Review: Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #1

Writer: Chris Roberson

Pencils: Jeffrey Moy

While on their way home from an adventure in the Time Bubble, six Legionnaires are caught in an unexpected eddy in the timestream and forced to make an emergency landing in an unknown time period. Meanwhile, in another time and place, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise arrive at Earth where Captain Kirk has been invited to make the commencement address at the Starfleet Academy graduation ceremony. But when they beam down to San Francisco something goes horribly wrong. Facing hostile forces in unfamiliar territory, both teams of misplaced adventurers must fight to stay alive while trying to find out where they are and how they’re going to escape.

Having only recently read the Star Trek/X-Men crossovers from the 1990s I was excited when I heard that there was another planned crossover event in the works, this time between the DC and Star Trek universes. I was even more excited to hear that none other than Chris Roberson, author of iZombie, would be taking on the writing duties. The fact that this would involve the crew from the ‘Prime Timeline’ also appealed. Even though there’s nothing wrong with the post-Star Trek (2009) crew it’s always nice to see old faces.

Like all first issues this sets the tone and pace. There’s a lot of ground to cover too but Roberson manages it with neat efficiency. The expected reader is clearly a Star Trek fan as there is more effort put in to identify the Legion of Superheroes characters than the Enterprise crew. Not being particularly familiar with the Legion of Superheroes myself I appreciated the expository dialogue even if it was a little clunky in places. After taking care of the practical considerations, Roberson dives into the action in the last few pages and leaves the reader poised on the edge of what promises to be a good ol’ fashioned Star Trek adventure.

Jeffrey Moy’s artwork strikes a nice balance between keeping the characters recognisable from the television series without letting the burden of drawing from actors weigh down the flow of the art. In this regard the illustrations felt fresh and light throughout and they were greatly enhanced by Romulo Fajardo, Jr.’s colours. Philip Moy brought depth and mood to the art with his deft touch on inks. In the past Star Trek comics have suffered from sometimes heavy handed inking and it’s nice to see a more subtle approach here.

Verdict: A good first issue that set up the premise and introduced all the players in the story to come. Readers are left with plenty to look forward to in issue 2.  6/10

Bernice Watson

IDW, out now

Read our review of issue 2 here