Advance Review: Trekkers Deserve Better Than `Star Trek: Resurgence’ #4

When it comes to Star Trek captains, there’s no middle ground. They are either living legends like James T. Kirk or Jean-Luc Picard or they are dumb-as-boards losers like the staff-wielding Lawrence H. Styles of the USS Excelsior and J.T. Esteban of the destroyed USS Grissom.

Unfortunately for readers of Star Trek: Resurgence, USS Resolute Captain Zachary Solano falls into the latter category. In the last issue, he inexplicably turned over his ship to the Talarians, allowing his crew to be bullied in the process. Now, on the verge of his ship’s destruction, he takes time away from a chase to dress down his first officer for saving the ship without first informing him. How do these people get into Starfleet Academy?

The series is a tie-in to an upcoming video game. Unfortunately, in the hands of writers Andrew Grant and Dan Martin, the script feels like a bad video game with wooden characters and unbelievable characters making dumb choices. To make matters worse, that’s the exciting part of the story. The second half of the issue deals with a warp core problem that is so rooted in pages of technobabble, that it’s not worth paying much attention to.

The only thing consistent about Josh Hood’s artwork is its inconsistency. Some pages are polished and look great. His depictions of Leah Brahms, a character who appeared on television in Star Trek: The Next Generation, is spot on. Yet other panels are rushed, and characters are unrecognizable. In one of the opening panels, it’s impossible to tell whether one of the crewmen is an alien or just an ugly human.

Not every series can operate at warp nine, but Trek fans deserve better than this shoddy excuse to sell some video game licenses.

Star Trek: Resurgence #4 will be available for purchase on tomorrow.