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

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

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Starfleet Academy #4

• The regular cover, by Derek Charm, is the first in a trio to place in a tractor beam and haul into your collection. Vel, T’laan, Grace, and Shen are running away from a huge slug-like monster that’s opened its maw to devour them. In the backdrop of space, an image of Spock watches on the transpiring events.I like the design of the creature, the poses of the characters as they take flight, and the coloring is also strong.

• Robert Wilson IV has illustrated the subscription cover. This is an oddly constructed frontpiece of the crew’s shuttle zipping through space cut by three images of the crew members; T’laan in a tiny piece of the bottom left, Grace in the middle on the shuttle’s controls, and a shocked Shev on the right.The line work is really thick, making the images really blocky. The coloring is also odd, with a dull pink used behind the characters and a dull blue-white for the ship. This looks rushed.

• The retailer incentive cover is a gorgeous work by David Malan. This features a gigantic bust of Uhura looking down. To her immediate right is a three quarters view of Kirk, while a three quarters view of Spock is on her left.She’s gazing down at silhouettes of the new characters of this series, who are looking at the sites that surround Starfleet Academy. Perfect in every possible way.

This penultimate installment, written by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrot, opens with the group on a planet to scan and analyze its atmospheric composition.

Naturally, Vel touches the plant life and is given a mild reprimand for doing so. Shev is impatient to get back to the shuttle: they’re in the middle of the standings for the competition. While Lucia and Shev argue, T’laan is consumed by the findings on her tricorder. Instead, all three should have been paying attention to Vel’s who’s been trying to tell them something. She finally grabs Grace by the shoulder and says, “I am going to run away now.”

They turn to see the giant killer space-worm from the regular cover rear up. They take off running for the shuttle, save Shev who hold his ground with his phaser so the others may escape. The worm’s not effected by the energy blasts, so the Andorian runs to the high ground to avoid its bite. Unfortunately the creature follows.

This exciting opening concludes smoothly and then returns to the recent past as Uhura is in Admiral Marcus’s office. He’s going to expel her for her deeds from last issue, but someone saves her, concluding in fantastic fashion on Page 15. In the present, the crew needs to find a way to get their shuttle to move faster and Grace may have a solution. However, it takes them some place very unexpected.

This was a fun story full of action, romance, and mystery.

Derek Charm continues his winning run as illustrator and colorist on this series. One might think he or she is looking at a Truffula tree in the first panel until Vel touches the plant. The design of the team’s suits are great and the coloring of them superior.

The space creature they encounter harkens to classic science fiction monsters of the 1950s without being cheesy. The blue and violet skies of the opening world are beautiful.

The five pages in the past have the look of lost scenes from Into Darkness, with Charm moving his point of view around like a cinematographer. The most impressive page is 15 where the reader is slowly moved closer to the characters, as the drama increases, until pulled back for an emotional send off. I’m not a fan of these scenes in any Trek show or film, but Charm aces this.

The final three pages are full of dramatic irony, as the readers knows what’s going on, while the characters do not. The coloring in the last panels on Pages 18 and 19 are beautiful, and the final panel of the issue is a great jaw dropper.

The talented twosome of Neil Uyetake and Tom B. Long create the captain’s log, dialogue, and transmissions (using the same font), Vel’s speech, sounds, and computer text. I would rather there be a specific font for the logs and transmissions, rather than have them differed by the shape and color of their balloons.

However, the sounds are outstanding, with the phaser blasts and explosions excellent.

– Reviewed by Comics Editor Patrick Hayes