Star Trek: 60th Anniversary Special
By way too many creators to list in this tiny space
Publisher: IDW Comics & Entertainment
If you're a fan of Star Trek in any of its forms, you'll find something to like here.
If you're not a fan of Star Trek in any of its forms, you'll probably still find something to like here.
Engage
I myself am a Star Trek fan, but I don't consider myself a "Trekkie." I know the difference between an Andorian and a Cardassian, and I've never made it all the way through Voyager. I actually kind of liked Enterprise, but couldn't get into Discovery. Oh, and for the most part I didn't mind the J.J. Abrams "this version of the Starship Enterprise is brought to you by Apple" lens-flare-fest that was the Kelvin Universe. Well, the first and the third were good. The second one was a bit of a chore—I like Benedict Cumberbatch, but he's no Ricardo Montalbán.
Ahem. I digress.
I like Star Trek, but if I had to choose only one majorly influential science fiction property from before I was born, I would pick Star Wars.
What the heck does any of this have to do with the Star Trek: 60th Anniversary Special, you might ask? Well, it's my long-winded way of telling you that even though I am in no way a Trek encyclopedia, I still really enjoyed this title even if I didn't get every in-joke or reference. It's accessible for Joe Schmoe, but it's got those extra nods for the true diehards.
There are ten different stories (and one extended preview of the new Star Trek comic series, but since that's a preview we're not going to delve into that) throughout this issue's 68 pages. We're going to talk a little about each one, its creative team, and what I thought of it. Then we'll do a score for the overall Collective (see what I did there?) at the end.
Escape from the Planet of Mudd
The first story is a bit of a deep cut. I know the name Harry Mudd, but I couldn't tell you the full background if I had to. In this story—written by David Gerrold, drawn by JP Buzio, and colored by Christine Franzen—we are immediately greeted with the sight of one Harry Mudd, who is surrounded by an insane amount of copies of the same woman and being nagged by all of them. At once. There's of course no audio in a comic book, and I could still immediately feel for the dude. We quickly learn this was the work of one James Tiberius Kirk, who has a serious mean streak. Harry thinks he's come up with an idea for using multiple copies of himself, plus some copies of familiar crewmembers of the Enterprise, but things don't go according to plan...
This was fun, plain and simple. It's an interesting choice to open the book with—I'm not saying that Trek is all stoic stick-in-the-mud kind of stuff, but it is a little more serious and often has a bit more gravitas than other science fiction. So by leading with a more comedic story like this, we establish right from the jump that this anthology is going to try and bring some different ideas to the table. It's an excellent First Contact, if you will.
The Engineer's Dilemma
Mister Scott—Scotty to his friends—can give the Enterprise "all he's got," but can he do the same with his own marriage? That's the crux of this story by writer Dana Gould, artist Megan Levens, and colorist Charlie Kirchoff. Personally, I didn't even know Scotty was married, but this story tells us why. Sometimes in a relationship you have to let each other follow your passions, even if they take you both in completely different directions. And you just have to have faith if you both give your all, you'll get rewarded in kind. There's a lot of emotion packed into these pages.
Sulu
Brian Bendis writing Star Trek? With Michael Gaydos on art and colors? This is going to be the talkiest Trek that ever talked, isn't it?
Well, yes and no. There is a pretty good amount of dialogue here, but it's almost all in Klingon. You see, the Klingons have invaded the Enterprise, and only Hikaru Sulu is free to fight back—shirtless and with a sword, of course. It's a straightforward action piece that is spectacularly illustrated, with the colors having a strong overtone of Red Alert. There's even a nice little nod to Sulu's future as a Captain in the end. Another good time.
The Sesquipedalian Gambit
You may not know that there was an animated version of the original Star Trek series. Writer Ryan North certainly does, and he used it to great effect in his Lower Decks series in the form of Kirk's Captain's Logs. Here he uses that particular gag again, with artist and colorist Derek Charm in tow. Kirk, Spock, and Bones are captured by two rather bumbling aliens, making for one of the strangest First Contacts probably ever. There are cloaking devices installed backwards, Spock talking in huge made-up words, and a giant inflatable Enterprise. And this time it's not the Lower Decks cast viewing Kirk's logs; it's Will Riker, who is stuck dealing with those same two bumbling fools (and wishing he could get his hands on Kirk for leaving the mess for someone else to deal with). This one is hilarious, which I'd expect no less from North.
