Villordsutch reviews Star Trek: Starfleet Academy #2…
Don’t miss the latest chapter of the blockbuster mini-series that introduces a brave new cast of cadets to Star Trek lore! What is the mystery at the heart of Starfleet that connects this new crew to Kirk, Spock and rest of the iconic cast? The answers are inside, in this all-new adventure set in the new film universe!
Following on from last month’s opening issue of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy [review here], we join up with Uhura and Chekov’s cadet timeline in which they are investigating the echo of the suspected lost vessel the USS Slayton. With the waters becoming murky Chekov realises his career in the Federation may be at risk and makes his apologies before leaving; it’s here Uhura turns to a boy from Iowa to help pursue her lead. Leaping towards the future by three years we meet up with the cadets mid Inter-Academy Exploratory Competition, and they are doing pretty well; however it’s during an awkward social meet up that our Vulcan cadet T’Lann makes for some late night revision and stumbles across an audio file – left by Uhura – in which she mentions that Starfleet may be covering something up.
Something seems rather odd in this second issue of Starfleet Academy; it’s enjoyable and I like the flowing of the two storylines together, however it feels like threads are going to be tied up to quickly already. I quite like a story to give me a number of ends that I can steadily follow towards a tapestry, which I can take my time to appreciate, but here in Issue #2 we’ve already got a missing ship, a Klingon body brought in for autopsy, Starfleet possibly covering up the missing USS Slayton and Uhura’s left a message that anyone could stumble across, friend or foe. I feel somebody needs to step in front of the comic with a red flag – as of now – whilst walking slowly before its lungs burst, due to the speed it’s travelling.
This being said, I did enjoy the comic. There we some rather excellent moments and I feel either Mike Johnson or Ryan Parrott could be a closet Douglas Adams fan for the questions posed towards Cadet Lucia where great and would have easily fitted in well within a Hitchhikers Guide book.
As mentioned last month the artwork from Derek Charm suits Star Trek: Starfleet Academy to a tee! The look of this book is perfect for the characters and story, also just to say both Subscription cover and retail incentive covers from Elizabeth Beal and George Caltsoudas are fantastic this month and if you have the chance to get either of these you’re a very lucky person.
George Caltsoudas Cover
Star Trek: Starfleet Academy #2 is both enjoyable and interesting, but I can shake the feeling that they are going to finish off the opening story rather quickly and I’m hoping over the next few issues that they will prove me wrong.
Rating: 7/10
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
Originally published January 6, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
