In brightest day, in blackest night… it’s the final chapter of IDW Publishing’s Star Trek crossover comic: Star Trek / Green Lantern: The Spectrum War!

There are a trio of covers to collect for this concluding issue in the series:

Order Star Trek / Green Lantern #6

• The first of three covers for Trekkers and Lantern-addicts to collect features art by Stephen Mooney and colors by Tamra Bonvillain. This ‘A’ cover is most definitely deserving a grade of A. It features all the key players in this book: clockwise, Uhura, Spock, Kirk, McCoy, Chekov, Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, Atrocitus, Nekron, Sinestro, and Chang. Every character looks fantastic, and the Enterprise is flying side-by-side with Hal as they speed through space. The coloring is also spot on, with the Trek cast realistically shaded and all the lanterns colored in the hues of their respective rings. This is a poster worthy cover.

• The ‘B’ cover is Cat Staggs, who credits its inspiration from Bob Peak, the artist of the Star Trek: The Motion Picture movie poster. This nicely blends the classic look of the poster with all the new characters. Head shots of Kirk and Spock flank a full figure of Hal Jordan, while above the three are the five characters who are the recipiants of the lantern rings in the Trek universe. Their five colors streak below and above their figures, creating the same effect from the poster. A complete image of the Enterprise is at the bottom of the image, casting out white light; as it should, being the focal point of Star Trek adventures. Staggs has done an excellent job on this frontpiece.

• Garry Brown and Doug Garbark are responsible for the ‘C’ cover which features a very buff Hal Jordan shooting blasts of emerald energy out of his ring, while looking at the reader, and Kirk just below him, holding his phaser ready to take out any of the recently revived Vulcan Black Lanterns that are swarming them. The protagonists look appropriately heroic and are well drawn, but the Vulcan mob is really loose — look at how simple the details are on their hands, including the one in close-up. This looks like a sketch more than a finished work. The coloring is fine, but is really dark, even on the energy surrounding Hal and Kirk’s top. Brightening this up would have made it stand out more.

The final chapter in this saga opens with Spock encountering the one individual he should never see: his mother. Walking through a column of animated corpses, powered by the energy of Black Lantern Nekron, she tells him, “This is for the best,” and reaches out to touch him. “This is logical.” He stands before her, emotionless and utters one word. “No.”

Meanwhile, the heroes and lanterns are being swarmed by Nekron’s awakened army, while the leader of the undead watches from on high. “There is nowhere you can go. No other worlds. No other realities. Here, on this dead planet, your lives will end.” Kirk doesn’t want to attack the Vulcan forces, but Hal says there’s no other way. Kilowog reminds them, between punches and ring slinging, that Ganthet can’t help them as he did previously.

Luckily, four more lanterns arrive: Chekov, McCoy, Uhura, and Saint Walker. Even with the Blue Lantern present, whose presence increases the power levels of Green Lanterns’ rings, Kirk contacts Scotty and asks him to fire on one target nearby — Nekron!

Mike Johnson closes out this saga well enough to appeal to fans of either franchise. Starting the issue off with Spock facing a moral dilemma, his reanimated mother, is a good hook for Trek fans, and having all of Vulcan come to life from the power of the strongest Black Lantern will ring with Lantern fans.

Page 7 has the solution to Spock’s problem, and it may not be the one that Trek fans would have wanted to see, but it fits the story and shows how his allies are there to help. I was very happy to see Sinestro’s reversal of sides, which is typical for the villain, and the dialogue by Hal at the top of 9 a good summary of why the Korugarian has made the change.

The ultimate solution to Nekron’s evil is a perfect twist for all the characters, and their reactions to Kirk’s demands are good; I especially liked the reactions to those in space. It was also good to see that there was a minor speed bump in the heroes’ solution on Page 14, but Hal had the right fix. The entity that appears on 16 might be a bit much for Trek fans, but it’s part of DC lore. Being a fan of Lantern books, I liked this character. Page 19 was a very somber moment, and was a good repeat of Trek history.

The final three pages are a coda for this story, showing where characters have gone, but my favorite piece was the first panel on Page 21 showing how some technology has been integrated. This is a solid close.

Angel Hernandez also ends this series well. His character work captures the essence of each actor who plays their Starfleet characters on the big sceen, but is done in a style that syncs with his own renderings of the lanterns. Spock looks the best of all the Trek figures and the story’s focus allows Hernandez to show him in several big moments, starting with his confrontation with his mother.

I poured over inch of Spock’s face, to look for any trace of emotion. What Hernandez does is have him match Johnson’s text perfectly. Kirk gets some big moments as well, yelling and shooting against the Vulcan horde, but the strongest panel is on 19, with his emotion being overwhelming. The lanterns are also strong, with Hal getting the most time, looking angry and stunned at all that’s occurring around him. My favorite character done by Hernandez is Saint Walker, whose optimism spill off the page.

There’s also a lot of energy coming off the pages, from the lanterns’ rings and the Trek crew’s weapons. The splash page on 2 nicely shows all the heroes doing battle with the dead. Even in the close-up shots on 3 the energy is strong, such as at the top with two weapons showcasing their abilities. When the Enterprise gets involved on 5 it’s pretty impressive. Page 14 begins an effect that’s similar to the conclusion of the Robert Wise film and Hernandez captures the power well. The scale of the book really goes epic on 16 and 17, culminating in 19’s gut punch. Again, a solid close.

The main setting of this issue is on the dead world of Vulcan. It’s nothing but rocks, and it’s night. Rather than color the evening sky ebony, Alejandro Sanchez gives it a vibrant blue, which allows the gray-black armies of Nekron to stand out against it, as well as the heroes in their bright clothes and abilities.

This is apparent on the opening page with the dead Vulcans greeting Spock: they stand out well, as does the living character in his bright togs. On Page 2, however, Sanchez gets to cut loose, with ring slinging going on and Kirk shooting off his phaser. It’s a terrific collection of colors against the dark colors of the enemy, and even Nekron stands out on a cliff. The best work by Sanchez is at the bottom of Page 14.

Yes, there’s quite a bit of white energy involved, but look at how he’s got a good mix of the bright and dark colors on the individual in the center of the action, and on the characters in the background.

He’s created a good mix of power and reality (for a comic book) in these panels.

Black Lanterns’ speech, dialogue and narration (the same font), communications, sounds, yells, and Hal’s narration are created by Neil Uyetake. The highlight of the Uyetake’s work on the three sounds that run on three consecutive pages.

I wish there had been a few more sounds in the book (though that’s not his decision) and that the narration for one character had been different from the dialogue.