Villordsutch reviews Star Trek: Manifest Destiny #2…
The blockbuster mini-series continues as Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew face off with the Klingons in deep space… a conflict that could ignite all-out galactic war! Don’t miss this special event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the STAR TREK franchise!
After the rather amazing opener of Star Trek: Manifest Destiny from Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott barely two weeks back, we are screaming headlong into an issue which is bound to be crammed with action, as we left the Enterprise being swarmed by dozens of Bat’leth brandishing Klingons in outer space and the Away Team had just been successfully ambushed by another Klingon party on the planet below.
With Kirk and Spock leading a Security Team upon the hull of the Enterprise in a brutal attempt to remove the Klingon boarding party, it rapidly becomes apparent that this warrior race didn’t get that moniker by good looks and charm. With the Security Team meeting the wrong end of the Bat’leth, it takes a rethink and some grand manoeuvres from Lt. Kai to regain ground.
On the planet’s surface McCoy has secured the respect of the female Klingon commander – called Divash – by not only knocking out a veteran officer, but holding another captive; for this she agrees to his terms – to take him and the Away Team prisoner and to not kill them. We shortly discover however that Divash may have ulterior motives for the Enterprise’s Chief Medical Officer.
Back on board the Enterprise hull, though the battle has been hard, it has not been without it successes; this was until the Klingon Fleet pulls a rather shocking joker card. It’s following this that the Klingons finally manage to board the Enterprise and secure the Bridge to reveal their true purpose of wanting this flagship Federation vessel.
As regular readers of my reviews will know I personally am not a fan of fight scenes within comics. Generally they are fairly generic, occupy most of the comic, and involve grunts and lots of onomatopoeia. However, here is an exception. I’ve appreciated the battles within these pages; firstly the lack of onomatopoeia during the heated hull scenes, clearly due to the lack of air in space to carry the sound, and rather smartly we’ve got no, “KA-KOOOM!”, “ZZZIPS!” or “PWWWAZZZ!” Only when the phaser fight finally enters the Enterprise do we finally get these noises. Also this fight scene is broken up into perfect chunks spread between the Dr. McCoy and the Away Team story on the planet below.
This issue isn’t all about the fight scene however. Mike and Ryan have drip fed us -part of the Klingons’ endgame and it appears this may not be the full on Klingon conflict which secretly I was hoping for, yet it still may get rather messy.
Turning to the art, and here we have something for everyone. Not only is Angel Hernandez’s work spot on throughout this issue, but we have two amazing alternative covers delivered Tony Shasteen (After Bob Peak) Wrath of Khan ‘Alt. Universe’ Subscription cover, and J.K. Woodward delivers another frameable cover to the world as a retailer incentive cover.
Tony Shasteen Subscription Cover J.K. Woodward Retailer Incentive CoverAnother excellent issue for the Star Trek: Manifest Destiny series.
Rating:- 8/10
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Originally published May 4, 2016. Updated April 15, 2018.
