To boldly be published in comic book format!
Star Trek #1 is an ongoing series by IDW Publishing. The new comic book series is based on J.J. Abrams’ 2009 Star Trek while telling stories that are “re-imaginings” of the adventures of the 1960’s classic Star Trek TV show. Basically, take the fun, hip crew you liked from the 2009 film, mix them with the classic, brilliant drama of the 1960’s TV show, and you have an intriguing concept that appeals to new and old Star Trek fans alike.
Based on the original series episode titled Where No Man Has Gone Before, Star Trek #1 begins with the Enterprise finding the distress beacon from the Valiant, a vessel thought to be lost. After crossing the galactic barrier, Enterprise crewman and one of Kirk’s best friends, Gary Mitchell gets sick and begins to display psychic and telekinetic powers. Gary is now temparmental and angry. Captain Kirk has decide what to do about his good friend before he harms himself or worse, the Enterprise.
The issue follows the same basic first act of the episode it is based on with minor changes. Spock and Uhura are still dating like in the movie, and Kirk is still very new to command. Gary Mitchell even makes a joke about how he was ahead of Kirk in the Academy, and now Kirk is his superior officer. Robert Orci, one of the screenwriters for the 2009 Star Trek, is listed as creative consultant on the issue which I believe is the reason why the story feels fresh and modern even though it’s based on an episode over 40 years old.
The art of Star Trek #1 suffers the same problems as other comics that are heavily dialogue based. After a few pages, there are only so many different angles to show the same conversation. So it becomes the talking head show. Stephen Molnar does a serviceable job making the characters look like the 2009 film. In fact, I feel he spent so much time making sure the characters looked like the actors from the film that the artwork lost some of the energy that it could have gained if he had take liberties with likenesses.
Star Trek #1 is an average comic book. The original Star Trek series always had good stories, but it never had the budget to pull them off. With this book, you get the best of both worlds (no pun intended) as those old episodes are now combined with the unlimited budget given to them by the comic book format. I would only recommend this book to a Star Trek fan, they will love it. Any comic book fan will find too many problems with it.
Star Trek #1 Grade: C+
