Villordsutch reviews Star Trek New Visions: Swarm…
In our latest offering from the comic book master that is John Byrne, we find the Enterprise and her crew on the trail of drones that travel the cosmos, vibrating stars to death and feeding on their remains. Though you may snort at this glib opener, Swarm is one of Star Trek: New Visions’ best stories.
With the Enterprise entering the Copernicus System and Lt. Uhura attempting to raise Copernicus VII via Comms, it rapidly becomes apparent that all is not well when – appearing upon the viewscreen – this system’s star shows signs that it recently went nova without any warning whatsoever. Upon further investigation Spock discovers that around the Nova are chronometric particles – the area around the dead star is having its time altered, thus making time run around sixty million percent faster. After the ship is battered by energy waves, the crew discover the cause of the destruction as thousands and thousands of drones – all varying in size, and all set on course for their next meal.
As I said above Swarm is now to be classed as one of my favourite New Visions photomontages. I especially love John Byrne’s work when he keeps nearly all the action focused on the bridge; the story feels tighter and it’s delivered extremely well. It’s unfortunate for John that we recently witnessed something that occurs it the closing panels of this comic book, also appear near the end of Star Trek Beyond. I more than aware that John produces these comic many months in advance so I shan’t be screaming about, “Lack of any original ideas!” as this really is unfortunate timing.
In truth there are no negatives in this issue, other than minor nitpicking from the eyes of a nerd as midway through Lt. Uhura suddenly starts to be called Miss Uhura by the Bridge Crew. This reverts back Lt. shortly afterwards. Again this isn’t a negative to the story this is just a Trek nerd assuming the role of Comic Book Guy from The Simpsons.
Star Trek: New Visions – The Swarm is an excellent read and it’s one that’s worthy of picking up today.
Rating: 9/10
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Originally published September 21, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
