IDW Previews and a Review by Sean Stoltey

Gonna try something new here folks, so let me know how I do…seriously, there’s a comments section and my contact info below.  Some quick reviews and previews all bundled together. 

Previews

First up, Star Trek Classics Vol. 3  - Now, I have to be honest, when I hear the word “Classic” in reference to Star Trek the last thing I’m thinking is Voyager.  However, in the interest of space I’ll leave that debate for another article.  In the past, Star Trek books have suffered most when it comes to art, not so here.  The pages looked quite good.  They captured the likenesses fairly well without being slavish about it and the ship actually looked right, so kudos.  The writers have definitely captured the voices of the characters as well and it’s set in the latter, better seasons era of Voyager.  The Berman era long-windedness and techno-babble is all there as well.  All in all an interesting set up that had me thinking I’d like to read the whole story some time.

Dungeons & Dragons: Forgotten Realms Classics Vol. 3 – Okay, full disclosure, fantasy comics are not my thing.  I love a good fantasy film and even some fantasy novels, but those are pretty rare in my opinion.  So I tried this, and it just wasn’t for me.  If this is your thing, then you will probably dig it, and if you are a Rags Morales fan then it might be worth checking out to see some of his earlier pre-fame work that is included in this volume.

Godzilla King of Monsters Vol. 3 – Having NEVER read a Godzilla comic in my life, I had absolutely no idea what to expect from this preview.  It sets up something with a Man and his young daughter running around in a Mechagodzilla, and for some reason this worries the President.  There’s not much detail here, but I was shocked by how intrigued I was.  I want to see what this is all about now.  I don’t know if I need to track down Volumes 1 and 2 first, but that seems a pretty fair bet.  So I guess I’ll have some weekend Monster reading to do pretty soon. 

Full Issue Review

Star Trek (Ongoing) #8 – This issue starts with a nice little inside joke/reference for Trek fans.  For anyone who’s ever wondered why so many high-level ship officers go on away missions, this page is for you.  As with the Voyager review above, the writers have definitely captured the characters voices here.  It probably helps that one of the screenwriters of the movie is consulting on every issue of the book.
  

For those that don’t know, this series takes the new Abrams-era Trek characters and throws them into stories based on episodes from the Original Series.  Anyone who knows me personally knows what high, practically religious, regard I hold Original Trek in.  So it’s no surprise that it’s been a bit of a mixed bag for me.  I liked the first story, based on the pilot episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before”, quite a bit.  I felt the “Galileo Seven” arc was somewhat lacking, though I honestly couldn’t point to why.  This latest arc seemed to be an original story, until I got to this last issue and realized the argument could be made that it was a rather radical re-invention of the Season Three episode “The Enterprise Incident”.
  

It involves the Romulan Empire and the infamous “red matter” from the recent reboot/sequel/prequel movie.  It delves quite deeply into the different reactions the Vulcans are having to the destruction of their home and who should be responsible for it.  It does so quickly and thoroughly without bogging down the story, which is a great thing.  I don’t want to say much more, but I thought it was quite enjoyable.  This series is a nice appetizer for the big meal of a movie which will be coming out next year.

I think IDW has been doing rather well with the Star Trek license.  I think it might be the best Trek comics since the ones DC produced in the mid to early 80’s.  I honestly didn’t read the Marvel stuff from the 90’s, other than the X-Men crossover.  What were they thinking?  What was I thinking reading it?  I quite enjoyed the John Byrne Trek work that IDW had been publishing up until now, especially “Frontier Doctor” featuring the 70’s disco bearded McCoy.  It’s a bummer that they can only do work with Kirk and his crew that's based on the new movie continuity, but at least this series has been mostly enjoyable despite that restriction.  Fortunately they can still work with TNG so we have the Star Trek: TNG/Doctor Who crossover coming soon, which should be buckets of fun.

Sean Stoltey, writer, raconteur and retired rabble rouser, hails originally from California's Central Coast but currently resides in Southern California's BEAUTIFUL--San Fernando Valley. Screenwriter, Comic Book author, these are things he does because he's too poor to be a Producer or Publisher.

Sean has been reading comics, watching movies, reading books and selling his soul (or at least his hearing) to Rock'n'Roll for as long as he can remember. He has been discussing and arguing about these things for almost as long.

So now he has come here to throw his opinions in your face as well and hope that, even if you don't agree, hopefully you will enjoy them. For the record: Kirk was the greatest Enterprise Captain, Han was the only one that shot, Led Zeppelin was the greatest Rock band to walk the Earth and Keith Richards is the coolest undead person to walk the Earth. Coolest living people are my sons and my Mom and Dad. My Dad F---in' rocks, and my Mom can kick your ass.

You can ask Sean anything at http://www.formspring.me/WWest3001 contact him via twitter @WWest3001 or boring old e-mail at SeanStoltey@yahoo.com