Just as the first season of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy ends on Paramount+, IDW is once again here to fill the void with a new series, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Lost Contact.
I really enjoyed Starfleet Academy’s first season. This series is a different take on Trek, and I applaud Paramount for taking this risk with the franchise. IDW’s new series by writer Morgan Layne and artist Corali Espuna seems to take place sometime early on in the first season. I make this assumption based on how the characters are portrayed on the page, where they seem to still be building the found-family bond that they had by the end of the season. The cadets also seem to be dealing with personal baggage they have moved beyond by the end, as well. The narrative feels removed from the overarching storyarc of season one (No Nus Braka here.), a good choice that will allow this series to stand on its own without being bogged down by continuity.
The narrative begins with the cadets about to embark on a training mission to S’eekay II, a planet devoid of life. Chancellor Ake and Commander Kelrec have devised a training program that will test their ingenuity and performance under pressure in a controlled environment. In many ways this is a similar set-up as episode six, “Come Let’s Away,” in which, like here, the cadets are sent on a training mission with their War College counterparts. As in that episode, the cadets are forced to improvise when they are cut off from Chancellor Ake and the U.S.S. Athena. The cast of this series consists of Captain Ake, Commander Kelrec, Chancellor of the War College, Caleb Mir, Jay-Den Kraag, my personal favorite character, Genesis Lythe, Tarima Sadal, and Jay-Den love interest Kyle from the War College.
Layne chooses to frame this “episode” around a log entry recorded by Genesis after the events of this series – a choice that adds to the tension of the book as a reader can assume that something life changing for Genesis happens on this mission. I was glad to see Genesis getting some time to shine with this series, as I felt she never really had an episode dedicated to fleshing out her character in Season One in the same way as Jay-Den and SAM. I will say that fans who have finished watching the series may find it a bit jarring to be back to an earlier incarnation of these characters. I also found that the cadets lacked their unique voice from the series, making a lot of the dialogue feel like it could come from any of the cadets. At some points the dialogue was hard to follow and even contradicted itself. Captain Ake says that she has chosen a “group of trustworthy and exceptional students,” in one panel which is followed by a panel with Caleb making a snarky remark about those two criteria guiding her decisions. Ake then says, no, that wasn’t her criteria, causing this reader to shake his head and re-read those panels.
Corali Espuna’s art is an interesting choice for a Star Trek comic. It feels like an ethereal fantasy setting which is accentuated by Nora Espuna’s vibrant color palette. The colors in this book pop – from the orange hue of the sunset on S’eekay II to the Athena herself. The perfect complement to the pencil work. Not that this book needed to be a photo-realistic recreation of the core cast. I’m personally glad it’s not, but the character designs veered a little too far from the look of the actors for me. There was a static quality to the artwork that detracted from the beautifully rendered backgrounds, especially the acid rain scene.
IDW’s new series, Star Trek: Starfleet Academy – Lost Contact, seeks to ease the pain of the long wait for Season 2 with an all-new adventure for our favorite cadets. A few minor quibbles fail to bring down an otherwise intriguing premise.
Creative Team: Morgan Layne (writer), Corali Espuna (artist), Nora Espuna (colorist), Neil Uyetake (letterer and designer)
Publisher: IDW Publishing
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