With this penultimate issue of I.D.I.C. bringing this exciting story to a close, it’s Mike Johnson’s task to finally reveal the identity of the mysterious villain who has been narrating the last five issues of the variety of Enterprise crews from different dimensional origins.

Though the nature of the villain was clear to the reader through clues like mentions of omniscience, reference to our ape-like brains, and limited ability to perceive infinity, his identity was a guarded secret.

However, now we know that Gary Mitchell has returned for vengeance.

To be honest, I did not see that coming. After all, I have to confess that I haven’t read the full run of Star Trek: Ongoing — the first Kelvin Timeline comic series — which for me is a cardinal sin when it comes to being an authority on Star Trek comics. Yet, in my defence, 2011 was a pretty hairy year. I was lucky I was even able to pick up a basic load of comics on a monthly basis.

But to me, that’s something to say in Mike Johnson’s credit; he has a wealth of adaptive stories about the Kelvin Timeline that IDW really needs to tap into and promote more. If Paramount ever wants to see a greater fan-reaction return on the film series, then the ancillary works are the way to go.  Star Trek: Ongoing #2 is the issue to reference for Star Trek Boldly Go #17, as that is when we see the Kelvin adaptation of the classic episode “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”

The original Star Trek: Ongoing series has been republished twice, in both smaller four-issue paperback releases and larger twelve-issue collections under the Star Trek: New Adventures title; the Gary Mitchell story is in Star Trek: Volume 1 and New Adventures #1.

It’s this type of work that will lure Original Series fans to seeing how talented writers like Mike Johnson can reconcile the two universes together, and I admire that he’s been doing this for years. However, with the news that Chris Ryall will be leaving IDW, it makes me wonder, who will be Star Trek’s champion there?

I like how Johnson also weaves in the concept of the “no-win” scenario into this story. Though this is a concept that predates Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan when we first learn of this aspect in Kirk’s past, it’s one that is canonically acceptable to bring up and Johnson weaves this well into the fabric of Gary Mitchell’s revenge.

Given that he has been watching, gathering strength after his defeat in Star Trek: Ongoing, it is a surprise to bring a villain from that far back into the series’ successor. With the nearing end of Star Trek: Boldly Go, this is a very stark and “full-circle” move.

I particularly liked the reference to “the timelines where you’re on an Enterprise powered by mushrooms!” – that made me laugh.

I also have to give credit to Marcus To. His art is straightforward, solid and wonderfully lined. In fact, given the title of the comic uses the word “bold,” so is his art. It’ll be a shame to see it ending as this series closes.

• Marcus To leads the way with Cover A, and there’ a lot of Andy Warhol in this cover as we look at reality and racial variants of Sulu, Scotty and McCoy. It’s striking and I think I have to declare it as my favourite one out of the lot.
   
• Cover B by Fico Ossio is also a very attractive and striking cover. As much as I liked it, I have to say that I’ve never seen Fico’s work before. This validates my claim that comic covers should be by comic artists and it’s a great chance to see new artists strut their stuff.
   
• However, I can’t say the same for the Retailer Cover A which is a simple photo cover. It’s a waste of cover space to use a simple photo and reveals the nature of production choices involved in selecting a cover for a limited print run for a Retailer variant.
   
  Because it’s a small number, the editorial powers-that-be would rather use a photo than an artist because of costs. I understand that choice, but it defies the nature of the medium.
   
• Yoshi Yoshitani provides another fantastic and fanciful representation of a dynamic Uhura posed and ready for combat. I’d rather covers represented some aspect of the story, but there’s not doubting that this is a beautiful piece of work. I’d rather see it as a pin-up though, instead of as a cover.

You see, there’s a strong mood of betrayal in Star Trek: Boldly Go #17. Though Mitchell’s anger is clearly a result of the madness he took on when he was gifted with his powers, he still vents this rage at Kirk for reasons of abandonment and resentment. It’s hard to not see this paralleled with the fact that this series is ending, and I think there should me more attention to the fact this book closed a lot of gaps between the regular Trek universe and the Kelvin Timeline.

I liked seeing Gary Mitchell back and it brought the Kelvin Timeline closer to me than I thought could happen. It’s writers like Johnson that make this type of relationship happen. I enjoyed this and I look forward to the resolution between Mitchell and Kirk – who has managed to trick him into a final showdown by evening the odds, as we would expect Kirk to do.

I am not looking forward to this series ending — but next month it will, when Star Trek: Boldly Go #18 brings IDW’s Kelvin Timeline comic series to a close.