Kirk and Spock

The covers: Regular cover by John Byrne with colors by Lovern Kindzierski shows both Number Ones falling into an ocean of ping pong balls with evil eyes. Think your stereotypical alien grays, without bodies. It did make me wonder where Byrne was going to go inside, so it did peak my interest. I'm also a fan of heroes falling from great heights on covers; perhaps it's Indiana Jones Syndrome. The "Retailer Incentive Sketch Cover" is the same minus Kindzierski's work. If you're a fan of Byrne, it's a nice addition. If not, it's not needed. I would have liked to have seen a picture cover of Majel. Overall grades: Regular Cover "A-" and "RISC" B.

The story: The future Number One gets a minor ripping from Captain April as to why she's putting off advancement ("Riker Syndrome"), but this is interrupted when the crew learns that the Alpha Eridani System is missing. Upon investigating the crew spins into an adventure that will lead to the deaths of many beings. "The Ends of Eternity" is a good close out to this run of the series. It goes the way of the old series in addressing life and death, and whether the latter can be avoided. Three characters meet with the ping pong grays in the "A" story, while back on the Enterprise, the "B" story, the clock is ticking against the crew in the most graphic ways. The future Number One helps plead the case for the aliens to change their ways in the best of words from TOS era. This story is what I want in an OS comic: action and pathos, and Byrne delivers. The resolution fell into what I can recall of canon without having to grab my chronology. I've said this before in regards to other IDW books, but this issue is yet another good example of storytelling because every page makes the reader move forward. Every page in this comic is a cliffhanger. I don't care if the reader is simply going from the left of the book to the right, take a look at each page individually--they all end with a cliffhanger. This is what keeps readers coming back to certain writers, like Byrne. I've read that others didn't like the inclusion of one crew member into this story because it violates canon. I went with it. Did it stick out? My knowledge of pre-TOS canon is dwindling as the years go on, but, yes, I did do a double take when seeing this individual. Any telepath would have done in the story, but, let's be honest, this one sells books. The ending didn't do what I thought it would do--thank fully: SPOILER: Number One remains nameless. Overall g rade: A

The art: What doesn't Byrne give you in this issue? You get great interiors and exteriors. I liked the lack of backgrounds to produce the alien-ness of the situation. It reminded me of what TOS would have done in the past to get an episode like this on the air. You get crew members galore, and some of them not in their most photogenic states. And you get the introduction of an alien race that could reappear in later books. Do the ping pongs work? Yes. They are very alien, and their design didn't bug me once they were introduced. Any fears I may have had from their appearance on the cover were put to rest: though I wish they weren't on the cover as this does somewhat spoil their reveal in the book. Pages 8 and 18 were my favorites. One was obviously easier to draw than the other, but, for the story, it was perfect. Overall grade: A+

The colors: Lovern Kindzierski continues the winning streak begun in previous issues. It's interesting to see how different colorists will do the interior of the Enterprise. For some it's bright white or silver, but Kindzierski has it as several shades of blue. There's no 1960's coloring that I love TOS for, but this take is just as good. By Page 18 I was interested to see if the fate of the crew would come off as comic, because with the wrong coloring it could have. This is not the case. In fact, I wish there would have been some other coloring besides flesh because the issue was beginning to remind me of something drawn by Bernie Wrightson. Kindzierski shows that flesh is indeeed a color, and it can be an icky one. I also liked that the aliens' speech/thought bubbles were black, the reverse of others in this book. Now this praise may be due the letterer, but I'm putting under colors since that's what I'm thanking. A great job. Overall grade: A

The lettering: Neil Uyetake was busy busy busy with all the dialogue. And that's it. There's no sound effects to speak of. Were they needed? Not at all. Overall grade: A

The final line: I enjoyed this comic and this series. I hope that once Byrne is done with his Romulan tales he returns, with his colorist and letterer, to continue the exploits of Number One. There's lots that still can be told. This is going to be the second paperback collection that I buy from IDW's run with Trek. May John Byrne never leave the Trek playground. Overall grade: A

http://trekweb.com/articles/2009/07/22/Comics-Review-Star-Trek-Crew-Issue-5.shtml