Star Trek #59 Review

We’ve discussed Star Trek many times here on the website, but to date, this will be our first time covering a Star Trek comic. IDW’s ongoing Star Trek series, which covers the adventures of the reboot Enterprise crew between movies, has gone in and out of my regular rotation over the years. Really, it all depends on what the story at the time happens to be. If you’re curious, I’d recommend looking up the crossover with Green Lantern and the story in which Q from Next Generation sends the crew into the future and they encounter alternate versions of the Deep Space Nine cast. I mention that crossover because today’s outing also has the reboot crew coming into contact with a Star Trek crew of old. Only this time we’re doing things quite a bit differently.

We open with the page horizontally split in half, something that will continue throughout the comic. On top, we have Captain Kirk as portrayed by Chris Pine waking up to find he does not recognize his quarters. On the bottom, we have Captain Kirk as played by William Shatner waking up to more-or-less the same. In case it’s not obvious, what’s happening here is that the original Star Trek crew from the 60’s is crossing over with the reboot crew, an idea so obvious and with so much potential that I’m astounded we’re only just doing this now. Anywho, the two Kirks make their way through their respective unfamiliar enterprises, remarking on the differences between the two and both acting incredibly confused upon arriving on the bridge and not recognizing the crew that they see. Both Spocks, being observant and logical in any universe, can clearly see that their Kirk is acting strangely and calls for Dr. McCoy. In both universes, Bones knocks Kirk out with a sedative, but in a subtle touch, while Nimoy-Spock and Kelly-McCoy’s interaction is perfectly amicable, the ineraction between Quinto-Spock and Urban-McCoy is a bit more antagonistic.

When the Kirk’s come to, they’re both back in their original bodies and aboard their original enterprises and have informed Bones and Spock of what has happened. To learn more, both ships have sent a probe into a nearby anomaly that they believe to be the cause of these strange occurrences.

Later that night, things take a turn for the awkward as Spock begins experiencing the same thing, and Quinto-Spock finds himself in bed with a very irritated Nichols-Uhura. At the same time, Saladana-Uhura tries getting into bed with Nimoy-Spock but finds that her advances are unwelcome. It’s considerably less awkward than what’s going on over in 60’s Trek universe, but both scenes are entertaining in their own right. Down in engineering, it’s Scotty’s turn to play cross-reality freaky Friday, as Pegg-Scotty finds himself in an engineering that he cannot make heads to tales of and Doohan-Scotty finds himself recoiling in fear of Keenser, Scotty’s small alien assistant from the new movies.

Both crews seem to have realized that something is going on, as by this point, most of the crew has crossed over at least once, leading to a nice scene in which the two Sulu’s humorously comment on the differences of the between the design of the Enterprise. Chekov, in both realities, interrupts to say that the probe they sent into the anomaly has returned but much to the surprise of both crews, they have each received the probe of the opposite reality.

What Works:

I really like how the comic splits the panel so we get to see what’s happening on both enterprises simultaneously, making it so that neither universe gets more panel time than the other. The scenes in the two realities mirror one-another but still feel unique to their universe. Also, the scene with Spock and Uhura made me chuckle

What Doesn’t: I feel as though there should have been more commenting on the differences between the two realities, but we still have another issue for that.

Overall: 4.5/5

This idea is just genius and I’m really looking forward to seeing what else they do with it.