Soaring Even Stronger Than Ever: Reviewing ‘Star Trek’ #25

Explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no one has gone before. A well-known phrase to fans of Star Trek, and a mantra that is at the heart of what Starfleet, and the Federation, try to be about as much as possible.

It doesn’t get much more boldly going than having one’s universe wiped out by a power-mad android and ending up in hostile fluidic space which rests well outside the norm of the universe. Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, Lee Loughridge, and Clayton Cowles are joined by Liana Kangas as Star Trek #25 brings on Species 8472 and lets the Star Trek: Voyager love flow freely.

Month after month this series just delivers in the best ways possible.

I said before that this series was a love-letter to Trek, but it’s gone beyond that now. Instead, now I would compare it to a five-course Trek-themed fine-dining experience. Just the richest and fullest dishes paired with the finest of drinks, all showcasing some element or era of Trek to love fully.

With Species 8472 at the forefront, Lanzing and Kelly make the most logical move which is to put Tom Paris right in the center. From his fear and anger at the species to his stepping up in a time of need to lead them through the chaos, it’s the best showing of Paris for sure. A character that is the epitome of Star Trek in the sense of being able to turn himself around and become something far more than he thought.

Roguish traitor to stalwart friend husband father Starfleet officer and just human being. We love to see it.

Overall, this was a smart way to pace things out for the crew with their universe erased (for the moment). It would have been easy to just find some simple stall tactic to do till The Lore War event in the spring, but instead they are still building and fleshing out this world as they have conceived it. Character richness was present in the first issue, and twenty-four issues later it’s still going very strong.

We get an artistic change-up here, and it’s a really solid one.

Fluidic space is a wonky situation, and its inhabitants are the things nightmares are made from. Kangas has a style that has such a perfect roughness, almost abstract in some senses, that really hits to the tough nature of this story. Plenty of sharp edges to find, perfect for 8472 really, as the character slice through the panels and pages in the most unique and creative ways.

Just that opening shot is chef kiss. The Theseus slicing through space with a dominant Tom Paris in a circular panel below (within the Theseus conference room) leaning on a table that is also a panel of the Theseus approaching an anomaly within fluidic space. Hot damn.

So many spreads and moments that are energetic and dense, while also light and nimble. Kangas’ eye for framing and how to maximize what’s on the page is top-notch.

Shifting from the last arc art style, Loughridge brings his own rougher touch to the colors to match Kangas’ energy. They’re all sort of water-color like in feeling at times, really toning down many of the natural colors while amplifying others. One neat trick I like is the fact that various drops or splotches of color (for lack of a better term) are found drifting around to match the fluidic oddness of this space. As if this strange dimension is actually bleeding through into their ship, now that they are floundering within the space.

Cowles has so much to work with here. From the sort of squiggle pencil marks of 8472’s wordless balloons, to the bigger and bolder SFX, to even the colorfulness of many words. It all flows so well and works to the terror and amplified emotions that are rife in this story. Together all of it brings such a neat artistic flavor to everything, showcasing one of the greatest strengths of this book.

The ability to shift and change to match whoever is working on it, delivering different flavors while maintaining the overall central foundation.

I hope that I’m still here gushing over this book and its team twenty-five more issues from now. Let’s hope they and we don’t have to stop boldly going anytime soon.

Star Trek #25 is now available from IDW Publishing.