Advance Review: ‘Star Trek: Strange New Worlds –- The Seeds Of Salvation’ #1 Lacks Story Depth

Outer space is exciting. Outer space is dangerous. Outer space is…boring?

At least that’s what Nurse Christine Chapel is feeling after four unremarkable planetary surveys at the start of the new limited series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The Seeds of Salvation.

But as the old Chinese curse goes, “May you live in interesting times.” And things quickly get interesting – for the characters anyway, if not the readers – when one of Chapel’s friends goes missing on a remote ice planet. Throw in a robot that feels like it belongs in Star Wars, not Trek, and you have what amounts to a fairly unremarkable first issue.

Writer Robbie Thompson does succeed at capturing the feel of the Strange New Worlds dramatis personae. This isn’t exactly a by-the-book crew, as they are yelling at Spock for his Vulcan-like accuracy, for example. But that overreliance on a television script format is this first chapter’s weakness. It’s one thing for a commercial to break up the story’s acts, because the audience will be back viewing in a few minutes. With a comic, the reader has to actively choose to buy next month’s issue – which can be a tall task if the story is as tentative as what Thompson puts on these pages.

Artist Travis Mercer brings a buff, animated style to the pages. It takes some getting used to – particularly given that we see these characters in 4K when watching the streaming series on Paramount+. Spock, for example, is many things. A muscle man isn’t one of them. Still, Mercer does a good job of capturing likenesses, so everyone is easily recognizable.

For now, let’s given the creative team the benefit of the doubt. But patience only last so long. Things need to get more interesting fast, or this series runs the risk of being as unremarkable as an uninhabited planet.

Star Trek: Strange New World – The Seeds of Salvation #1 will be available in comics shops and digital platforms August 27th from IDW.