First Officer Wowie Carter was once called the child without fear. But with the Federation in freefall and Earth still reeling from a brutal Klingon assault, fear is all that remains—and Wowie is cracking under its weight. The U.S.S. Omega’s mission is clear: Gather the final delegates for the Babel Conference, the Federation’s last, fragile chance at unity. A future of peace still seems possible…on paper. But every time Wowie returns to Earth, the home they once loved slips further into despair. As alliances fracture and chaos spreads, Wowie faces a question no one dares ask: What’s left to save when hope is already gone? Star Trek: The Last Starship #4 does what Star Trek does best, reflect on the issues the world faces today.
Written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, Star Trek: The Last Starship has been an interesting series. It’s not a Star Trek about exploration or discovery, but one of rebuilding a society that has collapsed. It’s about building a new order when the past one has collapsed. It’s a series that reflects debate that goes on today as the laws, processes, and agreements that have propped up the function of the world are torched on a daily basis.
Star Trek: The Last Starship #4 is particularly interesting as it focuses its sights in on the regressive politics that have taken over far too many countries today. The United States and more have turned xenophobic, waving the saber, and threatening claims of independence and rejecting the flawed system that has existed. After the Burn and the attack by the Klingons, Star Trek’s Earth has rejected the order of its past. It has become isolationist, fearful of what’s out there, and isolationist. It has closed off its “borders” to others including Starfleet. So, where do things go from there?
The comic explores this in an interesting way jumping through time as the U.S.S. Omega completes its mission to help rebuild the federation but suffers from the issue of time. While it moves slowly on the ship it speeds up elsewhere. A month of their travel on the Omega equals a decade for example. Using that, we see the progression of Earth as it rebuilds rejecting its allies to do so and becoming “self-reliant.” It’s hard to not read the comic and see the echoes of Donald Trump’s vision for the world or recent remarks by Canada’s Mark Carney’s recent speech at Davos about rebuilding new alliances and processes to replace what has been burnt down. It’s eerie timing that this comic was released the same day as that speech.
The art by Adrian Bonilla delivers an an unsettling sense as Wowie revisits his home and we see its progression over time. With color by Lee Loughridge and lettering by Clayton Cowles, the comic has a roughness to it that feels like it reflects that scratched nature of the Federation and its ideals. The art has a sadness to it like a dour memory that you pass through on reflection. It’s haunting in a way and matches Wowie as he takes in what has happened to his home and parents.
Star Trek: The Last Starship #4 is a hell of a comic with a timing of release that’s far too perfect. It does, the series so far has done, an excellent job of what Star Trek has been great at and sci-fi does best, reflect and examine the state of the world and politics of our time. It’s an issue that should be read, examined, and ruminated upon. It highlights what makes Star Trek so great.
Story: Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing Art: Adrian Bonilla
Color: Lee Loughridge Letterer: Clayton Cowles
Story: 9.0 Art: 8.5 Overall: 9.0 Recommendation: Buy
IDW Publishing provided Graphic Policy with a FREE copy for review
Purchase: Zeus Comics – Kindle
