott’s concluding instalment to their “Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations” story-arc must have come of something of a huge disappointment to its readers in April 2018, due to its narrative’s nonsensical shenanigans and utterly unfollowable logic. In fact, many bibliophiles may well have viewed this supposed “climactic final chapter of the epic I.D.I.C. saga” as a fitting time to bring the “IDW Publishing” title to a close, bearing in mind just how this particular exploration of the “various corners of the Star Trek multiverse” frustratingly petered out.

For starters, the titanic tussle between James Kirk and his former close friend, Gary Mitchell, actually takes place on board a Federation Starship using a tri-dimensional chess set rather than the cataclysmic physical fisticuffs this comic’s previous edition debatably promised. Admittedly, this surprising plot-twist does somehow allow the U.S.S. Endeavor’s temporary captain to ‘dabble’ in the “no-win scenario” universes this story-line has previously depicted, and resultantly shows Nero’s Romulan invasion of Vulcan failing, Klingon Kirk finally confronting Simon Grayson in the ruins of Khan’s courtroom, as well as Doctor McCoy’s miraculous revival of “Captain Kirk of the Plantship Enterprise.” But just how any of these re-engineered realities actually help the Starfleet officer’s cause against an all-knowing, omnipotent opponent is anyone’s guess, especially when he is shown purposely sacrificing those worlds which contained ‘friends’ he didn’t personally know..? 

Equally as bizarre is Kirk’s conclusion that as he can’t ever beat Mitchell, his only way of besting his foe is to reject Gary’s god-like gift and allow himself to be disintegrated by the combined firepower of the multi-verse fleet his “manipulation of realities” has permitted him to co-ordinate. This moment of self-sacrifice arguably makes no sense whatsoever, as “the most famous and highly decorated starship captain in the history of Starfleet” is currently the only person stopping the homicidal former Lieutenant Commander from literally destroying everything in existence.

Potentially just as perplexed by this final battle’s bemusements as its audience probably was, is artist Josh Hood, whose story-boarding for Issue Eighteen of “Star Trek: Boldly Go” seems as regrettably stiff and wooden as Plant Kirk’s anatomy. Clearly more than capable of sketching a starship-packed galaxy, or a likeness of actor Gary Lockwood, the commercial illustrator unhappily still appears unable to inject many of this comic’s numerous action-packed sequences with any perceptible semblance of animated life, and thus a lot of the tension this publication required to succeed is lamentably absent from its visuals.

The regular cover art of "STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO" No. 18 by Josh Hood

Star Trek: Boldly Go #17 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 17, February 2018

Having previously built-up a somewhat engaging gallery of alternate James Tiberius Kirks in this story-arc’s earlier editions, and then rather savagely eliminated them all with a scratch of his pen, Mike Johnson’s explanation for his actions within Issue Seventeen of “Star Trek: Boldly Go” probably didn’t go down all that well with the book’s audience in March 2017, especially as it hark backs to them having some knowledge of his previously published “Kelvin timeline adaptation” of The Original Series (“TOS”) episode Where No Man Has Gone Before". Indeed, in many ways this twenty-page periodical’s narrative, which frustratingly once again just predominantly flits through numerous incarnations of the U.S.S. Enterprise’s Captain, demonstrates just why the American author should have heeded his own advice when he first started working on the comic book title and ‘promised’ he would just “divide [the] stories up into one-parters, two-parters, [and] three-parters”, stating he “probably won’t do more than that because it would be three months in real time for the story to play out for the reader.”

Sadly however, even a comprehensive understanding of Samuel A. Peeples's original 1965 television pilot and Gary Mitchell’s fearsome telepathic/telekinetic powers arguably doesn’t actually help make this magazine’s script any more enjoyable, as “IDW’s Kelvin Universe scribe” additionally seems to use the formidable scoring Duke-Heidelberg Quotient test subject as a contrived excuse to showcase a plethora of “infinite realities” where “the Federation, the Klingons, and the Romulans conquer each other’s homeworlds, and vice versa”; “I’ve been trying to keep score. The Klingons have a healthy lead so far.” This somewhat short sequence is admittedly rather intriguing and well pencilled by artist Marcus To, yet as with the aforementioned Kirk carousel, doesn’t add anything to an already over-convoluted and punishingly padded out plot, except perhaps the possibility that somewhere ‘out there’ exists a Godzilla-sized James T. battling a blue-skinned giant insectoid across a futuristic cityscape…

To make matters worse, this comic’s cliff-hanger conclusion, which depicts both Starfleet Officers arguing above the mutated lieutenant’s coffin in outer space, appears to have been entirely manufactured just to string out Johnson’s ineffectual “Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations” for one further issue. Mitchell makes it clear to his former friend that in his eyes he has the power of a God, and has already used that power to eradicate all the “infinite Gary’s out there”. Considering that he also plans to do the same with all the Kirks, why therefore does he risk everything by willingly giving his hated rival “part of my power” in order to “fight it out”, particularly when he knows full well that he’s being goaded into giving his opponent his “only chance of beating me”..?

