Advance Review — The End Is Near For The Federation And The Series In ‘Star Trek: The Last Starship’ #11
by Tom Smithyman
From the many battles with Klingons and Romulans to the threat of the Borg to the Dominion War, the United Federation of Planets has often faced existential threats. In Star Trek: The Last Starship, though, it really feels like this could be the end of the Federation. That seems appropriate given that this series concludes with the next issue.
Set 90 years after the Burn rendered warp cores inert and killed trillions across the galaxy, Starship shows a bleak future for the Federation which no longer even includes Earth. Only a handful of starships remain, and many of them can barely fly.
Writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly pit the reincarnated James Kirk against his onetime commanding officer Sato. The two men have set aside their differences to deal with the evil Emerald Chain once and for all. Their plan: to go into hiding and rebuild for as long as possible.
Frankly, it doesn’t sound all that Starfleet-like, much less Kirk-like.
To make matters worse, the whole thing feels rushed. We get that Kirk and Sato don’t like each other. We understand that the Emerald Chain is evil. But the details have largely been glossed over. There’s too much telling and not enough showing. In an attempt to wrap up the story, they lose too much of the storytelling.
And to top it off, Kirk has Borg implants and kisses the Borg Queen. (I mean, of course he does. He’s Jim Kirk!)
Artist Adrian Bonilla provides the issue’s high points. He captures the dark look of the times while giving us good representations of the characters. And he gets to show off his shipbuilding skills with a Starfleet armada. If only it were enough.
Publisher IDW is launching a new Star Trek title soon with Seven of Nine commanding the latest version of the U.S.S. Enterprise. That’s the shiny new bauble that has left this title to drift to its demise.
Star Trek: The Last Starship #11– written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, illustrated by Adrian Bonilla, colored by Lee Loughridge, and lettered by Clayton Cowles — will be available in comic book stores and on digital platforms Wednesday from IDW.
Overview
With only one episode left in this series, the writers are struggling to tie up loose ends as neatly as possible. That means a lot of telling instead of showing. That’s too bad because the illustrations are the issue’s highlights.
