Star Trek: Year Five #13 Review: Simply Fantastic Storytelling

On the eve of the end of the historic five-year mission, the starship Enterprise returns to a very surprising and pleasant welcome back to Starbase 212 on the edge of Federation space. James Kirk is contemplative, wondering what's left for the wanderer when the road comes to its conclusion, Unfortunately, there's not a lot of time for pensiveness as so much is happening back in Federation space, and very little of it is good.

 

Writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly throw everything, including the kitchen sink into this epic script, which could have been a The Next Generation season one snooze-fest, but is much more like a The Next Generation season seven roller coaster. What's best about it is that all these developments — a vengeful Klingon threat, a conspiracy within the halls of Starfleet, political tensions with Federation colleagues — are all deftly balanced and developed thoroughly within the issue's page count. That's not easy (and props for the layered metaphor of one ship name in particular).

That brings us to the visual storytelling presented by Angel Hernandez, Fran Gamboa, and Neil Uyetake, skillfully presenting the tension between commanding officers, the threat of an unexpected diplomatic crisis, and the horror of corruption in the hands of the powerful.

This issue is really, really good and not only gives dyed-in-the-wool devotees of Star Trek so much goodness to enjoy, but it also gives even the casual or neophyte fan plenty of character grist to get into who the players are and context to understand the situations. This is simply fantastic storytelling, lovingly crafted, and completely well done. RATING: BUY.

Star Trek Year Five #13