The regular cover art of "STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO" No. 17 by Marcus To

Star Trek: Boldly Go #16 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 16, January 2018

It is difficult to imagine that many of this comic’s 6,564 readers were particularly impressed with Mike Johnson’s script for Issue Sixteen of “Star Trek: Boldly Go” in January 2018, considering that the twenty-page periodical not only sees the likes of Helm-Unit Sulu-1701 and Pavela Chekov being killed by Khan augments and the truly traitorous Simon Grayson respectively, but also the story-arc’s central cast of Captain Jane Kirk, “Captain Plant-Kirk” and even Chris Pine’s cinematic Kirk. This surprising bloodbath undoubtedly makes for a truly shocking experience, especially when the tone of the book’s narrator repeatedly implies that the U.S.S. Enterprise’s commander will successfully escape his perilous predicament along with his crew-mates. Yet equally must have made the publication’s audience despairingly wonder just what the point was of the series’ previous three instalments…

Arguably this book’s most disappointing aspect though, besides from editor Sarah Gaydos utilising a fourth different illustrator for “Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations” on-the-trot, must surely have been the American author’s handling of Earth-Garden’s Starfleet Officer, who is used within the tome to supposedly depict one of the main character’s defining traits, “the legendary Kirk charm.” In the past, this irresistibility to the opposite sex has predominantly been utilised whenever "the quintessential officer” needs to influence or persuade an opponent to acquiesce to one of his cunning plans or high-principled opinions. However, in this tale the leafy “man among men” is shown by artist Angel Hernandez as deliberately turning his back upon his mission and colleagues in order to make love to at least two vine-covered naked beauties; “Rest your tendril’s Uhuro! There’s no rush! Don’t they have Shore Leave in your reality? We’ll find a way home soon enough!”

Such behaviour is hardly demonstrative of charm, more an unpleasantly insatiable urge to put his own selfish pleasures ahead of his responsibilities and debatably ignores the Captain’s ability to put his assignment first even when he has lost his inhibitions (as seen in the 1967 “Star Trek” television episode “The Naked Time”). Indeed, it is actually hard not to cheer when, towards the end of this comic, ‘Klingon-Kirk’ unexpectedly interrupts his green-hued counterpart’s “private moment” by setting his leaves ablaze with a lighter, and subsequently causes the burning “hero for the ages" to explode when he startlingly comes into contact with the gaseous Montgomery Scott.

The regular cover art of "STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO" No. 16 by Angel Hernandez

Star Trek: Boldly Go #15 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 15, December 2017

Grown from a plantlet, having never known “my seed-father”, this third instalment of Mike Johnson’s “Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations” story-arc initially follows the life-growth of James Kirk until, “not long after… defeating the Romulan viroid that threatened Earth-Garden”, he takes his “place in the captain’s node aboard” the wooden Starship Enterprise and inexplicably suddenly encounters a non-botanical Lieutenant Uhuro, a female Captain Spock and “the only gas-based Starfleet officer here”, Montgomery Scott. Disconcertingly, this utterly bizarre plot-twist is perturbingly the basis for the much of the narrative to Issue Fifteen of “Star Trek: Boldly Go” and arguably must have made many a reader’s head hurt with its incessant chopping from the planet Risa, an “Earth where the augments won and humanity was enslaved” by Khan, and an alternative Vulcan which both houses a relocated Starfleet Command, as well as being the Federation’s last bastion against Nero and the Borg-enhanced Romulan Star Empire.”

Indeed, this twenty-page periodical’s narrative contains so much information involving the differences between numerous respective realities that the vast majority of the comic’s 6,441-strong audience probably didn’t even have the ‘where for all’ to spot “IDW’s Star Trek Kelvin Universe (and Discovery) wordsmith” imbuing Kirk with a certain “old Vulcan trick”, when the American author rather lazily depicts “the acting Captain of the Federation Starship Endeavour” over-powering the incredibly annoying Simon Grayson with a simple nerve pinch; “Learned it from a friend of mine.” Admittedly, “Johnson personally considers the current films [are] not set in a split timeline, but in a very similar reality, which allows him to ignore elements of canon that should hold true for both realities”. Yet ever since the March 1968 television episode "The Omega Glory" in which Spock admits having tried to teach his Captain the skill, it’s been canon that few non-Vulcans are capable of utilising the unconsciousness rendering technique and Kirk is most definitely not one of them.

Equally as frustrating as this comic’s space-time Einstein-Rosen bridge-based shenanigans is Tana Ford’s artwork, which whilst excellent at depicting “Captain Plant-Kirk” is far less successful in illustrating Chris Pine’s ‘Silver Screen’ personality and the lead character’s ‘big’ battle against the nauseatingly de-Vulcanised Commander Grayson. Crudely pencilled, with limbs that could seemingly out-stretch even those of the Fantastic Four’s leader, Reed Richards, the Lambda Literary Award-finalist’s combatants disappointingly appear somewhat facially-disfigured and implausibly bendy at a point in the book which surely should have been steeped in angry menace, as opposed to Lampoon-like ludicrosity.

