Comics Review : Star Trek Mission's End Issue 4

The cover: Joe Corroney provides the sole cover for this comic. Corroney is consistently good, and this cover is no exception. The previous issue had the angriest Chekov cover I've ever seen, and this month has Sulu's response! Sulu and Spock are fighting a male Orion. Sulu is trying to club him with a rock, while a very emotionally worried Spock is trying to told the Orion's arm before it can use a knife on Sulu. I know I've seen that picture of Spock before, but I can't tell you from what episode. Sulu's image is also familiar looking. The Orion is completely Corroney's concoction, and he looks suitably menacing. The sad thing about this cover is that itnever appears in this issue, and the Orion is also absent from the pages within. It's nice, but shouldn't it have been on the next issue? I dropping a grade since the subject matter has nothing to do with this issue. Overall grade: B +

The story: Newbies to this series can jump aboard quite easily thanks to the first page synopsis by Spock, created by writer Ty Templeton. The spider inhabitants of Archernar IV are about to be welcomed into the Federation by the crew of the Enterprise until the "animal crawlers" of the planet have begun an organized rebellion. Kirk was knocked unconscious last issue, and Ambassador Cassady (a former crew member from Kirk's early captain days) is now the senior officer in charge of the situation. Adding to problems are McCoy, Chekov, and a group of security held captive by the "crawlers" and Uhura discovering an unauthorized sub-space signal broadcasting from within the Enterprise. Templeton is continuing to juggle the three strands of the story well, all of which will conclude in the final fifth issue. And there continues to be lots to like about this story: Spock's logically under whelming comment at the top of Page 2; Spock's continual quoting of regulations; a countdown clock being established on Page 4; McCoy having it out with his crew mates on the morals of being a prisoner (a pure "old school" Trek moment/scene/conversation); Sulu kicking some butt!; and a character's confession to the unconscious Kirk. Now this confession, because of the setting, does come off as forced; though it has to be there for the following three pages to occur. The final three pages will either have you thinking "Hell, yeah!" or "You've got to be kidding me!" I was a "Hell, yeah!" I took a writing class through the University of Riverside several years ago called "Writing for Star Trek" taught by Judy Burns, one of the writers of "The Tholian Web". One of her assignments was to create a new Star Trek series and write a first episode outline. She liked my outline, but didn't like what I had the captain do. She said tha t only one captain in television's Trek can have a hands on app roach to a "specific" situation: James T. Kirk. Ty Templeton runs, literally, with a similar conclusion. Overall grade: A

The art: I like Stephen Molnar's art. The first page's art builds gradually in epic-ness until exploding with Spock's conclusion on the top of Page 2. Molnar continues to put love into his panels with Cassady. I'm also finding it easy to identify Molnar's style, now that I've followed him through the previous issues: there's a big fight scene on Pages 12 and 13, and the way he draws hands and positions characters is a solidified look for me: examples include red shirts running away from the God's Eye on Page 7, the red shirt in panel two of Page 13, and all three characters in the second panel of Page 22. I like this look. I haven't been able to put my finger on what particular style Molnar's work has been reminding me of until it finally hit me: Johnny Craig of the classic EC horror comics. Both artists emphasized facial close-ups, and the shading on characters seems similar to me. I don't know it Molnar ha s studied Craig's style, but it is similar. I like his take on Trek. Overall grade: A

The colors: John Hunt continues a colorful book for everyone's enjoyment. Using again the first two pages, colors are limited and slowly expand as the scene grows, until the chaos outside increases the brightness of color. I like how "empty" backgrounds are given the vivid 60's television coloring that I enjoy, as seen in the final panels on Page 3. This bright use of colors continues even when the setting goes underground...until "something" gets activated. The interiors of the Enterprise and its crews' quarters also gets the 60's treatment. For a book that takes place primarily on the Enterprise there is a great amount of coloring that's a nice contrast to the darkness that's been seen in other Trek books. Overall grade: A+

The lettering: Robbie Robbins provides dialogue (both human and alien) and assorted sound effects (a device powering up, two door noises, and two -- only two? -- fight sounds). I'm guessing the noises were louder (in size) than the fight sounds because Molnar didn't provide enough room. Can't fight sounds expand beyond the panel they're in? Overall grade: A

The final line: I'm enjoying the hell out of this comic. I hope that whatever IDW's plans are for the future of Trek comics that all four creators will be reunited on another Trek project in the future. This is fun Trek stuff! Overall grade: A

http://trekweb.com/articles/2009/06/25/Comics-Review-Star-Trek-Missions-End-Issue-4.shtml