Villordsutch reviews Star Trek: Waypoint #2…
This month, two stories from different ends of the galaxy! First, a GOLD KEY homage from New York Times best-selling Star Trek author Dayton Ward, with Trek novelist and collaborator Kevin Dilmore, and art by Gordon Purcell (Star Trek), where Kirk and Spock find an uncharted planet inhabited by monstrous robots! And finally, a story by Sam Maggs, bestselling author of The Fangirl’s Guide to the Galaxy, with art by Rachael Stott (Star Trek, Doctor Who). Learn the backstory of Yeoman Leslie Thompson, the first and ONLY female redshirt to die in the ORIGINAL SERIES!
SEE ALSO: Check out a preview of Star Trek: Waypoint #2 here
In our second issue of Star Trek: Waypoint IDW Publishing is taking us back to the Star Trek Original Series, with two individual tales that you would believe were both written and drawn decades apart. However, this new bi-monthly series is really bringing the Trek talent to the comic book world for Star Trek’s 50th Anniversary.
Our opener, “The Menace of the Mechanitrons”, which has been written by Trek novelists Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore, sings from the classic Star Trek comic book era of the 1970’s, with Klingon scum taking over the subservient planet Phygma 4 for the mineral Gravitite, which as we all know every spaceship needs to make anti-gravity. It’s up to Kirk and the Away Team to put these Klingons in their place, whilst it’s down to Sulu and the Enterprise to ward off the advancing Klingons in Robo-armour.
This opener is given an extra boost by the excellent artwork from both Gordon Purcell and Jason Lewis (artist and colourist), who have made the pages look nearly forty years old with their fantastic art. If you switch back and forth between this and the next tale you would believe that two comics have been stapled together.
The closing tale, “Legacy”, from Sam Maggs deals with our first female red shirt officer that was ever killed by another man’s hands on screen – Yeoman Leslie Thompson in “By Any Other Name”. Here our Yeoman is given a worthy send off, as her quiet deeds upon the ship she travelled on are brought into the light, showing that this crumbled ball of dust was a (very subtle) key player upon the Enterprise. Not only this, but she had a family, partner and life beyond the Federation.
Wrapping “Legacy” up – with a rather splendid bow – is the artwork from Rachael Stott and the colours from Mark Roberts. I’m already a fan of Rachael Stott’s art and I’m constantly asking for more of it in the world of Star Trek, so to see it appear in Star Trek: Waypoint has placed a smile on my bearded face.
Another excellent release from Star Trek: Waypoint. I can see perhaps “The Menace of the Mechanitrons” not being everybody’s cup of tea, however I truly enjoyed it as it took me back to the Star Trek annuals I received as a child. Legacy, like Daylily from the last issue, is bittersweet but it is a great closer to this comic and I always like stories like this thanks to Lower Decks.
Rating: 8/10
Originally published November 16, 2016. Updated November 14, 2019.
