Star Trek Boldly Go #11 NM Tony Shasteen Cover B IDW Mike Johnson Captain Garth

Description

Star Trek Boldly Go (2016 IDW) #11B
Published Aug 2017 by IDW Publishing
Writer Mike Johnson
Art Megan Levens
Cover Tony Shasteen

The feathered and fearless space pirate EURYDICE returns to tempt Captain Kirk and the crew of the Endeavour with a daring plan to uncover secrets that could change the fate of the galaxy! Don’t miss the latest chapter of the hit series set after the events of STAR TREK BEYOND! 28 pages, full color.

Star Trek is boldly going back into the Prime Universe memory banks with a new spin on an old classic. Boldy Go’s 11th issue, “Whom God Destroys”, is the first of a two-parter starring, you guessed it, “the greatest of them all”, Capta- err, LORD Garth of Izar. This marks his first appearance in the Star Trek comic universe since DC Comics’ “Who Killed Captain Kirk?” epic denouement in 1988. Once again, Mike Johnson is at the helm with artwork by the talented Megan Levens.

We begin with a pretty in-depth prologue set 10 years before TOS, with much of the story taken from bits of dialogue in “Whom Gods Destroy”, (a classic episode which gave us this amazing Kirk gif) and the rest from the 2003 novel, Garth of Izar. Captain Garth is in command of the pre-Breaking Bad USS Heisenberg on a routine mission to Axanar when he encounters a hostile Klingon battle cruiser in the same system. Outmatched, he performs the Cochrane deceleration maneuver, defeating the Klingons in what became known as the Battle of Axanar.

Three years later, Garth is the “hero of Axanar”, giving lectures at Starfleet Academy and mingling with a starstruck Cadet Kirk, who, much like his Prime counterpart, is about to start his service on the USS Farragut. As we know, Kirk studied Garth’s victory at Axanar when he was a cadet – it was required reading at the Academy.

Four more years go by and while the USS Heisenberg is in orbit over Antos IV, Captain Garth beams down to the surface, only to fall victim to a horrific transporter accident which leaves him severely disfigured. It’s at this point where things start to deviate from the Prime universe and Johnson begins to weave in the Kelvinverse comic book continuity. Back into the fold is the space pirate Eurydice and her daughter Thalia, last seen in IDW’s first run of Trek comics back in 2015. Thalia convinces Kirk to follow her to Antos IV to search for her missing mother.

As I’ve said many times before, I’m a huge fan of Levens’ artwork, but until First Officer Liang Jin calls him Captain Garth I had no idea who it was. Her version of Garth bears little resemblance to actor Steve Ihnat. Of course, she could not have been going for Ihnat’s likeness, in which case I’m happy to be proven wrong. Aside from that, she does a fine job with everything in the Kelvinverse – the ships look excellent and we even get a first look at the Antosian race. Eurydice and Thalia are drawn extremely well and look fantastic.

As for the story – this issue starts out strong. For fans of TOS, we are finally getting a real dramatization of how Captain Garth literally and figuratively morphed into Lord Garth of Izar. Even if you aren’t familiar with his backstory, it’s entertaining nonetheless. Johnson has done a masterful job of merging the two universes and I’m eager to see how this pre-Elba II Lord Garth wreaks havoc on the crew of the USS Endeavour.

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Bagged and boarded, near mint condition. 1st printing. More pictures may be in description.