By
GustavoLeao /
09:55, 24 January 2013 /
Star Trek: Nemesis
Star Trek: Countdown to Darkness #1
Review by Patrick Hayes
The covers: Five covers to make your selections from.
Cover A has art by David Messina and colors by Claudia Scarletgothica.
It's a nice shot of Kirk, his face partially covered by (or emitting?)
starlight. In the bottom right corner there's a piece of the delta icon,
showing that all four colors, as with
Countdown, will connect to form a larger image. I'm a Messina-minion, and I'm ecstatic to see him back on
Trek.
Cover B is a photo cover featuring the teaser poster of Benedict
Cumberbatch standing amidst that wreckage that forms the delta shield.
So sweet! Glad to have it on this comic! Cover RI CGC is Cover A already
sealed up in a CGC Universal Grade Plastic. Cool, I guess, but I'd tear
the comic out to read it, rather than save it like this. The Enterprise
Cover is illustrated by Stephen Molnar with colors by John Rauch. It
has a really big, gorgeous
Enterprise orbiting a planet with a
ticked off Kirk in the bottom right. I love the ship but only like the
man. This cover is limited to 1701 copies and is only available through
www.startrekenterprise.co.uk.
The RE-Hastings Exclusive Cover has the big three: Spock holding a
phaser, Kirk firing his, and McCoy scanning. All three are atop a delta
shield full of stars against a white background. Very slick! Art by
Erfan Fajar with colors by Stellar Labs.
Overall grades: A A-, B A+, RI CGC C-, EE A-, and RE A.
The story: It's been previewed online, but I'm still
going to stick to just the first four pages for an explicit review.
Spock is dreaming, reliving his attempt to save all the elders of
Vulcan, including his mother. In his dream he achieves his goal, but the
dream becomes a nightmare: the transporter bay shakes and cracks, then
his mother pushes him through a wall into space. Following the dream,
reality sets in as do certain revelations: the final bit of dialogue on
Page 7 and the longing on Page 8. These seem to be story lines that the
movie will address. A standard mission becomes anything but as four
members get to the planet's surface and meet someone unexpected on the
final page. Yes, I enjoyed the mission but I'm such a fan if the book
had stayed on the Enterprise showing the interaction among the
leads I would have been satisfied. Roberto Orci and Mike Johnson have
just begun their tale and I expect the "problem" of this story to reveal
itself next issue. The last three pages should be enough to keep
chatrooms buzzing for 30 days. Overall grade: A-
The art: D-A-V-I-D M-E-S-S-I-N-A is back! WooHoo! And
not alone, but receiving an art assist from Marina Castelvetro. The
emotions come across very clearly on all the characters. If you
didn't read the story, you would be able to figure out the general idea
of what's going on. My favorite two are the final full face on the
bottom of Page 7 and Scotty on Page 12. And, heck, Spock rocks every
panel he's in! Only Kirk's hair seems to provide difficulty for this
pair: sometimes it's spiky, sometimes it's like a helmet. This is the
only aspect of the art that I can give a slight to. For settings, the
bridge is really cool. That's one complicated set in the film and must
be a bear to illustrate, yet Messina and Castelvetro masterfully achieve
perfection! And without giving the final three pages away, I'd be more
than happy to see more of that throng in future issues. It's not often
we see a "throng" like that in Trek. My fingers are crossed for much more of them next issue. I'm a very happy camper! Overall grade: A
The colors: Pure perfection comes from Claudia
Scarletgothica. Page 1 has a brilliantly colored Vulcan. The explosion
on Page 5 is so pretty for something so destructive. No lens flares on
the bridge--Yah! Sound effects worthy of their own coloring--double Yah!
And I'm going to credit this to Scarletgothica and not the line artists
because I believe it falls under her juristiction: look closely at the
Starfleet uniforms, even on the cover. Look at what pattern is used to
give them that metallic look--Freakin' awesome! Overall grade: A+
The letters: Lots of fun variations for Chris Mowry:
dialogue (in more than one language), narration, and really cool sound
effects. I always whine about the lack of sound effects in Trek
comics, simply because those sounds are so iconic and miss not getting
that experience in IDW's books. "WHKOOM!" is my favorite sound effect
from any book out this week. Overall grade: A+
The final line: It's starting up; our (possible)
antagonist only appears on the final page. Strands of the movie's story
are beginning as this mission introduces our heroes to an famous name in
Trek's past, mentioned but never seen. I look forward to see what this interpretation of the character brings to the Trekverse. Overall grade: A
