My first thought when I saw the cover of Star Trek #48 was, “Hooray, we get a Sulu story!” For once, the face on the cover wasn’t a cruel misdirect – the helmsman is the hero of the latest two-issue arc in IDW‘s ongoing Trek series. It’s delightful to see Sulu in the spotlight, and an even greater pleasure to see another fun, well-drawn, Trekkie-pleasing installment of the Starship Enterprise‘s adventures.

The story feels more Next Generation than classic Trek. Captain Kirk is letting Sulu command a mission – an anthropological research trip to a planet with a Stone Age civilization, where they’ll be testing a holographic duck blind that Scotty has just invented. When the away team happens upon a sacred monument that looks like Stonehenge designed by H. R. Giger, we know we’re in for a parable about religion. Star Trek‘s courage and thoughtfulness in questioning faith seem as pioneering now as in the ’60s.

Mike Johnson‘s writing is solid as usual. He keeps the characters’ voices distinct, and his Scotty’s manic energy is especially charming. He does an especially good job in this issue of giving the images room to breathe. For two pages, the only dialogue is incomprehensible alien speech, and Tony Shasteen infuses the creatures’ very alien faces with tremendous emotion, intelligence, and purpose.

Shasteen, who returns to Star Trek ongoing after a few months’ break, is clearly comfortable with the crew’s personalities and expressions. One of the issue’s best panels looks over Sulu’s left shoulder from behind as Sulu stares off toward impending disaster (of course, everything will go wrong on his first command mission), and somehow, terrific emotional nuance emanates from the back of Sulu’s head. The towering landscape of the alien Stonehenge is breathtaking, too.

A lot of little things about this issue could be better. It overuses Sulu’s “helmsman’s log,” and these pages of exposition slow the story down. There’s an odd flatness to Shasteen’s space-scapes that makes those panels not only underwhelming but hard to decipher. And it’s disappointing to see an all-human, mostly-white away team – comic books, unlike TV shows, aren’t constrained by casting limitations or a makeup budget.

Despite these quibbles, Star Trek #48 continues the ongoing series’ trend of entertaining, well-composed stories that capture the essence of Trek. There are a few cute nods to the continuity of the greater Trek universe but even if you’re not a big Trek fan, this arc is an excellent starting point. It’s not just a strong tie-in, but an engaging sci-fi adventure.

Story: Mike Johnson Art: Tony Shasteen
Story: 8.5 Art: 9 Overall: 9 Recommendation: Buy

IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy a FREE copy for review.