By GustavoLeao / 03:54, 4 July 2008 / Trek Books

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Star Trek: New Frontier #4  

Review by Patrick Hayes aka PatBorg  

The cover: Stephen Thompson provides the sole cover this time and it's a classic bit of layout: dueling Mackenzie Calhouns.  "But which one is the real one?!"  Should the "Not the" Mackenzie be more attractive than the "real" Mackenzie?  I don't think so.  The crosshatching and the coloring remind me of a Rob Zombie CD more than a Trek cover.  I like the layout, but don't like the job done.  Overall grade: C+  

The story: Nice recap on the inside cover catches up anyone who's new to this Peter David saga.  You get some big action, surprise appearances, and the humor that you can always expect from David.  That said, this issue is pretty much a confrontation episode with no solutions.  The real Edward Jellico has a much bigger part this time, and, dare I say, he's much more likable here than he was on television.  The "Not the" Mackenzie is a good character, but his villainy doesn't really exist yet, or, perhaps, it won't at all.  Is he really evil?  Don't know yet since motivations aren't really known.  He's bad, but the really ee-vil character is shown on page 10.  This is going to be tremendously confusing for anyone who hasn't read any (all?) of the New Frontier novels.  I knew how serious this character's appearance was going to complicate the plot, but I can't begin to think what a reader of just this comic series will make of it.  I am also hoping that what happens on pages 12 and 13 will be important to the "A" plot of this series, while so far it's just been interesting, but not necessary.  Now David has more than once had me worried in a novel, only to pull it out of a nose dive by proving that there was a reason for everything that's happened.  But it's getting late, Peter.  There's only one more issue to go.  The last page is a good cliffhanger, but "You got some splainning to do!"  My fingers are crossed.  Overall grade: A  

The art: Stephen Thompson is improving, or maybe he's just growing on me...Page 1: good.  Page 2, good as well.  Page 3, Jellico's face (that I've complained of in the past) is very good!  Page 4, panel 1 doesn't work for me.  All I can think of is someone from Fox News is punching Bill Clinton.  Rest of the page is fine.  Page 5, panel 3 has the real Jellico aging about 15 years since he hit the floor.  He looks like Mr. Drummond from Different Strokes.  The rest of the book is fine, though Captain Mueller looks as though she has Mackenzie's scar and page 12's "Lady Cwan" was attacked by a cat in the second panel.  I really think that Thompson's artwork would be a lot better if he eased up on the shading/crosshatching he's putting on people's faces.  It's really hurting his work.  Look at page 11: fantastic.  Perfect layout and pencils.  It could have been a fiasco, but Thompson pulls it off well.  Maybe he shouldn't ink his own work, I don't know.  I do know that the art has been improving and I'll raise my grade again.  Overall grade: B  

The colors: Leonard O'Grady is back on his own and he makes some pretty dramatic choices this time when someone gets hit.  Page 4 has the backgrounds going a vibrant purple when a character is punched or kicked.  It's almost a little too shocking compared to the other panels on the page, or even when looking at it with page 5.  It works better on 14, since it is a bloody moment, and on page 21 -- Boy, this was a bloody issue, wasn't it?  I really liked pages 9 though 11.  10 could have been tricky to pull off with that "giant head" but it's done really well.  I'm always a sucker for Tron blue.  The two pages which are just electric (no pun on previous comment meant) are 12 and 13.  They just really stand out.  Maybe it's because the characters seem to glow against the holosuite background, or it's the pinks of Kalinda, but these two pages just seemed really bright.  Overall grade: A  

The lettering: Robbie Robbins doesn't have to much to do, as there's only one sound effect (page 21), with the rest of the book being dialogue.  Part of the fun of a comic book is in the sounds, and without them something just seems missing to me.  Page 1 put me in the Serenity universe, rather than that of Star Trek.  Some humor could have been had with an effect in panel 4 of page 6.  Page 10 could have been amped up with a sound.  I've written about this before, but I like sound effects in my comics.  It doesn't need to be Don Martin presents Star Trek, but some would be better.  I can't blame Robbins if he's not instructed to put some in.  Overall grade: A  

The final line: Things have improved since the first issue, which is always good.  There's some story that I'm looking forward to hearing explained.  Always leave them wanting more is working here.  Overall grade: B+