Writer: Mike Johnson, Art: Tana Ford, and Colors: Mark Roberts

Star Trek: Boldly Go #14 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 14, November 2017

Shifting 6,658 copies in November 2017, at least according to “Diamond Comic Distributors, Issue Fourteen of “Star Trek: Boldly Go” focuses upon the intriguing possibility that the U.S.S. Enterprise’s captain was actually born a girl rather than a boy, and made "it to Starfleet Academy” only after her “dad did his best to raise me on his own.” Unfortunately however, rather than flesh out Jane Tiberius Kirk in the same way as he did the commanding officer’s Klingon incarnation within this story-arc’s previous instalment, Mike Johnson instead disappointingly leaves the fact that the space explorer is simply a female doppelganger of the Kelvin timeline’s character at that…

Indeed, considering that this twenty-page periodical’s Tony Shasteen illustrated cover predominantly features the long-haired brunette, there seems to be a disconcerting lack of background offered regarding the woman’s past or that of her similarly-sexed crew, including the immediately likeable Pavela Chekov, who delightfully stuns the increasingly annoying Simon Grayson in the back whilst making her impressive entry; “Sorry for the surprise, Keptin. But I did not like the look of things… And despite our different realities, you remain my Keptin.” In her place, the “highly imaginative and engaging writer” seemingly prefers to provide an additional example of just how obsessed the one-eyed, Kronos-raised “Orphan” is regarding the destruction of Christopher Pike’s constitution-class starship, and then almost randomly throws in a handful more alternative reality cast members just to add to the confusion.

Debatably so diverse a ‘multiverse’ would ordinarily prove a rather attractive proposition, especially for a science fiction franchise whose own ‘Mirror Universe’ has become so very well established within its canon. But Johnson’s relentless deluge of different personifications, whether they be Commanding Unit JTK-1701, a seemingly pure-born Vulcan Spock, or another of the countless other chronotronic event induced beings, quickly becomes overwhelming and befuddling. In fact, by the time ‘Kelvin’ Kirk, Helm-Unit Sulu-1701 and Pavela begin exploring the outskirts of Queen Khan’s palatial grounds, it is hard to recall what’s occurring to all the other numerous crew-members, or even care…

Just as disconcerting as this comic’s complicated plot though is the publisher’s decision to have Megan Levens pencil this particular part of “Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations”, rather than Josh Hood. Having previously familiarized themselves to this adventure’s enormous ensemble via the American illustrator’s more realistic art-style, it must arguably have taken this book’s readership a fair few panels/pages to re-adjust to the “Buffyverse” artist’s contrasting, clean-lined cartoonish caricatures, and this acclimatisation process unhappily only adds to the tale’s story-telling turmoil.

Writer: Mike Johnson, Art: Megan Levens, and Colors: Marissa Louise & Triona Farrell

Star Trek: Boldly Go #13 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 13, October 2017

Described by “IDW Publishing” group editor Sarah Gaydos as “the most prolific writer ever to hit the pages of Star Trek comics”, Mike Johnson’s script for Issue Thirteen of “Star Trek: Boldly Go” most definitely must have entertained the vast majority of its 6,779 readers in October 2017, with its utterly compelling reimagining of James Tiberius Kirk actually being the commander of the Klingon warship I.K.S. Chonnaq. Indeed, the story behind “the mighty orphan”, his capture “as a baby from a Starfleet shuttle” and subsequent raising “in the battle-slums of Kronos” is arguably one of the more innovative takes upon actor Christopher Pine’s character seen this side of the Mirror Universe.

Fortunately, the surprise appearance of the “veteran of countless wars” on the Klingon prison planet, Rura Pente, so as “to administer the punishment decreed by the High Command” upon two incompetent guards, doesn’t appear to be a simple writing gimmick either, with the cold-blooded one-eyed killer shockingly serving the more foolish of the security detail their own father’s severed head; “The last guards who allowed a prisoner to escape were hung by their own entrails and their family name scorched from the histories forever. I don’t have time to hang you by your entrails.” This comic’s American author even provides his audience with an opportunity to have the ruthless Captain exchange ‘pleasantries’ and photon torpedoes with his opposite number aboard a certain Constitution-class starship… 

Enjoyably, the “legend in his own time” isn’t the only U.S.S. Enterprise bridge crew member to have ‘changed’ either, with this opening instalment to “Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations” portraying Mister Spock as a half-Vulcan known as Simon Grayson, whose ears have been “surgically altered” in order to make him look more human. About to be court-martialled for violating the Prime Directive by Christopher Pike, and grief-stricken at the death of his murdered wife, Nyota, this incarnation of the Starfleet Officer seemingly appears far more inclined to get drunk alongside “Bones” than simply keep his emotions in check with logic.

Sadly somewhat less successful than its storyline, though only marginally so, are Josh Hood’s drawings for this twenty-page periodical. Admittedly the “previous artist on The Flash… and a host of other DC and Marvel titles” is able to imbue all of his figures with the facial likenesses of their ‘Silver Screen’ counterparts, and additionally his pencilling of the Enterprise being attacked by Kirk’s Klingon vessel is outstanding. But there is a discernible inconsistency to the quality of his panels, such as Pike furiously confining Commander Grayson “to quarters until we return to Earth”, which increasingly grates upon the eye.

Writer: Mike Johnson, Art: Josh Hood, and Colors: Jason Lewis

Star Trek: Boldly Go #12 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 12, September 2017

Despite resolving Mike Johnson’s reimagining of the story behind Garth of Izar, it’s doubtful many of this twenty-page periodical’s 6,856 readers actually found much of interest within the comic’s mind-numbing narrative. For whilst Issue Twelve of “Star Trek: Boldly Go” provides a satisfyingly succinct conclusion to the former Starfleet captain’s spacefaring career by having him incarcerated within the Federation Asylum on Elba II under the care of Doctor Donald Cory, the book contains little else in the way of action or even enthralling exposition as to just how the “decorated, highly regarded officer” came to be rescued from his transporter accident by the Antosians, and subsequently acquired his miraculous shape-shifting powers.

