Mike Johnson and Tony Shasteen’s new Kelvin Timeline series introduces the Borg. With his crew separated awaiting the construction of the Enterprise-A, Kirk must depend on a new group of officers to solve the mystery of what destroyed the USS Concord. Resistance is of course, futile.
Captain’s Log, Stardate 47634.44. With the Enterprise crew reassigned while awaiting construction of their new ship, Kirk is now acting captain of the USS Endeavour,with Bones and Chekov joining him. Sulu is Captain Terrell’s first officer aboard the USS Concord, Scotty has accepted a teaching post at Starfleet Academy, and Spock and Uhura are on sabbatical at New Vulcan. Researching the destruction of the Concord, Kirk has encountered a new threat. The only clue, an audio recording – one indicating that “resistance is futile”.
Taking a page out of Shakespeare’s book – in which readers know more about what’s happening than the characters in the story – Mike Johnson has taken the Federation’s greatest nemesis, the Borg, and introduced them into the Kelvin Timeline 100 years earlier than the Prime Timeline, heightening the story’s drama to a level never realized in the franchise’s 50-year history, which is no simple feat.
Warping out of space dock with the launch of Star Trek: Boldly Go (published by IDW) last month, Johnson and artist Tony Shasteen immediately thrust the Enterprise crew into the most dangerous situation they have yet to experience.
Readers will appreciate just how high the stakes are in issue two, as Kirk and the Endeavour crew learn what happened to Sulu as the Enterprise’s former helmsman relays his story. The stakes, as always when it comes to the Borg, are high, but Johnson has brought it to a place unexplored since Picard was assimilated in “The Best of Both Worlds.”
Demonstrating the elevated crisis perfectly, as well as Johnson’s excellent use of dramatic irony, Shasteen illustrates page 13 with individual Endeavour crew members in separate panels updating Kirk on the Borg sphere’s status and that of the captured Concord crew members. With just four simple close ups on the crew, Shasteen and Johnson have amplified the drama as the reader knows what is to come next.
The joy in reading often comes from encountering unpredictable elements, and Star Trek: Boldly Go #2 offers a new twist to the Borg phenomenon. Shasteen once again draws a terrific comic, adding some nifty modifications to the assimilated Concord crew members and utilizing the film’s special effects as the Endeavour goes to warp in pursuit of the Borg.
Lifelong fan Johnson, once again places Easter eggs in Issue 2, one of which is a nod to the aforementioned TNG episode. With its ominous final page and Kirk’s declaration he will rescue the Concord’s surviving crew, readers are left worrying that his efforts will be – yes, we’re saying it again – futile.
Also available this week from IDW Publishing: the Star Trek Ongoing volume 13 trade paperback, which collects issues 55-60, including the poignant four-part “Legacy of Spock”, as well as the two-part series finale.
I don’t even know where to start…
Start at the beginning.
Genesis, I presume.
🎼 It’s a very good place to start.
Why is the Crew split up on different ships? We see the Enterprise Rebuilt at the end of STAR TREK BEYOND & there is no reason to explore this time period.
& the WHOLE idea of the Kelvin Alt Universe timeline was to have new adventures So what do they do for “Boldly Go”? they run straight to the BORG, Main Next Generation Villain. No exploration or new complicated conflicts just wheel out the reliable old Franchise Villain. & abandoning the Enterprise. Trying to get away from what Star Trek is supposed to be. Lame. Embarrassing. Tiring. I was almost excied about reading this because I mistakenly assumed it would be about the continuation of the FIVE YEAR Mission of the ENTERPRISE we see set up at the end of Beyond.
Won’t be buying it. Brought EVERY other Star Trek Comic series but I just can’t deal with the stupidity & misdirection displayed by the people in charge of Star Trek.Obviously it took time to build the new ship but why chose to explore that period instead of getting back to The Enterprise which we know is rebuilt & since we hear everyones voice at the end we can assume they all went back (except Checkov)
Because it sells.
Obviously, this series takes place during the construction of the Enterprise-A. What? You expect the crew to be sitting around and doing nothing at Yorktown?
This means the Enterprise A is going to be built to defeat the Borg when they return after this issue, I guess the new ship is going to be armed to the teeth.
$$
No! “The Borg” were overused, specially in the printed world, the Pocket Books were infested with Borgs, every single writer went this route to the point of exhaustion.
Earth itself was borgified in the books, it got ridiculous.
…never been a fan of the Borg. One of the laziest villains ever created…”hey lets make a villain that half machine half human, like a Cyborg! What should we call it? Hey, how about Borg?” Genius.
Hey, glad to see your opinion. I disagree, but glad to see it all the same. Cheers!
I like the concept – reminds me of the awesome era of DC comics in the movie era when the original crew ended up on the Excelsior (yes, Admiral Kirk and crew on the Excelsior) after Star Trek III and an awesome mirror universe conflict (including Kirk vs. Kirk!). That being said that was after years of awesome Star Trek II “Five year mission” type stories. And hey – the Borg was the only good thing to come out of TNG; hilarious analog though given they are the ultimate socialist uni-mind where all are equal.
I wish i could read that era you mentioned.
but about the Borg, i recall the critique was towards “Microsoft” which was buying smaller companies “assimilating” them with hostile takeovers.
That’s not a valid stardate for the nonsense JJ-verse.
I bought it and read it, I thought it was a good, although quick, read.
Won’t be buying it, for reasons already posted by others.
TNG is NOT the Prime Universe, it is the Bermanverse!
Ripping off both Doctor Who and Douglas Adams.
There’s no guarantee Kirk and co will ever have to be on board the Enterprise-A. The movie series should roll with the changes and open with Kirk commanding a different ship and only include one or two legacy characters. Remember, Kirk and Spock were the only two consistent TOS characters– many of the others often didn’t appear at all in a lot of episodes and the ‘full team’ – Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, Chekov, Chapel – weren’t that often all in the same story. It would save a lot of money only to feature the main trio in the next film and use a different ship and new supporting characters.
Glad to see the comics using the Borg: if the licensors are fine with using them in the comics, it tells us there are no plans to include them in the movie series right now.
” if the licensors are fine with using them in the comics, it tells us there are no plans to include them in the movie series right now.”
I used to think the same, then JJ Abrams came along and killed Jayna and Jacen Solo.