With the end of the Boldly Go series and the recent departure of longtime IDW editor Sarah Gaydos, I thought it might signal the beginning of the end of Trek comics as we know it. But as we learned back in March at WonderCon, that couldn’t have been farther from the truth. While one universe has indeed been paused indefinitely, there is, in fact, a steady stream of titles across multiple universes and timelines for the foreseeable future. For Gaydos, that’s one heck of a final mission.
Review: Star Trek: Discovery – Succession #1
Publisher: IDW Publishing
Written by: Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson
Art by: Angel Hernandez with colors by Mark Roberts
Cover by Angel Herndandez
Succession is next in the long line of Kirsten Beyer’s Discovery extended universe novel and comic tie-ins. Co-written by Beyer and Mike Johnson, Succession transports us back into the Disco mirror universe – filling in the blanks we never thought we needed. Set directly after the events of season one, this five-issue series is what happened after the U.S.S. Discovery (along with former emperor Georgiou) returned to the Prime universe.
Since it’s been a few months, here’s where we are. In the wake of the Discovery’s jump back to the Prime timeline, the Empire is in shambles. The emperor is (presumed) dead, Lorca’s resistance failed, and the imperial flagship has been destroyed. When word of Georgiou’s apparent death hits San Francisco, a new heir takes the crown – Prince Alexander. A raging xenophobe with a heart of gold, Alexander’s first order of business is to eliminate all non-humans in the galaxy. I guess the Halkans can never catch a break.
Without a captain, the I.S.S. Shenzhou command crew – Detmer, a very much alive Owosekun (she was vaporized by Lorca in “What’s Past is Prologue”), and Airiam battle for the center chair. It’s arguably more screen time than any of these characters ever received in the show and it’s one of this issue’s highlights – including a big surprise.
Much like his work in Star Trek: Discovery – Annual 2018, Angel Hernandez’s visuals are spectacular. For the most part, the actor likenesses are spot on and the sinister nature of our mirror counterparts is front and center. The Terrans just look plain evil, but he’s able to make Harry Mudd look like a teddy bear.
We’re still 10 or so years away from Kirk and crew’s transporter accident and much like the TV series, there’s so much ground to cover. The most wonderful part about Beyer’s expanded universe is that, according to Discovery producer Ted Sullivan, the novel and comic tie-ins are canon unless proven otherwise. They’ve already dropped a few bombshells in this first issue so I’m curious to see how far Beyer and Johnson take things moving forward.
Available Now
Star Trek: Discovery – Succession #1 was released in April and is available now. It retails for $3.99. You can order it with three choices of cover at TFAW with a discount.
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It wasn’t bad. I especially liked that Burnham was absent for most of the ish. (Nothing against the charming SMG, it’s just that whenever Michael starts talking, I tend to drift into a deep and peaceful slumber.)
Drifting off to deep slumber… Much like the rest of us do when you start posting, Galt.
People who post worthless unintelligible garbage like this make me wonder what’s happened to the Trek fan-base.
I like the actress; I don’t like the character even a little bit. Maybe they will eventually hire writers who can fix that.
Same here, Bryant. I find SMG to be a decent actress, but don’t find Burnham to be a compelling character at all, so far.
So they replace a Star Trek series with space exploration with a Discovery Mirror Universe comic? A Pro-War, Pro-Xenophobic, for the Trump Supporters series they tried to aim Discovery at in the first place?
Vile.
Discovery is aimed at Trump supporters?
With a black lead, a gay couple and powerful women? hmmm
Judging by the outrage from some Trump supporters over certain episodes it would seem they didn’t get the memo.
HARD pass.