Indeed, apart from the briefest of battles when the U.S.S. Endeavour momentarily fires upon Captain Jiang’s vessel, hardly anything occurs within the former “Superman/Batman” author’s script whatsoever. True the writer does additionally depict a watered-down ‘rip-off’ of Lee Erwin’s ending to the January 1969 “Star Trek” television story "Whom Gods Destroy" by having Sulu stun Kirk’s duplicate instead of an absent Mister Spock. But such a second-rate solution to Garth’s masquerade is no-where enough to forgive such pointless scenes as Doctor Groffus grumpily demanding his skipper sit their “regular physical examination as scheduled” or a perplexed Leonard McCoy correcting his commander as to who his current chess opponent is; “Of course I’ve been playing with Ellix. It must have just slipped my mind…”

Similarly perplexing is Johnson’s bizarre logic behind the criminally insane captain’s revenge upon the U.S.S. Heisenberg and Eurydice’s plan to ultimately defeat him. Both of these sequences rely heavily upon Kirk’s Aegis class cruiser supposedly having the ability to control the entire vessel from his Ready Room, and the female salvage expert’s spaceship being able to somehow transport her ‘boyfriend’ aboard the Endeavour despite it being engaged in combat and therefore having its shields raised..?

With such insipid and uninspiring penmanship it is perhaps somewhat surprising just how good Megan Leven’s cartoon-like illustrations are for this substandard comic book. Fortunately however, the “child of the Picard generation” clearly has “Star Trek” ‘etched into her DNA’ and considering that this magazine’s plot contains plenty of Kirk ‘screen time’ it’s lucky the artist has “just reached that stage with Chris Pine” where “I can more or less draw” him from memory.

Writer: Mike Johnson, Art: Megan Levens, and Colors: Marissa Louise

Star Trek: Boldly Go #11 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 11, August 2017

Strongly influenced by the background to the January 1969 “Star Trek” television story "Whom Gods Destroy", this first instalment of a two-parter closely follows the decorated career of starship captain Garth of Izar from his utilisation of the Cochrane Deceleration Manoeuvre at the Battle of Axanar, through to his ‘terminal’ transporter accident on the planet Antos IV. Indeed, in many ways the opening quarter to Mike Johnson’s script for Issue Eleven of “Star Trek: Boldly Go”, with perhaps the notable exception of a scene involving cadet Kirk asking to accompany the highly regarded officer aboard the U.S.S. Heisenberg “for the semester”, actually plays out as something of a visualised prelude to the classic original series episode.

Unfortunately for this book’s 6,963 readers though, once the author’s storyline stops following the exploits of “the Hero of Axanar” and veers off into unprecedented territory, the comic’s previously compelling narrative quickly unwinds into a mess of lazy coincidences, lack-lustre writing, and an intimate knowledge of this “IDW Publishing” title’s predecessor “Star Trek: Ongoing”. It certainly appears a little odd that even if “you can find out anything you want to know for the right price”, the adolescent Thalia is not only able to deduce which Federation Starfleet vessel James Kirk is currently commanding, but also learn of its precise location; “I’ll worry about leaks of classified Starfleet data later.” 

Equally as disconcerting is Johnson’s use of the Antosian custom “to [only] meet with a single representative before inviting more strangers down to their planet.” This rigid protocol inadvertently contributes to Garth’s untimely demise “three years ago”, yet is conveniently overridden by the anxious Endeavour’s captain in order to allow him and Eurydice’s daughter to transport straight down to the planet. To make the plot’s inconsistencies worse, the duo are even met on the landing podium by second chair Xegh-Ky of the Antosian Mercantile Authority, whereas the former fleet captain was apparently alone when he died, despite him actually following the alien culture’s convention to the letter.  

Unhappily, Megan Leven’s pencilling probably doesn’t help this rather poorly-penned pedantic piece either, as the advertising story-boarder’s cartoon-like style sometimes struggles to promote any sense of seriousness to the proceedings, even when it’s depicting Garth being literally stripped asunder within a teleportation beam as his bio-signature is lost. The illustrator’s clean-lined technical style is however rather more suited to the portrayal of young cheeky-faced, bright-eyed children, which considering young Thalia’s pivotal role within this comic’s second act, is presumably why she’s the edition’s artist.

Writer: Mike Johnson, Art: Megan Levens, and Colors: Marissa Louise

Star Trek: Boldly Go #10 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 10, July 2017

Group editor Sarah Gaydos was being extraordinarily optimistic in this comic’s “Open Channels” afterword when she suggested Issue Ten of “Star Trek: Boldy Go” featured a “soon-to-be classic story”. In fact, despite Mike Johnson’s twenty-page long script supposedly focusing heavily upon the return of Scotty “to the Yorktown base to check in on construction of the new Enterprise”, it instead disappointingly spends the vast majority of its time following “the comic debut of a beloved alien first seen in the film Star Trek Beyond” known as Kevin the Teenaxi…

Admittedly, the diminutively-sized aggressively paranoid alien provided Simon Pegg’s movie script with precisely the “sort of light-hearted episode” which the English screenwriter apparently wanted as an opening sequence, and the tiny creature’s inadvertent beaming aboard the USS Enterprise, followed by his subsequent attendance at Kirk’s birthday celebration, provided the flick with a modicum of digitally-rendered humour; "still no pants". But such a miniscule character was arguably always going to struggle single-handedly to entertain this title’s 7,804 readers, especially when the central plot revolves around the blue-shirted extra-terrestrial treacherously stealing a starship’s “central control stalk” in order to demonstrate his loyalty to Steve, the “Grand Audarch of the Teenaxi People.”

