IDW
Written by: Mike Johnson
Art by: Tony Shasteen
Star Trek Boldly Go treated us to a pretty entertaining story arc in the first four issues. This week’s release takes a side step and puts out it’s first stand alone book. This one will be of great interest to fans of the 2016 movie Star Trek Beyond. We get a pretty detailed back story to the Jaylah character, taking the reader from her birth to her introduction on the big screen.
Writer Mike Johnson takes a unique approach in revealing Jaylah’s back story. We start the issue with her alone on a strange planet discovering the U.S.S. Franklin’s crash site, but every couple of pages Mike takes us back few days, then months, then years all the way back until the birth of Jaylah herself. Artist Tony Shasteen really plays off of the look of Jaylah’s species from the big screen. Using subtle greens and muted tones in the characters movie make up to put a recognizable stamp on this books subject matter. It especially pays off in the issues final splash page.
All in all this is a pretty decent stand alone book. Mike Johnson had a ton of information to squeeze in to satisfy the the mandate of a characters complete back story. He also left plenty of room to revisit Jaylah’s youth to weave in some more adventures and really flush out her species. Through out this entire Boldly Go run, I am really enjoying the artists interpretation of all the different races in the Star Trek universe. I am looking forward to more!