IDW PUBLISHING – @IDWPublishing
[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]
STORY: Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly
ARTIST: Stephen Thompson
COLORS: Charlie Kirchoff
LETTERS: Neil Uyetake
EDITOR: Denton J. Tipton
COVER: Greg Hildebrandt
VARIANT COVER ARTISTS: J.J. Lendl; Greg Hildebrandt
28pp, Color, $3.99 U.S. (April 2019)
Created by Gene Roddenberry, “Star Trek” was a science fiction television series. It debuted on the NBC broadcast television network on September 8, 1966, It followed the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), a “starship,” and its crew as they traveled on a five-year mission through the Milky Way galaxy during the future-decade of the year 2260.
The crew of the Enterprise was led by Captain James T. Kirk. Kirk was assisted by six prominent crew members: first officer and science officer, Spock; chief medical officer, Leonard “Bones” McCoy; chief engineer, Montgomery “Scotty” Scott; communications officer, Nyota Uhura; helmsman Hikaru Sulu; and navigator Pavel Chekov.
“Star Trek” ran until June 1969, for three seasons for a total of 79 episodes. Series mythology says those three season cover the first three years of the Enterprises' five-year mission. An animated “Star Trek” television series was broadcast on NBC on Saturday mornings for two seasons (1973-1974) for 22 episodes. Fans of the show, now known as “Star Trek: The Animated Series,” consider the TV show to be set during the final two years of the Enterprise's five-year mission.
IDW Publishing has begun publishing a new comic book series, Star Trek: Year Five. It is written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly; drawn by Stephen Thompson; colored by Charlie Kirchoff; and lettered by Neil Uyetake. According to Lanzing, Star Trek: Year Five will be the first extended story line set definitively during “Year Five,” the conclusion of the Enterprise's original mission, and it will have “a beginning, a game-changing middle, and a definite end.”
Star Trek: Year Five #1 finds the Enterprise engaged in “Operation Ouroboros,” a mission to stop the “Lloyd Zeta Hypergiant” (the single most massive stellar object ever detected by Starfleet), from causing a mass extinction event. On the planet, “Lloyd Zeta-9,” however, a mystery awaits the crew of the Enterprise.
I am a long-time fan of “Star Trek,” especially of the original, 1960s television series, now known as “Star Trek: The Original Series” (ST: TOS). I have only read a few comic books set during that time, and they were okay, but were nothing memorable. Star Trek: Year Five... well, I'm still stunned by how much I really loved this comic book.
First, Star Trek: Year Five #1 has a beautiful painted cover by Greg Hildebrandt, who has produced decades of gorgeous art for comic books, movie posters, children's books, and more, alone and with his late twin brother, Tim. The interior art by Stephen Thompson captures the characters and visual design of classic Star Wars with an uncanny touch, and Thompson's storytelling is quite good.
Charlie Kirchoff's colors seem right out of the technicolor of 1960s Star Trek – remastered, of course. Neil Uyetake glides in with his usually impressive lettering; he does some excellent work balancing the sections of the narrative that are quite dialogue-heavy.
Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly write the kind of first issue that will assure that many who read it will return for a second issue... a third issue... a fourth issue... and more. Lanzing and Kelly offer a story that triggered in my imagination particular classic “Star Trek” episodes. I am in no way saying this first issue is based on the following episodes: “The Man Trap,” “A Private Little War,” and “That Which Survives.”
Those are either some of my favorite episodes or are episodes that scared me shitless when I first saw them as a child. So Star Trek: Year Five, I highly recommend it.
9 out of 10
Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"
The text is copyright © 2019 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog for reprint and syndication rights and fees.
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