Indeed, as “bottle stories” go, Johnson’s narrative concentrates far too much upon its jokes, such as the Teenaxi Delegation foolishly believing that without its Captain’s chair a Constitution-class vessel is unpowered, and nowhere near enough on the tale’s straightforward logic. For example, why does Commodore Paris and Scotty immediately forgive Kevin and later actually still offer him a place at Starfleet Academy, when this entire comic has been about the alien abusing their trust in order to infiltrate the Yorktown’s security and criminally steal from the Federation? 

Sadly, Tony Shasteen’s artwork for this inadequate adventure also proves somewhat substandard. The Art Institute of Atlanta graduate can clearly pencil some excellent-looking likenesses of actors Christopher Pine, Simon Pegg and Zoe Saldana, as well as the complexities of a partially-progressed starship. But as this book predominantly features Teenaxi, the illustrator is in the main ‘forced’ to simply sketch a seemingly endless carousel of similarly-shaped aliens, and their rather inedible meal-time “delicacies.”

The regular cover art of "STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO" No. 10 by George Caltsoudas

Star Trek: Boldly Go #9 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 9, June 2017

If Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott’s goal with their one-shot storyline for Issue Nine of “Star Trek: Boldly Go” was to turn the Vulcan race into a dislikeably arrogant people, who are as judgemental and condescendingly conceited as they are frustratingly logical, then this twenty-page periodical’s narrative definitely works on every level. For whilst the character of Sarek, marvellously rendered by “series-regular artist” Tony Shasteen to replicate the facial features of actor Ben Cross, comes across as a well-meaning, pleasantly-mannered member of the relocated race, the likes of Uhura’s fellow Vulcan teacher and Spock’s drill rig companion smack of inter-galactic hubris and personal unpleasantness which would rival that of the Klingon House of Duras.

Indeed, for some reason, the collaborative writing partnership seem to actually go out of their way to make the stoically cultured aliens appear disconcertingly disagreeable, and even pen one not only nastily suggesting that Nyota is not an “adequate mate” for the Ambassador’s son because she is a worthless ‘incompetent’ human with “volatile emotions”. But then venomously implying that it is simply not logical “for any Vulcan to choose a mate who is not Vulcan” because such senseless selfishness would threaten the survival of their species.

Just how the Starfleet Lieutenant stops herself from punching the poisonous educationalist, or her partner’s egotistical colleague, is doubtless a testament to Uhura’s patient Federation training. Yet surely, even that wouldn’t prevent the Communications Officer from having a sharp word to say in retaliation towards the pointy-eared extra-terrestrials; especially when they derogatively refer to her as Spock’s “human friend” and suggest she “is in need of medical attention” when she is literally stood right beside them saving their new planet… 

Sadly, all this obnoxiousness doesn’t help the publication’s scandalously poor storyline either, which seems far too nonsensically contrived to even be read worthy. Presumptuous and lackadaisical, the tale never even attempts to explain just why the “geothermal anomaly” at “the Voroth Massif near the Southern Pole” was not detected by the Vulcan’s “initial planetary scans prior to colonization”, nor how the new radioactive isotope’s ability will help make them “self-sufficient.” And let’s not even mention the ludicrously lazy conclusion when New Vulcan is apparently spared a cataclysmic fate by the ghosts of its centaur-like “native inhabitants”; “Spock’s best hypothesis is that they are psychic echoes of the last survivors.”

The regular cover art of "STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO" No. 9 by George Caltsoudas

Star Trek: Boldly Go #8 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 8, May 2017

Despite featuring the sort of ‘run of the mill’ plot that wouldn’t have looked out of place within the pages of a “World Distributors Limited” Seventies ‘Star Trek Annual’, Issue Eight of “Star Trek: Boldly Go” must still have pleased the majority of its readership with Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott’s mixture of asteroid-based gunplay and Jefferies tube tribulations. In fact, the creative duo’s opening ‘salvo’, featuring James Kirk phaser-fighting his way onto the bridge of an assassin’s space shuttle is undoubtedly the highlight of this twenty-page periodical’s script.

Sadly however, this initially pulse-pounding, and subsequently engaging tale of “diplomatic disaster” is rather frustratingly ruined by the two-parter’s narrative resting upon a Starfleet cadet’s ability to mind meld with the dead body of the Romulan Ambassador. Admittedly, the Vulcan race’s ability to read the thoughts of comatose people is actually documented within the American television franchise itself. But never before has this ‘transference technique’ been shown to conjure up the thoughts and feelings of the dead before, and resultantly rather smacks of the collaborative writing team reaching out for a rather contrived plot device in order to help them lazily resolve their storytelling.

