Suit up, cadets! We warp back to San Francisco in the third chapter of IDW Publishing’s Starfleet Academy comic miniseries!

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

Order Star Trek:
Starfleet Academy #3

• The first of three covers is by interior artist Derek Charm. Beneath a Sketia tree, T’laan touches its trunk, hoping that some tactile sensation might confirm or deny her decision to leave Starfleet Academy. She’s watched over by those who’ve appeared in previous issues: Kirk, Chekov, Uhura, Shev, Lucia, and Professor Trumble.Making her choice a little more emotional is the marker nearby that states “In Memory of Vulcan.” Once this issue is read, this cover will have a greater impact.

• Paulina Ganuchea has created the subscription cover. This is a welcome, playful cover for a Star Trek comic showing the gang during some down time, perhaps between classes.Shev is throwing a disc to Grace, T’laan is busy studying a PADD, and Lucia is giggling at the new friend Vel has made. A fun, warm cover.

• The final cover is the most dramatic of the three. Against a star field, Adam Rosenlund has massive profile of Uhura’s face in red. Facing the opposite way, in a cool blue, is a bust shot of T’laan.This nicely symbolizes how each character seems to be going in a different direction, but their stories are soon to intersect. A find job, but not as much punch as the other covers.

This issue picks up with Uhura in trouble. A guard has discovered her roaming Starfleet Archives. When confronted she immediately pulls some attitude about being allowed access but is locked out. Thankfully, her companion in crime appears, who quickly smooths things over with the guard, creating some funny dialogue in the final panel. This joviality turns serious with the turn of a page as the story goes back one hundred years before the founding of the Academy.

The U.S.S. Slayton has been stuck in an anomaly for 47 days. Captain Hendricks is clueless in how to exit it. One of his officers arrives on the bridge to tell him “food stores are at next to nothing. Power’s down to twelve percent. Life support’s flickering across half the ship…I’m hearing the word ‘mutiny.'” As soon as this final word is spoken, it occurs. The plea Uhura has been hearing in previous issues is sent out into the void.

This was a really exciting opening from Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott. Uhura’s response as to what to do with this new-found knowledge is very different from her companion. Initially this didn’t ring true to me; however, after a moment’s consideration, I realized that her friend’s moral compass wasn’t as strong as hers at this point in both of their lives. Having this information brings her before an unexpected character that had me screaming, “Get out of there!”

The issue doesn’t just focus on the familiar faces from the films; the “present” of 2261 gets an equal share of the issue, opening with the competition between the cadets continuing. The first two pages focus on Vel, whose actions and response would make a famous country doctor proud. Next up is T’laan, who is given a task reminiscent of a problem that often plagued a Scottish engineer.

Page 16 begins the scene shown on the Regular cover and it’s a sweet piece of writing. I held on to every word and everything that was said rang true. It was impossible for me to not to hear one character’s dialogue during this scene in the voice of Ray Walston, considering the location and the content.

This story continued to weave parallel tales that seem poised to collide, while hearkening back to classic Trek eras and characters.

Derek Charm’s artwork looks nothing like any other Trek book published by IDW and that’s a good thing: I’m always happy to see a publisher willing to take a chance with a new look for an established book. Charm is forging his own path and what he’s doing is outstanding. The look of this book is very similar to Bruce Timm’s animated DC Comics programs. I love that look, so I’m completely taken by Charm’s visuals.

He obviously knows how to lay out a page: look at the first two panels on the first page — the larger space in each is given to the more threatening character, giving readers a visual space to allow the stronger force to have greater power for the reader. With the entrance of the third character on the page, three uniform panels are employed to create a sense of calm.

The characters look great. The crew of the Slayton look haggard, from the captain to the leader of the mutiny. The film characters are close enough to the actors’ likenesses to spark instant recognition, including the jaw-dropper on Page 12. New character T’laan always contains a storm beneath her stoic resolve, with her scene at the tree terrific. The scene stealer this issue was Vel, whose large, alien appearance melts hearts with a small smile. The final page shows the cadets in new uniforms rocketing off from Earth. I’m excited to see what Charm has to show of “strange new worlds” as they “seek out new life and new civilizations.”

Charm is also coloring his own work and he creates some solid emotion with his choices. The anomaly that’s captured the Slayton is a violet and purple pastiche resembling the Mutara Nebula’s color scheme. The interiors of said ship are pale blues, creating a dying tone to its plight. Pages 12 – 15 are primarily black and white, mirroring one individual’s beliefs.

This coloring stands out even more once Page 16 is encountered with its beautiful oranges and blues.

Scene settings, dialogue, log entries, and transmissions (all the same font), Vel’s speech, and sounds are crafted by Neil Uyetake. I’m not happy that colors are used to distinguish the first four texts from each other, as a change in font would create the strongest visual form of differentiation, but they allow the story to be told.

– Reviewed by Comics Editor Patrick Hayes