Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Star Trek franchise in 2016 with this all-new bi-weekly comics event, when Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew faces off against the Klingons in an ultimate showdown!

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

Order Star Trek:
Manifest Destiny #3

• The first of three covers that are your destiny to seek out is the regular cover by Angel Hernandez with colors by Jose Luis del Rio. This is a fantastic arrogant pose by Sho’Tokh sitting in the captain’s chair on the destroyed bridge of the Enterprise, holding a glass of bloodwine as he smiles in satisfaction at what’s before him on the screen.

  He looks incredible, his pose and visage saying so much about him. The colors are a shock of gray and broken blues; gone are the pristine whites of this iconic ship. Fantastic!

• The subscription cover is another spectacular cover updating the work of Bob Peak. Tony Shasteen has brought the classic Star Trek III: The Search For Spock movie poster to the new timeline. Zachary Quinto’s face stares at the reader as the Enterprise and a Klingon Bird of Prey battle above him. Below, going left to right, are John Cho, Karl Urban, Chris Pine, Zoe Saldana, and Anton Yelchin. This looks fantastic and seeing Pine in Shatner’s costume is awesome.

• The final cover, the retailer incentive, comes courtesy of Stephen Mooney. Four Klingons make their way down one of the Enterprise’s corridors. They aim their weapons in every direction, looking to kill any person who gets in their way. Standing just out of view in an aperture is Scotty, his phaser drawn and a bead of sweat making its way down his head. He’s nervous, but he’ll defend his ship.

  The setting on this is incredible with the reflections on the floor incredible. Though the Klingons are too distant to get a good look at, while Scotty is pretty stocky. The coloring is also odd: if the power is off, where are the pinks coming from? It it’s Red Alert status, why pink? Overall, an okay cover.

Doctor McCoy is thrown against one of the Klingon ship’s landing struts since he’s taking too long to tell Divash if he’ll help her with her mutiny. Before she can pound him further, Uhura stops his attacker by speaking in Klingon. “We’ll do whatever you ask. Please — with respect — spare him.”

They go aboard the Klingon ship, hoping the Enterprise is faring better. It’s not. Kirk’s supplemental log bring readers up speed: the ship has been invaded by Klingons “led by a captain more than willing to sacrifice his own troops to ensure the death of mine.” They have the bridge and are going deck by deck “showing no signs of mercy.”

Kirk doesn’t like retreating under fire, but Spock thinks it’s the prudent choice. Their conversation is overheard by Sho’Tokh, who’s inflicting a deep cut into an iconic piece of Trek history.

This is an action packed Trek tale set on board the Enterprise and the Klingon ship Chonnaq. Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott have McCoy and company witnessing Klingon medicine up close and involved in a coup, while Kirk and his crew under more than one gun. Sho’Tokh continues to be the best villain in this Trek’s history: cunning, aggressive, and utterly contemptible.

Page 23 has him delivering a fantastic monologue. Page 20’s surprise appearances caught me of guard, but because the crew member of the final three panels didn’t anticipate this action, making it a minor letdown. However, the individual who takes charge of the revolution aboard the Chonnaq on Page 19 wowed me. Unquestionably, this is this character’s best dialogue ever.

This issue has several “Wow!” moments.

Angel Hernandez starts this issue in smashing form by showing the doctor encounter a piece of hardware with his head. Having Uhura look so fearful in the third panel is a great way to set up the reader for a later event.

Pages 2 and 3 are a double-paged spread showing a battle damaged Enterprise seemingly bowing in defeat before a Klingon vessel. Three inserted panels sweetly show the effects of the battle: Klingons swarming through the shattered saucer, officers falling before disruptors, and a new family cowering in fear.

This is the stuff of Star Trek nightmares and Hernandez has marvelously brought them to life. Page 4 shows Kirk and Spock on the attack and retreat until the captain is stopped in his tracks by his opponent’s voice.

Sho’Tokh is magnificent on 5, doing the unthinkable in the first panel and looking every inch the diabolical thinker in the fourth. His smugness on 6, 17, 22, and 24 is delicious. Rivaling those looks is Davish on 7, 9, and 10. Spock and Kirk see the most action this issue, but even they fall before the awesomeness of the individual in the fourth panel on 19.

The interiors of the ships look great, with the Chonnaq getting some considerable focus in its halls and especially in its sick bay — it looks picture perfect! The Enterprise gets the lion’s share of the action as the characters run, fight, and die in several corridors. Hernandez is really strong in these sequences, moving his point of view around constantly to keep the tension high.

A nice addition to the chaos of the climatic battle is the smoke that issues from damaged places, ultimately looking like the fog of death surrounding all.

There are two colorists this issue: the first is Adam Guzowski, while my review copy has only the first name of the second person — Mark. I don’t know who is responsible for which portions of this book, but it’s safe to say that all looks good.

The book opens with a lovely blue sky and beautiful tan rocks, which allows the colors of the Starfleet officers’ uniforms to pop. Pages 2 and 3 are a dramatic change to the violet and orange of space with the cool blue Enterprise and the motley green of the Klingon ship imposed over them.

The Red Alert on the Enterprise bathes its interiors in crimson, but not its characters, maintaining the reader’s focus on them. The greens on the Chonnaq are excellent. They make the environment seem sickly; even the computer screens have a lime luminescence. Both artists are doing a good job on this book.

Yells, dialogue, Klingon translations, transmissions, and the captain’s log (all three the same font), sounds, and scene settings are the work of AndWorld Design. The sound effects are superior in this issue, putting just the right kick into all of the action scenes. However, the Klingon translations, transmissions, and log should be a different font and not rely on colors and balloon shapes to differentiate them.