Just as bizarre is Shev’s amazingly quick, and utterly inexplicable relationship reversal with the Andorian Ambassador. In this adventure’s previous instalment it was made abundantly clear that the cadet’s father was far from happy with both his son’s “decision to attend Starfleet Academy” and the blue-skinned boy’s failure to seemingly put his family/race first. However, now his offspring has been found innocent of assassinating Joltair, the stern faced politician unaccountably states he no longer believes Shev to be a “fool” and for some unfathomable reason even begrudgingly acknowledges that perhaps there is some merit to the youngster’s chosen career; “I cannot say that I am in complete agreement… But you will always have a home on Andoria.”

Described by Group Editor Sarah Gaydos as a “guest artist” who “wraps things up with her dynamic style in a tale guaranteed to keep you guessing”, Megan Leven’s illustrations for this particular publication are certainly “cartoony”. Yet whilst such a label could well be (mis)construed as being highly ‘dismissive of the penciler’s drawing skill’, on this occasion it simply means that the action, whether it be Kirk acrobatically leaping from asteroid to asteroid on account of his "hours spent watching the women's Zero-G volleyball team at the Academy, or Spock's monotone discussions with the Romulans, is cleanly drawn and competently rendered.

The regular cover art of "STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO" No. 8 by George Caltsoudas

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

Star Trek: Boldly Go #6 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 6, March 2017

Despite its script hardly featuring the "powerful new threat to the Federation” advertised by “IDW Publishing”, the contents to Issue Six of “Star Trek: Boldly Go” certainly does suggest that the addition of Ryan Parrott as the book’s co-writer will cause the title to turn in something of a different, possibly more episodic, direction. In fact, the self-contained, somewhat “surprising story” about “two of the U.S.S. Endeavour’s crewmembers” is undoubtedly far more reminiscent of the franchise’s Sixties television series than the comic book series’ preceding editions under the solitary pen of Mike Johnson; whose lengthy “encounter with the deadly Borg” conveyed a distinctly ‘summer blockbuster’ feel to its storytelling.  

For starters, although the twenty-page periodical does initially dwell upon the aftermath of Captain Terrell’s slow recovery from having been assimilated by the cybernetic organisms, as well as Mister Sulu’s acceptance to become James Kirk’s First Officer, its narrative predominantly focuses upon the Federation’s discovery of the “long theorized. Never seen” White Hole and excited scientific probing of the “monumental discovery!” Admittedly, this spatial phenomenon and its “very unusual readings” does eventually endanger the Concord and its interim Captain. But the comic’s real “bang for their buck” is actually an Andorian lieutenant’s crippling of the starship and subsequent rescue from the Brig by Communications Officer Murica.

Sadly, just why two of Kirk’s current bridge crew would commit so calamitous “an act of sabotage” as to doom the entire vessel, and additionally ‘end their Starfleet Careers’, is disappointingly soon revealed to be simply another in a long line of well-meaning extra-terrestrials which exist “apart from your three-dimensional reality” and wish merely to “better observe your species”. Yet, so unoriginal an explanation, alongside Hila’s last minute self-sacrifice in order to collapse the white hole, is precisely why this comic book proves so evocative of Gene Roddenberry’s ‘space western’ vision for the original “Desilu Productions” programme. Indeed, the tale even arguably concludes on a humanitarian highpoint as Chris Pine’s celluloid character dwells upon the realisation that “in all of the time I’ve been out here investigating the unknown… We might be investigated too, by species more advanced than ourselves”, and positively determines that “far from being an unsettling thought” “the urge to learn, the urge to understand, crosses all boundaries and unites us all.”

Writers: Mike Johnson & Ryan Parrot, Artist: Chris Mooneyham, and Colors: J.D. Mettler

Star Trek: Boldly Go #5 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 5, February 2017

It is extremely hard to believe that many, if any, of this ongoing series’ readers would've been “teary-eyed” by the end of this tediously tiring twenty-page periodical. For whilst Editors Sarah Gaydos and Chris Cerasi are entirely correct in their statement that Issue Five of “Star Trek: Boldly Go” “focuses on Jaylah, the breakout star” of “last year’s Star Trek Beyond” motion picture. Mike Johnson’s irritatingly plotted narrative is hardly “an extremely beautiful and poignant tale” with it persistent skipping back down the Altamid survivor’s timestream to when the accomplished warrior was actually born.

Indeed, this horribly choppy writing technique can be rather disorientating at times, as the character discovers the hulk of the U.S.S. Franklin one moment, witnesses her father’s murder at the hands of Manas in the next, and then is suddenly depicted as an adolescent who tricks her older sister whilst playing by modifying “a holodisk to project multiple images at once!” Such penmanship may well be unorthodox and innovative, but it hardly helps create “a story full of the same humour, passion, spark, and depth that our heroine displays on-screen.”

Sadly there isn’t all that much action to enjoy within Johnson’s script either, as the sequence depicting Jaylah’s escape from captivity “years prior to her encounter with the U.S.S. Enterprise crew”, starts with the scavenger having already somehow made her way beyond the settlement’s perimeter with her pater. Considering that the couple literally have to dig themselves out of the ground, before they kill one of the  guards, suggests their flight from Krall’s holding cells was not an easy one, and resultantly it’s a real pity this comic didn’t concentrate far more upon those exertions rather than flitting about the Starfleet cadet’s childhood.    

