Publisher: IDW Publishing
Writer: Mike Johnson
Artist: Cat Staggs
Release Date: 11th February, 2015

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Following hot on the heels of the superb Q Gambit arc, Star Trek #41 has quite the shoes to fill, and unfortunately can’t quite measure up to such Shaq-sized boots.

First the good stuff; Mike Johnson continues to write some great ‘Trek, with this issue documenting the first few days of this Enterprise’s Five Year Mission. The away-mission presented here is amazing stuff, with a ‘villain’ that appears to be the baby of the Doomsday Machine and ‘That-Space-Whale-Baby-That-Thought-The-Enterprise-D-Was-Its-Mum’ and a wounded alien pilot with a devastating story all masterfully told with sparse dialogue.

It is in these alien scenes that artist Cat Staggs excels, with the alien vistas and their creature design being dynamite stuff. The alien pilot’s story would not resonate half so well if Staggs was not able to convey such absolute heartbreak without even having a recognisable face to work with.

Unfortunately, much of the first half of the issue does not hold up quite as well. Early scenes in the Observation Deck have great backgrounds but un-detailed character models (and one Kirk face which has been pointed out to me looks more like Rocky Dennis than the gorgeous Chris Pine), and later scenes on the Enterprise bridge appear muddy, with the same affecting character models too.

If the entire issue had been at the same quality as its latter half, I would have definitely given this book a 4 out of 5, but I’ll have to settle on a 3/5, and hope that #42 will feature more of Stagg’s better work.

Rating: 3/5.

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The Writer of this piece was: Andrew Stevens
You can follow Andrew on Twitter

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