Advance Review — Finally A Fitting Ending In ‘Star Trek: Voyager – Homecoming’ #5
by Tom Smithyman
Overview
The Voyager crew finally gets the ending fans have been waiting 25 years for! The main story wraps up quickly so we can learn what happens to Captain Janeway and her crew after the arrive back on Earth. It’s about time!
Overall
9/10After 25 years, the characters in Star Trek: Voyager finally gets the ending they deserved.
Voyager ended in 2001 with the ship and crew defeating the Borg and making it back to Earth after being stranded in the distant Delta Quadrant for seven years. As fun as that finale was, we never really got to see what happened to fan-favorite characters Captain Janeway, the Doctor, and Seven of Nine (though each of them have been featured in follow-up Trek series).
The final issue of Star Trek: Voyager — Homecoming fixes that issue, giving each character the fitting send-off that couldn’t be crammed into the television show. Those epilogues come at the expense of the limited series’ plot conclusion –- though it’s hardly a spoiler to know that everyone survives. The character development is more rewarding anyway.
Credit writers Susan Bridges and Tilly Bridges for tightrope walking through that delicate balancing act of plot resolution versus character development. It’s easy to understand why the TV series didn’t go there as it takes up nearly half of this final issue. But the writers understand that fans were once robbed of this closure, and they weren’t about to let it happen again.
Similarly, artist Angel Hernandez transports us back in time to show us the familiar characters. As he has done throughout this run, Hernandez does a great job with the crew’s likenesses. (It’s also a lot of fun seeing them don the black and grey Starfleet uniforms that started during Star Trek: First Contact.)
Hernandez has particular fun illustrating Species 8472, who serve as the villains here. He has given the entire series a sense of cinematic scope rarely seen during Voyager’s original run.
While whether this particular story really needed to be told is open to debate. But providing a satisfying ending for these characters is something that most fans will appreciate.
Star Trek: Voyager — Homecoming #5 will be available in comic book stores and on digital platforms Wednesday from IDW.