A Bright New Future
Anyone who watched more than a couple of episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation could tell there was something going on between Captain Picard and Doctor Crusher. Their connection was right there in front of us, but it was always kept as subtext. Well, the movie Nemesis made it a bit more text.
Here we have a lovely little story by writer Dave Baker and artist/colorist Nicole Goux that shows the two of them dancing at Will Riker and Deanna Troi's wedding and laying all of their cards on the table. It's incredibly well-written, and the art works perfectly for the kind of character-driven story that it is. The coloring is the most interesting part, though, as it's done entirely in whites and blues, with black and yellow being the only accents. It's the most visually unique thing in the whole book, and when one of the earlier stories had David Mack on art, that's saying something.
The Peaceful Klingon
Lieutenant Worf was always a more complex character than he first appeared. As a Klingon, he's a member of a warrior race, but he aspired to be a pacifist. That didn't mean he couldn't throw down if needed, though. Here we get a story from writer David Walker and artists & colorists the Escorza Brothers that gives us a look at everyone's favorite Security Officer as a child.
Being raised by humans, the versions of his own people's history that Worf is being taught vary wildly from what he was taught on his homeworld. Soon, he is the one teaching his parents instead of the other way around. It was an interesting role reversal, and a nice look into the mind of a normally very stoic character.
The Search for Season Six
Star Trek: Lower Decks is an absolute blast, and my favorite thing Trek in a long time. As a cartoon, it basically has an infinite budget, but it's so respectful of the franchise and its history that you're always laughing with it and never at it. The show ran for five seasons, so here writer (and showrunner) Mike McMahan teams up with Mike and Laura Allred to bring us a sample of what Season Six would have been.
I want more.
Where the Map Runs Out
I was surprised to see a Starfleet Academy story in here, given how recent (and sadly short-lived) the show was. This was an interesting one, where we had two cadets basically having their own Trek version of the "science fiction versus fantasy" debate. Writer Meghan Camarena kept the dialogue flowing, and the art by Mari Rolin made sure that we weren't just looking at two students standing around talking. The colors by JP Jordan were rather subdued, with most of the changes in tone or shade being used to differentiate inside the school from the outdoors. This was a cute story, but probably one of the weakest in the book overall.
The Search for Archer
This one is an Enterprise story (that's the show where Scott Bakula played the Captain) that is built around a pretty basic gag. Ensign Jimenez needs Captain Archer to approve his portrait for the Starfleet Command Records, and she just can't seem to find him. Everywhere she's told he is, when she gets there, he has moved on to somewhere else. And when she does finally find him, we never see his face; it's always covered up. It seems to be a nod to Bakula's time on Quantum Leap, when he never actually stayed in the same place for long or actually looked like himself. It was fun, and writer/artist Chris Fenoglio has a great cartoony style that would be right at home on Lower Decks.
Manifest Destiny
Last one! This is a prologue to the new ongoing Star Trek series, which will feature the adventures of Captain Seven of Nine. Here, writer Christopher Cantwell, artist Isaac Sanchez, and colorist Igor Monti set some pretty high stakes for the series to come. An Ensign driven mad enough to kill several fellow crewmembers, Admiral Picard put into a coma, and a dire vision for the future... they certainly got my attention with this one, and I'll be checking out the first issue of the new series for sure. The art can be a little too stylized for my liking at points, but the coloring is spectacular. There's a page where we get Picard's history in a montage, and then there's the full-page vision of the dark future, and they're dark where they need to be but bright and colorful when it's called for. I'm not completely sold on the new series after this, but I'm intrigued, so I think they accomplished their goal here.
Make It So
Star Trek: 60th Anniversary Special is an incredibly good anthology that anyone can pick up and enjoy, whether they're a die-hard Trek fan or not. There's not a single dud among its ten stories, even if some are more effective than others. There's action, humor, and plenty of heart. The Star Trek franchise has had its share of ups and downs over its sixty years, but through it all it keeps going strong and finding new things to say. We should all hope to leave even half as much of a legacy.