Villordsutch reviews Star Trek: Boldly Go #8…
It’s up to Kirk, Spock and the Academy cadets (including their newest member, Jaylah from STAR TREK BEYOND!) to solve the murder of the Romulan ambassador before the Babel peace conference ends in disaster and a new course is set for galactic war! The finale of an epic storyline with guest artist Megan Levens!
SEE ALSO: Check out the preview for Star Trek: Boldly Go #8 here
At the end of last month’s Murder at Babel, which is playing out already as an excellent homage to Journey to Babel, the Cadets from last year’s Starfleet Academy have joined Kirk and the crew of the Endeavour – on Babel – to help build a peace treaty with the Romulans. However, due the assassination of the Romulan Ambassador Joltair and with Cadet Shev appearing to be the prime suspect, all is not looking well and this peace treaty looks like it may be ending even before the dessert has been served.
With Kirk and the Away team donning space suits and leaving the Endeavour to make chase of the assassin’s into Lotonian asteroid belt, it’s left for Spock to not only calm the tempers of the Romulans on Babel but also an agitated McCoy.
Meanwhile within the nooks and crannies of the conference hall – on Babel – the Cadets are currently in hiding whilst devising a plan to help prove the innocence of Shev; it falls to a rather dangerous skill of T’Lann and the currently deceased Joltair to hopefully do this. Meanwhile back in the Lotonian asteroid belt, Kirk and the Away team are coming under fire from unknown masked attackers.
Before I continue we need to mention George Caltsoudas’s cover this month. Wow! This needs to be entered as a contender for 2017’s cover of the year as this is utterly fantastic! If you want to see this cover in its full glory click on the small image in the top right.
Here’s a curious thing I was positive that Murder at Babel was meant three parts, even IDW Publishing have Star Trek Boldly Go #7 (the last issue) listed as Part 1 of 3, however here in #8 we have the closing chapter of this story arc which started off rather grand, but does feel wrapped up rather to quickly.
Everything just seems to “Scooby-Doo” in this conclusion of Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott’s closing Babel chapter, even to the point where the culprit is actually unmasked – though out of sight – at the close of this tale. This is a rather disappointing if I’m being brutally honest as we’ve recently had a run of great stories: the Borg story arc, the Romulan’s introduced and then in come the Cadets with the overbearing Babel father. With this being offered as a three-parter and Episode One being very enjoyable I had – internally – built myself up for this too to be just as good, and it unfortunately isn’t.
However, one good thing that did continue over from the last issue, that was the artwork for Megan Levens whose art is fantastic within these covers. I’d really be very happy if she stayed on as a regular Trek artist, sharing the duties with Tony and Co.
The conclusion of Murder at Babel isn’t as exciting as I expected, whether this is down to IDW misprinting 1of3 or something else occurring in the background we’re not privy to, but story arc really feels like it ended far too quickly.
Rating: 6/10
Originally published May 24, 2017. Updated November 21, 2019.
