Looking Back: Part 1 - Star Trek Discovery: Aftermath

 

Why I'm Doing This Series

If I have found one thing to be true when it comes to modern Star Trek it's that reading the comics is just as vital as watching the series on TV if you want all the story. The was particularly important when it came to the Kelvin Timeline films - There was a whole other movie's worth of story left out of the 2009 Star Trek film that makes it SO MUCH better. and it is proving to be the case with the new shows on CBS All Access as well. The comics tie things together and fill in the blanks which, in turn, sets up the world we see in shows like DISCO, Short Treks, Lower Decks and Picard. For that reason I am looking back on the books that I missed in the last year so I can get the whole story and hopefully you'll like taking the trip with me in this series, Looking Back. Be warned, if you have not read this book there are major spoilers ahead!

Looking Back: Part 1 - Star Trek Discovery: Aftermath

Publisher: IDW

Writers: Kirsten Beyer & Mike Johnson

Cover Artist: Angel Hernandez

Cover Colorist: J.D. Mettler

Artist: Tony Shasteen

Colorist: J.D. Mettler

Letterer: Neil Uyetake

Reviewer: Michael Nunneley

It's been a month since Discovery was destroyed and resentment boils in the ranks of the Klingon Empire as most Klingons believe the Federation plans to destroy the Empire by peace instead of war with their new "treaty of mutual benefit". However, Chancellor L'Rell, Mother of the Klingon Empire, fights to preserve the teachings of T'Kuvma amidst the uneasy & fragile cooperation with the Federation with a wary eye and a sharp blade through Captain Pike. But she knows that the Klingons might be right as T'Kuvma himself warned that humans would come offering peace and communion and in the process the Empire would lose everything it means to be Klingon. Despite her feelings L'Rell is still attending the summit with the Federation on Vaset III as is Lieutenant Spock and Captain Pike. 

But in the middle of peace talks a bomb goes of injuring many including Captain Pike, delagates on both sides of the peace talks and Chancellor L'Rell who is taken hostage by masked men with phaser rifles called the Shadows of Kahless, threatening to make the Chancellor pay for her crimes. But as always Chancellor L'Rell was underestimated and she unleashes her badassness (is that a word?) all over the traitors within her ranks by destroying her own flagship! Chancellor L'Rell was advised during the Summit by Spock and through that experience now admires the Vulcan people - which is saying a lot from a Klingon. Ultimately the peace talks failed because of the Shadows of Kahless attack on the summit and L'Rell returned to Qo.Nos to root out the other conspirators.

This series drops several interesting tidbits for the attentive reader: Stuff like... 

• Star Trek Discovery: Aftermath being the first time that we see new ridged-Klingons, namely L'Rell, with Kor - a Klingon you might recognize from TOS. They don't make a big deal out of it or anything, they just show them talking together like everything is normal.
• Michael learned the Vulcan nerve pinch as a child - something even Vulcan children were forbidden to learn. But that explains why we saw her do it in the series.
• Number One loved Spock's beard and was hoping he wouldn't shave it.
• The effects of eating gagh on a human take weeks to manifest and while they are not fatal, in the words of Number One the experience is "memorable"
• Amanda's last name was Grayson before she married Sarek? I sure as hell didn't. 
• Kronos is the English transliteration of Qo'Nos. That one's not a new fact, but it was one I didn't know.
• I love learning little factoids about Star Trek, don't you?

As far as the review goes I have to say I love Shasteen's work. I always have. As an artist he really sets the bar high as far as character likeness, consistency, inking, use of space & points of view. But not all of that glory is Shasteen's. Mettler does an amazing job with the colors. Seriously, an artist couldn't ask for a better job bringing his/her work to life. Great choice of colors, nice layering, lighting and a real contribution to the third dimension. And what can I say about Uyetake that I have not said before? He's a great letterer - one of the best in the business IMO. He really understands flow, placement and readability. As far as the writing, IMO, you can't get better than the crème de la crème of writing teams - Mike Johnson and Kirsten Beyer. As a writer I hold these 2 in high regard and hope to be as great as them one day. They are both quite good on their own, but together they become something more - masters of storytelling. Save for the Tipton brothers (Scott and David) I don't know of another writing team that understands Star Trek and its characters as well as Beyer & Johnson. The spirit of Star Trek remains intact and flowing in every work that these 2 do including this one. And I can't give a higher praise than that.

Score: 5/5