Miss what happened in issue #14? Read our review!
The third instalment of Star Trek: Boldly Go‘s six-part arc is here, written by writer Mike Johnson with art by Tara Ford and Mark Roberts.
Previously, a mysterious event has caused multiple timelines to overlap. Captain Kirk and the crew are spread out on different planets in different universes with different versions of themselves. Basically, it’s a lot of different happening.
While we see a lot of versions of the Enterprise crew, from plant-based to cyborg to gas-based, the main two versions seem to be our world (naturally), and a version where Kirk was raised as a Klingon and Spock human. Our Kirk and that Spock are stuck with each other on a planet run by a descendant of Khan, and that combination leads to the most tension. Kirk wants to solve the issue, Spock thinks he’s responsible and Khan just wants to watch them fight to the death.
Human Spock, or Grayson as he’s known, is probably the most interesting character of the arc so far. He’s different from just about every other version of Spock we’ve met — his brash, impulsive behaviour is closer to Kirk than anything else — and this issue highlights how un-Vulcan he really is. Grayson is ruled entirely by emotion. Logic would tell you that the Kirk in front of you, the one who’s even-headed, trusted by everyone and trying to save the day, is nothing like the Klingon Kirk he’s so familiar with. But, there is no logic in Grayson. He looks at our Kirk and sees the Klingon Kirk that killed Uhura, and is so overcome with anger he does exactly what Khan says and tries to kill Kirk.
His rejection of all things Vulcan is also what undoes him during the battle. Kirk, trying not to fight back against his friend, finally gives in and uses the Vulcan nerve pinch to take down Grayson. The fact that Kirk knows this Vulcan move, and that a Vulcan Spock would have taught it to him, might be the proof Grayson needs to see that Kirk is trust-worthy.
And they will need to trust each other: pretty much no one is any closer to solving the cause of this event or how to put the timelines back to one another, and now Nero and the Romulans are on their way.
We’re at the halfway point of the I.D.I.C. arc, and it looks like we might be heading towards a major climax. Each version of Kirk is able to hear things the others can’t, hinting that it might be a plethora of Kirks working together to save the day — but how will Klingon Kirk factor into that?
There are likely a few more twists and turns in store for the rest of the run, but we’re off to a solid start.
Star Trek: Boldly Go #15 is available now from IDW Publishing.