Equally as ponderous are Tony Shasteen’s breakdowns, which disconcertingly seem to deteriorate as the book progresses and the events illustrated become increasingly sedentary in nature, such as the birth of Keelah’s sister or her mother’s sudden death. Admittedly, this arguably harsh impression of what is still a competent piece of pencilling, could simply be generated by the artist’s attempt to understandably rejuvenise the supporting cast as his sketches travel back further into the “fierce little” one’s past. Yet it's still hard to shake off the impression, especially when the panels' backgrounds become noticeably barer, that the Art Institute of Atlanta graduate hasn't tired of the underwhelming storyline.

The regular cover art of "STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO" No. 5 by George Caltsoudas

Star Trek: Boldly Go #4 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 4, January 2017

Whilst Chris Cerasi, “new(ish) editor here at IDW” and “life long Trek fan”, was quite right in his belief that Issue Four of “Star Trek: Boldly Go” brings both Spock and the planet Romulus’ fate “at the mechanized hands of the Borg… to a dramatic conclusion”, it does so in such a disagreeably lackadaisical manner, as to make the villainous Collective appear a rather superficial and impotent adversary. Certainly, it must have irked this franchise's fans that once again, when outclassed and outgunned, the Captain of a Federation starship simply transports “every photon torpedo we have” into the interior of their opponent’s superior vessel in order to ‘save the day’; a plot device which Marc Guggenheim used to great effect in “Star Trek: Captain’s Log: Harriman”.

Perhaps this twenty-page periodical’s biggest disappointment however, is not how easily James T. Kirk bests a Borg sphere, which up until that point had been holding off every spacecraft in the Romulan Star Empire single-handedly. But Mike Johnson’s bizarre assertion that because Mister Spock is half-Human and half-Vulcan, his neural pathways allow him to resist the Hive mind’s microscopic nanoprobes and simply rip out of his body all their cybernetic parts; “Assimilation… unsuccessful.” Considering that the Collective have assimilated both Humans and Vulcans before, it seems rather contrived that a simple “emotional stimulus” from a “combined Vulcan and Human DNA” hybrid would prove “more of an obstacle”, and definitely doesn’t account for how Chief Medical officer Groffus can seemingly readily restore all of the U.S.S. Concord’s heavily ‘Borgified’ former crew...

Almost as infuriatingly annoying is Captain Kirk’s uncharacteristic acceptance to leave his First Officer behind on Romulus in order for Valas ‘to inherit the crimes of her ‘traitorous’ parents’. The Starfleet officer has just saved the Star Empire from assimilation, and rescued “the Romulans captured by the Borg”. Why then would he acquiesce to “a citizen of the Federation” and “one member of my crew” being held in perpetual custody simply because her parents fled the xenophobic interstellar state years before? True, there was probably little that James could do whilst stood within the heart of the Romulan senate house, but surely “the first and only student at Starfleet Academy to defeat the Kobayashi Maru test” wouldn’t just warp back to Federation space without having tried some sort of rescue attempt first?

The regular cover art of "STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO" No. 4 by George Caltsoudas

Star Trek: Boldly Go #3 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 3, December 2016

Any fans quibbling as to just how Mike Johnson could logically incorporate both James T. Kirk and the Borg within the same comic book adventure, doubtless had their questions well and truly answered by Issue Three of “Star Trek: Boldly Go”. In fact, much of this twenty-page periodical’s narrative, such as the deliberations of Spock and Uhura on board the U.S.S. Endeavour, specifically focuses upon ‘set pieces’ which explain just why the Collective have “arrived” in the Kelvin Timeline “over a century ahead” of when they did so within the American science fiction television show “Star Trek: The Next Generation”.

Admittedly, the “IDW Publishing” writer’s notion that the cybernetic organisms would spend thirty years travelling from the Delta Quadrant simply because the Borg “detected its own technology light-years away” with the arrival of the six-mile long Narada from the Twenty-Fourth Century, arguably appears a tad contrivingly convenient, especially when it’s later revealed that Nero’s doomed mining vessel “essentially” spoke “the same language” as the long-range tactical scout sphere due to it ‘incorporating the Hive Mind’s machinery.’ But the author has mentioned the Tal Shiar’s experimental retrofitting of the Romulan ship with “salvaged and reverse-engineered Borg technology” before in his previously published “Star Trek: Countdown” mini-series, and it does provide the assimilation-driven extra-terrestrials with something like a sound rationale as to why they start obliterating the Star Empire’s Fleet “ten light-years from the edge of the Neutral Zone”; “You failed to provide that which we seek. Your failure results in your destruction. Resistance is futile.” 

Equally as well embedded within this comic’s script is plenty of sense-stimulating Starfleet action. Whether it be an apocalyptic attack upon the Romulan planet Quirina VI, Kirk’s fisticuffs with a handful of Borg once he realises they’ve adapted to his landing party’s hand-phasers, or the Collective’s subsequent injection of microscopic machines called nanoprobes into Mister Spock, Johnson’s storyline intermixes enthralling explanations and dynamic ding-dongs with the same skill as Montgomery Scott uses at the controls of the U.S.S. Enterprise’s matter to anti-matter chamber.

