“I rarely jest.” – Spock
Issue three opens with the sentencing of the Klingon Chancellor L’rell, getting the judgment that most Klingons want to dispense. But her sentencing won’t be carried out immediately, no, she’s on her way to Qo’nos where her sentence will be carried out. Then we cut to Spock, aiding an incapacitated Captain Pike. He brings Pike out of the freezing cold and into an underground lair.
The Creative Team:
Beyer and Johnson bring us into the heart of the story as Spock leaves Pike unattended to search for survivors, including the Chancellor. However, it isn’t long before he’s approached by a guard with a gun, which he easily takes out. From there we see the attempt to rescue the Chancellor and Pike’s recovery. It’s a well-paced issue and I get the feeling that they are fans of the Captain Pike episodes of Discovery. My chief gripes would be that Spock takes out the guard to easily. Also at this time in federation history, I don’t think that Klingon and Federation officers would be as friendly as they are portrayed here, even if they are renegade Klingons. We can also see some of Discovery writer’s influence here, which I guess it would naturally reflect. But Ethan Peck’s Spock statement, “I rarely jest,” I believe would have been “I never jest.” from either Leonard Nimoy or Zachary Quinto. But that’s a minor thing for this issue, it’s a decent read and brings back some of the feel for original Star Trek for me. I enjoyed it. Great stuff includes L’rell’s courage in the face of her sentencing, also Kor’s reaction to L’rell’s fate.
Tony Shasteen has been one of the best Star Trek artists over all iterations of the comic book series since Gold Key and the beginning of Star Trek comics and I’m pleased to see his take on Anson Mount’s Pike and Enterprise crew. I especially enjoyed that he drew Kor to look like the John Colicos version from the original series since this is roughly the time period that this story takes place in. This brings me back to the feel of the original series and keeps my attention and hope for the future of Star Trek, at least in the comic book world. Highlights include the attempted Jailbreak and, for me, Shasteen’s version of Pike’s Enterprise.
As anyone who’s read my reviews on this site knows, I’m not a fan of STD. I believe the show started well but quickly phased into something that didn’t resemble Star Trek at all. Especially with the Vulcan characters, namely Sarek. He was showing way too much emotion where the character of Michael Burnham was concerned, I did, however, enjoy some of the Christopher Pike episodes. Anson Mount is so spot on to Captain Pike that the only way to cast Pike better would be to dig up Jeffrey Hunter and reanimate his corpse with the genesis device! but that’s a discussion for a different article. Looking at this issue, it’s a decent tale of the good ship enterprise under Captain Pike. I’m holding out hope that CBS will create a Captain Pike TV series and not put Alex Kurtzman in charge of it. In the meantime, I have IDW comics to thank for bringing us at least a few issues of the Enterprise under Captain Pike’s command. They do succeed in capturing the mood I would come to expect from a Pike TV series and with a little tweaking, Peck’s version of Spock could come close to matching what Leonard Nimoy put into the character. This issue is a fine entry into any Star Trek fans collection, both original fans and new fans could enjoy this tale. *** (8.3 rating)
SCORE: 3/5
Writer – Kirsten Beyer, Mike Johnson
Art – Tony Shasteen
Colors – J.D. Metler
Letters – Neil Uyetake
Publisher – IDW
Author Profile
- Kevin Given has studied with “ Longridge Writers Group †and “ Writer’s Boot Camp †a speech/communications major from the University of Maine Presque-Isle/Orono sites. He has created the “ Karl Vincent Vampire Hunter †franchise which includes novels and comic books. They can be found on amazon, Indyplanet and Kindle. For a limited time you can get digital copies of “ Karl Vincent: Vampire hunter †# 1 and “ Files of Karl Vincent †# 1 for free on Indyplanet. Kevin is producing the third novel in the series “ Dracula Rising †(working title) and developing “ Foul Blood †into comic book form. Don't forget to check out the YouTube show " Comics: Let's Talk " hosted by Kevin Given
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