Synopsis:
A Galaxy Shattered. A Legend Reborn. A New Frontier Begins. After the cataclysmic Burn brings warp travel to a standstill and shatters centuries of unity, the dream of the United Federation of Planets collapses almost overnight. Worlds are cut off. Civilizations tumble. Chaos fills the void where hope once thrived.
Out of this cosmic wreckage rises an unlikely beacon: the U.S.S. Omega, a lone vessel crewed by survivors navigating a lawless, uncharted Galaxy nearly 300 years after the fall. With no Federation to guide them, they must carve out a path through the ruins—facing warlords, scavengers, and the raw unknown.
But they are not alone.
In a desperate act, the remnants of Starfleet strike a dangerous bargain with one of their oldest enemies…in order to resurrect Captain James T. Kirk . Thrust into a future where everything he fought for has crumbled, Kirk must confront a Galaxy in twilight—and decide whether he can become the symbol it needs one last time.
A sweeping epic of legacy, identity, and frontier survival, Star Trek: The Last Starship, Vol. 1 launches a bold new era of Trek storytelling—where the final frontier is wilder, stranger, and more perilous than ever before. The mission isn’t over. It’s just beginning. Collects the first six issues of the series.
Review:
Let me say right from the start – there is not enough Star Trek. On its 60th anniversary, there are zero Trek shows in production beyond the final season of Strange New Worlds coming next year. We haven’t had a new theatrical movie since Barack Obama was U.S. President. There are a ton of great ideas out there, but on the screen, it doesn’t feel like the bosses at Paramount care about the series. In books, there is a little bit of a different story; regardless, I’ll never turn down more Star Trek.
With that in mind, I was really looking forward to the first volume of Star Trek: The Last Starship, written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, and illustrated by Adrián Bonilla. I was initially blown away by the concepts and ideas that set up the series. Entire civilizations and alliances are shattered and crippled by the loss of warp drive; what would the universe look like without a starship just a day away whenever you need it? However, as the issues continued, I struggled with the storyline more and more and eventually lost a lot of interest by the time the first six issues wrapped.
This isn’t a complaint about the William Shatner-sized elephant in the room. It’s right in the synopsis of the book — by just a couple of issues into the run, Captain James T. Kirk is back in the land of the living. I actually kind of admire the swing, connecting the original TV series and movies up with this timeline hundreds of years into the future. I’m not sure if I agree with how Kirk used in The Last Starship — maybe after issue six his role becomes a little more clear, but in the first volume, I didn’t always love how he was utilized. It definitely is NOT a Kirk comic, but I wasn’t sure why we were dusting off a relic of the past, if he wasn’t featured more.
The main problem I had was the shadow of nihilism that covered the whole series. To a certain degree, I understood. When a vast majority of Star Fleet is wiped out in the opening pages, death is a constant companion. Nonetheless, Trek has always been a beacon of light when the void of space seems the darkest. I kept reading, but by the time I finished Volume 1, I couldn’t help shake the overwhelming sense of doom that lurked behind the pages. Every so often, the authors provided a small bit of hope, but it was quickly drowned out by the lack of meaning left when nearly everyone is gone.
I applaud the bold swings from this series. Perhaps the next six issues will address some of the challenges I faced with it and I’m actually looking forward to checking them out to see for myself. Either way, I’m thrilled it exists at all with the state of Star Trek in the media today.
Thank you to IDW Publishing for providing this book for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.
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