TrekInk: Review of Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #4

kirk Investigating the past and present for temporal disturbances, Legionnaires and Enterprise crewmembers come face to face with someone whose long life is legend. IDW Publishing presents the fourth issue of Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes this week. Some spoilers after the break.

Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #4 (of 6)
written by Chris Roberson, penciled by Jeffrey Moy, inked by Philip Moy, colored by Romulo Fajardo, Jr., lettered by Shawn Lee, edited by Chris Ryall

In the present, the security chief warns his Emperor that evidence of time-travelers has been found. The Emperor doesn’t believe the report. If true, an unnamed individual would have warned him. In the past, a team lead by Spock and Brainiac 5 misses their prehistoric temporal target by several weeks, finding cavemen with energy weapons and cybernetic animals. In the present, a team led by Kirk and Lightning Lad find their opportunity to sneak into the Emperor’s palace, with time for Kirk to hit on Shadow Lass. In the past, the leader of the cavemen is the leader of the Emperor in the present, and everyone recognizes him. But who is the other?

he

He who?

I was thrown for a loop this issue because I’m not very familiar with several decades of DC Comics history outside of Star Trek. Chris Roberson has chosen to tie the Legion and Trek timelines together in one man, whose immortality is legend in each timeline. I had to Google the DC Comics character and learn about him at Wikipedia. There isn’t enough information in this issue to really see how far Roberson has to stretch to make his connection and while revealing the identity of the Emperor, he throws in another mystery character, keeping readers on the edge of our seats. Conceptually, I don’t have a problem with this approach, although I’m sure that some readers are going to howl. Everyone has an opinion about comic-book crossovers. They really only work for me when the characters behave as I expect, and so far, Roberson continues to entertain and hold my interest. We’ll see how he finishes up his story in the last two issues of the mini-series.

starfleet-huh

ZOMG! It’s Leo.

The Moy brothers, Jeffrey and Philip, continue to serve up a fine selection of character art, action sequences, and sabre-tooth kitty cats. My only quibble so far is that Kirk seems to be getting younger in each panel, looking more and more like one of the young Legionnaires. Maybe I’m just imagining things. As with all the issues so far, Romulo Fajardo, Jr. has done an outstanding job coloring the interior art and most of the covers. For reasons that I can’t quite put my finger on, the lettering by Shawn Lee stands out in this issue. It just seems to flow with the story. Good job.

There are three covers for Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #3. Cover A by Phil Jimenez is very striking, with a dreamlike quality highlighted by Federation ships and Legionnaires in flight. Quite a change from his previous covers in this mini-series. Cover B is your basic square-jawed big three Trek heads with some shapely little Legionnaires, created by Chris Sprouse and Karl Story, cover artists for DC Comics’s current Legion of Super-Heroes ongoing series. I think there’s a descriptive name for this style of cover but it’s slipped my mind. The retailer incentive cover is once again provided by Mario Alberti, on a background by Gabriel Rodriguez. Their cover features McCoy and Saturn Girl giving each other the once over in front of the viewscreen of a starship in warp. A nice set of covers for this issue.

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Cover A: Phil Jimenez, color by Romulo Fajardo, Jr., Cover B: Pencils by Chris Sprouse, inks by Karl Story, color by Romulo Fajardo, Jr.

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Cover RI: Mario Alberti, background by George Rodriguez

Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #4 is at your local comic shop this week. The next issue is scheduled for publication February 15. IDW Star Trek comics can also be purchased online. A trade paperback collection will be published spring or summer 2012.

Star Trek
Legion of Super-Heroes
#1 of 6

Star Trek
Legion of Super-Heroes
#2 of 6

Star Trek
Legion of Super-Heroes
#3 of 6

$3.59
(Oct)

$3.59
(Nov)

$3.59
(Dec)

Star Trek
Legion of Super-Heroes
#4 of 6

Star Trek
Legion of Super-Heroes
#5 of 6

Star Trek
Legion of Super-Heroes
#6 of 6

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$3.19
(Jan)

$3.19
(Feb)

$3.19
(Mar)

Mark Martinez is an obsessive-compulsive Star Trek comics reader and collector. You can visit his website, the Star Trek Comics Checklist for more than you ever needed to know about Star Trek comics.

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Well, new threads are popping up fast and furious now! Can news about the new movie be far behind?

be careful you might jinx it. lol! :P

I’ve never been able to get “into” comics as much as I’ve always wanted to… but seeing that cover with the super-heroes fighting in front of the Federation ships might just push me over the edge. It’s an interesting idea that’s worth a few bucks to explore.

The news is that that the movie will now be a crossover with Spiderman.

I love the Star Trek/X-Men crossovers

Is is me or does it look like that they’ve used the Phase II Enteprise on Cover A ??

They should do a Star Trek/Justice League crossover.

I just don’t get why Star Trek fans would like a superhero crossover…. as nerdy as this sounds: it just doesn’t make sense.

I love Batman, I love Star Trek, I just don’t ever want to see Batman on the bridge of the Enterprise.

It’s like food and sex, George Costanza can tell you the pitfalls with that.

A Star Trek/Seinfeld crossover! It would make just as much sense. (Actually, maybe more.)

A Batman/Star Trek crossover.

Whoa! I love it.

Batman could engineer a takeover of the Enterprise…. Go about his missions but now with a giant starship that Joker couldn’t possibly defeat….

Batman seeks to protect humanity from “superhero” mutants (X-Men) seen as threat to humanity….

Batman, competing with Iron Man (Tony Stark) to be the superhero with the most toys (Batman Enterprise Trumps Stark) ….

Speaking of Trump, “Famous Billionaire Runs for President on Anti-Mutant

Man, this gets better and better and better!

Let me write this down! Gotta write this down! Must write this down! (– Not now, Madeline!)

^^ “Anti-Mutant Platform”

As corrected.

10 Hat Rick “Not now, Madeline!”

Ah, a rare ST:IV quote! Funny! Kudos, Hat Rick! :>)

Thanks, Harry (12).

Well, 13 messages so far. In four days. Looks like we’ve got the comics crowd all excited once again. Not.

How excited can you get when taking all that LDS? :>)