Star Trek #1 (2022) Comic Book Review

 Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted anything since last week, but I've actually been busy this week. I was out for a late birthday celebration with Brad on Monday, so I was out for most of the day. I got a few comic books while we were out and they're some pretty good ones, including the three issue story arc from Detective Comics which introduced Stephanie Brown back in 1992 and the facsimile edition of The Brave and the Bold #28, which is the first issue that the Justice League of America came together from 1960. Not to worry, I'll review those issues in the very near future. Today I'm here to review the first issue of the new ongoing Star Trek series published by IDW Publishing that just came out about a month or so ago. Because it's a brand new comic there won't be any major spoilers so that if you haven't read it yet and are interested in reading it, you can still see what my thoughts on the issue are before reading it yourselves. So let's get into it.

When I saw the cover art reveal from IDW on Twitter, via the official Star Trek Twitter account, I actually got excited as Star Trek hadn't had an ongoing comic book series that wasn't based on TOS or the Kelvin timeline movies (2009-2016) since the late '90s when Marvel published series based on both Deep Space Nine and Voyager under the Paramount Comics imprint. WildStorm did a bunch of one shots and mini-series in the early 2000s and IDW has mainly done mini-series and limited series since they got the license in 2007. And because, aside from The Q Conflict, I haven't been all that interested in Star Trek comics since Marvel wrapped up the license in 1998 following drop in sales, possibly due to so many Star Trek comics coming out at once, so I haven't gotten excited for a new Star Trek comic in a really long time. 

So Benjamin Sisko is returned to our plane of existence by the Prophets, also known as the Wormhole Aliens, as they reside within the Bajoran Wormhole to deal with a threat to the entire universe. With the help of Captain Picard, Sisko is given command of the U.S.S. Theseus (NX-1987), a starship that was commissioned back when Kirk was first in command of the Enterprise during the mid-23rd Century, and then refitted and rebuilt under the supervision of Montgomery "Scotty" Scott. Sisko's command crew consists of Lieutenant Commander Data as First Officer, Doctor Beverly Crusher as Chief Medical Officer, Scotty as Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Tom Paris as Conn/Helm Officer, Ensign Sato, an Andorian, as Communications Officer, and Ensign T'Lir, a Vulcan, as Science Officer. 

I actually find it interesting that the writers, Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing chose representatives from the first four Star Trek shows to be the main cast of this comic book series. Especially because CBS/Paramount has been extremely uninterested in doing anything with DS9, aside from Quark and Kira appearing in an episode of Lower Decks earlier this year. Paris kind of makes sense since he's appeared on Lower Decks in season 2, and Voyager getting alot of attention lately with Janeway and Chakotay appearing on Prodigy and Seven of Nine being part of the main cast of Picard. Data and Crusher also make sense since Data has appeared on Picard in season 1, and Crusher will be showing up on the show in season 3, and a holographic version of her appeared on the holodeck in Prodigy. But Scotty is kinda out of left field on this one, mainly because the last time we saw him, he was retired from Starfleet. 

Of course this issue features appearances by Jake Sisko, Kira Nerys, and Jean-Luc Picard. Which is pretty cool. Though I do wish Bashir or Ezri Dax had appeared too given that, as far as I know, they're still on the station during the time this story takes place, which is between the Voyager series finale, "Endgame", and Star Trek Nemesis (2002). But, given that we haven't had any canon material with them in it since DS9 ended in 1999, I don't know for sure. Especially because in the Star Trek novel universe Bashir was still on the station, but Ezri was captain of the U.S.S. Aventine, which wasn't assigned to the station. 

The artwork is spectacular. I'm not familiar with Ramon Rosanas's artwork, but they do a really good job of the look of the ship, the Bridge, and other details that are important for establishing this story's part of the Star Trek Universe. I especially love the way the Bridge was designed and it's your standard Star Trek Bridge, but it's one that's specific to the Theseus, which is a great ship design by the way, similar to how the Bridge of the Enterprise-D was unique to that Galaxy Class starship. 

Overall this was a great issue. It was basically all setup for the coming issues, however many there will end up being, but it was really good setup. It's also pretty awesome that Sisko is the main character of the comic, because, like I said CBS/Paramount has been avoiding doing anything with DS9 ever since the show ended in 1999, aside from the novels and the occasional comic book here and there, as well as putting the show out on DVD of course. If you're a Trekkie and want to read it, I would recommend it. It's a bit harder for newcomers to read this series though just because it's so tied to Star Trek's rich lore, specifically DS9's, that without having seen DS9 and several episodes of TNG, it would be much harder to get into on its own.

Alright my friends, that's going to be it for me for today. I'll be back soon with more Christmas reviews. Maybe even something tomorrow or on Friday, depending on how things go. So until then have a great afternoon and I will talk to you all later. Take care.