Black Comics Month — Boldly Building Bridges With ‘Sons Of Star Trek’
by Scott Redmond
No matter the universe, the genre, or specifics, the relationship between parent and child bears varying degrees of storytelling fruit. Sometimes that fruit is ripe, sometimes it’s a bit rotten, and sometimes it’s in that in-between space looking to become ripe and fresh.
Star Trek as a franchise is no stranger to exploring family dynamics. Especially in the recent Star Trek: Sons Of Star Trek series which is the fourth & final entry for Black Comics Month! Where every Friday in February we brought you a column specifically focused on comics from Black creators. Spanning the vast genres that comic books can touch from superheroes to aliens to even cyberpunk.
Note: If you liked this coverage, there might be something very intriguing around the corner from myself in this similar vein. Keep your eyes peeled!
From the creative team of Morgan Hampton, Angel Hernandez, Nick Filardi, and Clayton Cowles, Star Trek: Sons Of Star Trek follows a trio of sons from the 1990s TV series under the franchise banner. Saddled with indecision, family issues, and more, they are tossed into another universe (by the son of the all-powerful being known as Q, if you know you know). Here they must grapple with a place that is harsher than their own world but one where they made decisions that possibly worked out even better for them in many respects.
I’m an avid Star Trek fan, always have been and always will be. The way it explores humanity and our social issues even more than the coolness of space speaks to me. Even the episodes that are too heavy handed or can’t quite live up to their intended message, the idea is there. The intentionality of the franchise leaves room to strive for something grander and better than what we currently have.
Basically the whole shoot for the moon but if you miss you’ll at least be amongst the stars sentiment.
Hampton was the perfect writer for this. Handling father & son relationships was what attracted me to his writing in the first place. Over in the most recent Cyborg miniseries from DC (a strong contender for this column) he explored the fraught relationship between the title character and his father was handled so wonderfully.
While there are beats that stand out more for longtime fans, I feel this is a story that even those with base knowledge could follow. Alternate universe hi-jinks make that sort of feeling easier. Being a young person struggling to find your own path out of the shadow of family is quite relatable.
Visually it has such depth and detail, allowing the characters room to feel truly alive. Emotions are crystal clear through facial expressions and body language. Tons of crackling action sequences and a sense of scale to allow moments to feel accurately epic. Colors shift and change throughout to allow each ship or space to have their own aesthetic energy. Plenty of it is flashy and vibrant but most is a bit harder with darker tones in place for depth building and mood setting.
Much of the current IDW Publishing Star Trek line has ties to the ’90s shows, leaning heavily towards Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. A series centered around a Black commanding officer and his status as a single father. Chock full of fantastic loving father and son moments, showing us a family dynamic standing opposed to many depictions in pop culture at the time (and still some to this day).
Seeing that continued through this series was golden to this biracial man’s heart. Deep Space Nine meant and means so much to me. More people should discover these stories and see them for the beauty that they are.
Star Trek: Sons Of Star Trek is available in various formats from IDW Publishing.
