Writer: Mike Johnson
Artist: Tony Shasteen
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Release Date: 13 May 2015

Johnson has brought the well-meaning, and perhaps naïve (though it was well established how desperate for help they were at the time) crew of the Enterprise to a dark corner of the galaxy for issue #45, where the altruistic notions of the Federation give way to a quest for profit that spares no ship or soul. Thankfully, although the crew have been dragged into darkness (heh) their optimism shines through, with Kirk giving the order to fight back through a reference to his tendency to get into bar fights. This series never loses sight of what makes Star Trek fun, even when it raises tensions and darkens the atmosphere.

Johnson’s biggest achievement here is how new character Eurydice is handled. Given a compelling backstory and a fun skill-set, she harkens back to Original Series characters like Harry Mudd who could always be counted on to provide a kick of flavour whenever they appeared. I definitely hope to see more of the character in the future, maybe looking into how a rogue like her would deal with life on the more goody-two-shoes side of the galaxy.

We also get some fantastically weird art from Shasteen, particularly the robot surrogates for the rulers of the Dark market and a horrendous millipede like creature with a face straight out of a Toho Godzilla movie. Shasteen again proves that he thrives when given a dark environment to render, with one full page panel showing where some of the crew have gotten a little tied up, and honestly it feels like the den of a serial killer or other some-such nasty thing, so props on that conveyance. I also highly appreciate getting to see the Enterprise under fire, bathed in a harsh red light. Beautiful.

With the Eurydice arc Johnson and Shasteen have shown that they can bring the same level of quality that made the 6-part Q Gambit mini-series a success to the smaller, less event-driven arcs.

Rating: 4/5