Of course, much of the enjoyment gleaned by this book’s readers would have additionally arisen from Tony Shasteen’s excellently rendered breakdowns. The graphic designer, for the most part at least, can not only draw a good likeness of the cast’s ‘Silver Screen’ counterparts, whether they be involved in a sedentary sequence or not, but also demonstrates an incredible ability to pencil some seriously impressive space-battle single-splashes too.

The variant cover art of "STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO" No. 3 by Marc Laming

Star Trek: Boldly Go #2 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 2, November 2016

The potential for permanently disillusioning this “blockbuster” series’ dedicated 9,012 readers must have played merry upon the mind of Mike Johnson when he penned the script for Issue Two of “Star Trek: Boldly Go”. For although the “IDW Publishing” author’s narrative is not the only piece of published fiction to feature James Kirk and Mister Spock encountering the collective species known as the Borg, this twenty-page periodical is the first time that the U.S.S. Enterprise’s “brash” captain from the Kelvin Timeline does so.

Indeed, much of this comic’s captivating charm stems from the somewhat unusual situation that the vast majority of the book’s audience almost certainly knew far more about the Federation’s ‘newest’ adversary than the Starfleet officers themselves, and it definitely wouldn’t have come as a shock to many bibliophiles that the “entire saucer section” of the significantly underpowered U.S.S. Concord is literally ‘carved up’ by the cybernetic organism’s craft just as soon as the Freedom-class starship encounters it; “They called themselves the Borg. They locked us in a tractor beam immediately.”

Fortunately however, despite a sense of familiarity with a storyline that harks back to that of the 1990 “Star Trek: The Next Generation” two-part television serial “The Best Of Both Worlds”, Johnson still manages to include the odd agreeable surprise within this Trekkie tome by having Kirk’s latest command, the U.S.S. Endeavour, face a Borg sphere rather than one of the “recurring antagonists” cubes. This long-range tactical scout ship is no-where near as formidable a threat as the Collective’s much larger primary vessel, and makes for a far more ‘believable match’ when James Tiberius interferes with the aliens’ assimilation of the outpost Armstrong courtesy of a “full torpedo spread on my mark”.

Equally as enjoyable is Clark Terrell’s materialisation on board the Endeavour’s bridge after the Concord’s captain has apparently had his “biological distinctiveness” added to the extra-terrestrial hive mind. This alternative version of the character from the 1982 America science fiction film “Star Trek: The Wrath Of Khan” is wonderfully rendered by artist Tony Shasteen and embodies all of the cybernetic species’ arrogant apathy towards the outpost survivor’s would-be rescuers.  In fact, the graphic illustrator’s pencilling throughout the comic, with the notable exception of the sedentary scenes set on New Vulcan, genuinely imbue the plot’s proceedings with a scintillating sense of speed and palatable tension.

The variant cover art of "STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO" No. 2 by Marc Laming

Star Trek: Boldly Go #1 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO No. 1, October 2016

The first in a “new ongoing comic series” by “IDW Publishing” which chronicles the adventures of Captain Kirk following the 2016 “Star Trek: Beyond” motion picture and the publisher’s previous sixty-issue long title “penned primarily” under Mike Johnson’s watch, this premiere edition of “Star Trek: Boldly Go” must still have left something of a disheartening taste in the mouths of its 14,690 readers with its plodding plot cataloguing the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise’s re-assignments to “new ships and new roles.” It’s certainly doubtful many readers would have become thrilled by a narrative which focusses upon Spock’s father preparing “a special Plomeek Soup of his own recipe” for Nyota, and Bones’ gruff welcome aboard the U.S.S Endeavour by (Medical) Chief Groffus; a Tellarite “with decades more experience” than Doctor McCoy.

Fortunately however, the former “Transformers: Prime” tie-in author does finally inject some tension into his storyline by having the Iowa-born officer’s latest command pick up the “fragments of what appear to be a distress call from the U.S.S. Concord near the Delta Quadrant Border.” This interruption of the Captain’s “leisure time” with Pavel and Leonard, not only raises a concern as to the welfare of the apparently endangered starship’s new Commander, Hikaru Sulu, but also provides an opportunity to explore the somewhat taught relationship between James Tiberius and his potentially untrustworthy, yet clearly highly capable, Romulan First Officer, Valas.

In addition, the rescue mission also sets up the twenty-page periodical for a genuinely pulse-pounding cliff-hanger, as both Uhura and the “second-in-command of the Concord” repeat the ‘famous’ Trekkie phrase “resistance is futile…” and editor Sarah Gaydos arguably makes good on her promise that “Mike and Tony [Shasteen] are poised to take the series in such an exciting direction” including “some interesting friends and foes from the past.”

Without doubt this “all-new” title’s greatest asset though, is Shasteen’s crisp, albeit slightly cartoony, illustration work, which genuinely captures the likenesses of all of Kirk’s “iconic crew” from the franchise’s 2009 cinematic reboot. Indeed, the Art Institute of Atlanta graduate appears to have a particular penchant for pencilling actors Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto. Whilst his ability to draw Federation starships really helps bring home the destruction of the Concord after the vessel has its saucer section just ‘taken away’ by the hostile “angry machine” it unexpectedly encounters.

The regular cover art of "STAR TREK: BOLDLY GO" No. 1 by George Caltsoudas