Written by Andrew Grant & Dan Martin

Art by Josh Hood

Colors by Charlie Kirchhoff

Letters by Neil Uyetake

Edited by Heather Antos and Vanessa Real

 

 

This five part prequel to the new Star Trek game of the same name builds something new and resonant from some surprising pieces of TNG continuity.

The USS Resolute is a standard Starfleet vessel; crewed by brilliantly normal eccentrics, looking at quasars and stuff. But Captain Solano is an old friend of Doctor Leah Brahms, the Einstein of warp drive, and she’s just gone missing in Talarian space…

Grant and Martin’s script works on two levels at once. As an exercise in continuity it’s great fun as we meet Doctor Brahms and the Talarians again and get to see what they’ve been up to since their original appearances on TNG. Brahms is especially good fun, and cleverly expanded here into a scientist who is a little ruthless but never without empathy. She’s absolutely the heroine of her story, absolutely the problem, and always fun whenever she’s on the page. The Talarians get some welcome depth too and there’s a smart structural beat here which re-casts them as envious of the ‘big races’. Their near fetishization of technology, right down to giving a secret battleship a saucer section, tells you how immature they are for one. The Talarians are a living embodiment of why the Prime Directive exists but they’re never a monolithic culture. They’re just new, and trying, and failing, like the rest of us.

Then there’s the story as set up for the game and if anything this works even better. They introduce us to a likable, interesting command crew and then put them through hell. Captain Solano is trapped by old obligations, XO Luke Sutherland is looking for a good fight and Commander Ben Westbrook just wants to do some fun science and hang out with Sutherland on their way up the command ladder.

Oh and Chief Engineer Chovak would like everyone to leave.

NOW.

Hood and Kirchoff do great work both with the crew and the Resolute. This feels like another day at the office for the Resolute team and that makes the ending all the more impactful. This isn’t quite a no-win scenario but it’s very, very close and the art team excel in the final issues as they shift from colossal scale battles to intimate personal beats. Uyetake’s lettering helps a lot here too and the quiet emotional beats all land.

Antos and Real are doing superb work on this whole line. It all feels right, it’s all trying new things and it’s all working.

Verdict: Hard hitting, big hearted and yet another success for the line. 9/10

Alasdair Stuart