The second volume of IDW’s Star Trek comic omnibus series features the 17 issue run of Star Trek: Early Voyages written by Ian Edginton and Dan Abnett. It is the story of Captain Pike and his crew, familiar to fans of the original series from the pilot episode, The Cage, and again in flashbacks during the two part episode The Menagerie, which recycled footage from that pilot.
The writers do a fine job of building the universe around those brief glimpses, bringing in various hinted at ideas, and taking some bold chances. Like my recently reviewed Doctor McCoy Frontier Doctor, this captures the essence of what makes Trek cool for me. Exploration, imagination, weird ideas, and interesting characters.
Sadly, the series seems to have been prematurely axed, ending on a cliffhanger, and with several interesting threads unexplored. As the volume doesn’t contain any additional information, an introduction, postscript, or anything, I have no idea what happened. I sure would love to see IDW get the writers back to do a mini-series or something to wrap up what they were planning. But, it’s been about 15 years, so I doubt that’ll happen.
The art in the volume is mostly good, though the last couple issues take on an almost manga style, which I didn’t care for at all. There are some especially cool worlds and ships. And everything still feels Trek-like, even when it’s pretty wild.
For fans of the original series, especially those intrigued by Captain Pike’s era, this is a must. Good writing, fair art, and exciting stories. It’s just frustrating that it was cut off midstream.
Star Trek Omnibus 2
Authors: Ian Edginton and Dan Abnett
Artists: Patrick Zircher, et al
Publisher: IDW
ISBN: 978-160010496-1
Pages: 436
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