May The 4th Be With You (a little late)
Yes I read this for May The 4th Be With You
Star Trek: Ongoing brings the best of the original series from the '60s to the JJ Abrams Star Trek films. Anyone who loves Star Trek should definitely check out Star Trek: Ongoing. Ongoing retells episodes of the original series and in the continuity of JJ Abrams' film universe ultimately modernizing classics and doing it well. What makes Star Trek: Ongoing great are the well-written stories, great characters, and neat artwork in the graphic novel collection
Story
Star Trek: Ongoing retells "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and "Galileo Seven" in the first volume.
Where No Man Has Gone Before
"Where No Man Has Gone Before" to those of you who haven't seen the episode Gary Mitchell gets his powers and becomes a villain. Captain Kirk is forced to take out his best friend I'll give "Where No Man Has Gone Before" alone a 5/5. As someone who owns the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series I can say that "Where No Man Has Gone Before" was one of my favorite episodes of the show (alongside "Space Seed" [the episode that introduced Khan]). So I was thoroughly impressed by Mike Johnson's retelling of that episode. In this adaptation of "Where No Man Has Gone Before," Mitchell is the only one struck by the strange energy that gives him superpowers. Dr. Dehner is not struck by the energy, in fact, she's not in this retelling of "Where No Man Has Gone Before." Now this might upset purists, but I on the issue had no issue with this change. Dehner did provide humanity to Mitchell's character and she plays a key role in stopping him. Johnson chose to examine Mitchell's friendship further and demonstrate the toll it takes on Kirk when he has to ultimately kill Mitchell himself. Which is indeed a welcome change.
Galileo Seven
"Galileo Seven" is a Star Trek Planet of the Apes cross over. The Enterprise Crew sent the Gallileo Seven to the surface of a strange planet and waits to get back on board the Enterprise because apparently the Transporter Room isn't working. Gallileo 7 alone is 3/5. Spock is left in command of a shuttle that's crash-landed on a planet of Ape-like creatures. This is a test of Spock'sability based on logic. Honestly, I don't remember this episode well, it wasn't a particular favorite of mine. That's largely why this is more of a pass for me. Kirk and the Enterprise crew try to get Spock and his crew back to the ship. Captain Kirk and Commissioner Ferris fight over whether or not to save the stranded crewmen. It was an okay chapter. I did find it interesting that Johnson chose to kill off the yellow-shirted crewman, instead of the red shirt.
Characters
The characters are the same characters fans of Star Trek knew and loved. James T. Kirk, Spock, Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Nyota Uhura, Hikaru Sulu, Pavel Chekov, and Montgomery "Scotty" Scott have the same personalities as they do in the JJ Abrams films. Spock and Uhura are in a relationship. Scotty every now and then gets irritated with his green friend Keenser. So everything fans of the JJ Abrams films will have the character they know and love.
Where No Man Has Gone Before.
Gary Mitchell is introduced as being a really good friend of Kirk, and we see them playing chess on the first panel. When the wave of mysterious energy hits Mitchell and gets his powers he does become insane and believes he's a god. Much like his TV show counterpart. Lee Kelso is the unfortunate lieutenant that is killed by a superpower Mitchell. Unlike in the show, Mitchell uses his powers to get Kelso to kill himself instead of choking Kelso.
Galileo Seven
Commissioner Mitchel Ferris is rather the same as he was in the show. Ferris is insensitive to the loss of the Galileo crew and more concerned with pushing the mission forward and not coming back for stragglers. He's the same cold-hearted character he was the show.
Artwork
The artwork is fine. I love Tim Bradstreet's photorealistic cover art, it was nice to see how he drew the Star Trek cast of characters (I love his Punisher covers).
Where No Man Has Gone Before
Like in the other categories "Where No Man Has Gone Before" has better artwork. Stephen Molner does a great job of making his illustrations resemble the characters on screen. His drawing of Chris Pine's Kirk bears a strong resemblance to Pine as the Enterprise's captain. Gary Mitchell looks just like Gary Lockwood in the show. So it's a nice blend of old and new looks.
Galileo Seven.
The artwork is pretty generic Star Trek designs. Unlike "Where No Man Has Gone Before," the artwork for "Galileo Seven" doesn't feel like it's inherently set in the JJ Abrams Star Trek universe. It just feels like a generic Star Trek comic that's a retelling of "Galileo Seven." That isn't to say Joe Philips' artwork is bad, it's not. His artwork is fine, and Kirk and Scotty have features that resemble Simon Pegg and Chris Pine. That being said Spock and Bones look like they could be from any Star Trek adaptation.
That concludes my review of Star Trek: Ongoing 1. The stories are good retellings of the original episodes. Enjoyment depends on how much you liked the original episodes. The stories and characters are pretty much intact, with minor changes. The artwork varies from chapters. So to my fellow Trekkies, you should check this out.