Written by Avery Kaplan and Olly Kaplan
In Star Trek: The Last Starship, the Federation, struggling in the aftermath of the Burn, turns to a long-dead hero for help. As issue #1 of IDW’s new franchise flagship comic series returns for its second printing, two crew members from Comics Beat’s Star Trek command team jump in to give their thoughts on the series everyone is talking about.
The first three issues of The Last Starship are written by Jackson Lansing and Colin Kelly. Illustrated by Adrian Bonilla and colored by Heather Moore. Lettering by Clayton Cowles, design/creation by Neil Uyetake. And the main cover of the series is drawn by Francesco Francavilla. Like all of IDW’s franchise comics, The Last Starship is produced under the direction of Group Editor Heather Antos.
Warning: This article contains spoilers for The Last Starship #1. I also read the upcoming The Last Starship #2 and #3 for review purposes, but spoilers for those issues will not be included in this discussion.
What do you think about the first issue of The Last Starship?
AVERY KAPLAN: As I previously mentioned in the introduction to this issue of The Beat’s weekly Wednesday comics review column, I was a huge fan of the first issue of The Last Starship. I think this is a promising start to a new era for IDW’s flagship franchise comics. While I wasn’t crazy about the introduction of James T. Kirk, whose story I think has been well-told over the past 60 years, I did enjoy the elements pulled from this latest era of Star Trek, especially “The Burn” from Star Trek: Discovery and Jurati from Star Trek: Picard. This is especially true as Paramount’s cut back on franchise programming makes it seem increasingly unlikely that many of these elements will get their due on screen. Olly, what did you think?
Ollie Kaplan: Overall, I think IDW has been bringing it to the table lately with their official Star Trek comic line. Early on in the publisher’s latest reboot of the franchise comic, I criticized the diversity of the creative team assigned to the book and found it not in line with Gene Roddenberry’s IDIC* principles. But over the past year, IDW has gone even further in terms of the diversity of Star Trek stories it tells and who tells them. Given what’s going on in the world, what publishers are putting out every week is going above and beyond in terms of their commitment to diversity.
*(That’s “infinite variety in infinite combinations”! — Avery obviously)
As for The Last Starship, I have mixed feelings about Lansing and Kelly’s collaboration. But I was especially excited to see what they did with this story because it seemed like it was somehow perfect for their skill set. In our conversations with them, we learned that the co-creators are lore hounds, and that their knowledge of the franchise is really put to use in this series. For die-hard Trekkies, there’s a nice bit of fan service throughout the series. One example of this is the reference to the season 3 episode “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” in the first issue. This episode is about planets at war, where both sides are half black and half white (but on opposite sides of each other), and are dedicated to destroying each other over insignificant, perhaps non-existent differences. Similar to the message of Star Trek: The Original Series episodes, this comic series is about letting go of perceived differences and striving for a better world for everyone.
Without spoiling anything, what did you think of The Last Starship issues 2 and 3?
AVERY: I enjoyed them and appreciated how the first three issues formed a complete “Chapter 1” of the new series. It feels like creators are given the opportunity to tell the story at their own pace, and feel confident taking their time to uncover all the details. Overall, I thought the first three issues felt like they channeled the energy of a Star Trek movie…similar to Picard Season 3.
Olly: I’m also enjoying this series. As I mentioned above, I love all the tie-ins with other franchises across mediums, and this series has Lansing and Kelly at the top of their game. If I were a creative writing instructor at Starfleet Academy, I would give this series an A+++ rating. They cracked the code of collaboration and broke the Kobayashi Maru, their own creative writing. I won’t go into spoilers, but this series was a fun way to play with one of my favorite Star Trek tropes: the bridge crew always comes back.
Avery: Yes, readers, you know about Black Mountain, right? In addition to Lanzing and Kelly, I also want to give a shout out to the work that the other creators of the series are doing with this title. Bonilla did a great job with the artwork, creating a dark aesthetic that is still recognizable as Star Trek. This is enhanced by Moore’s excellent (but deliberately limited) color palette. And Cowles does a great job with the lettering, especially in certain particularly eye-catching scenes…you know what I mean.
What do you hope for the future of the series?
AVERY: I hope there will be enough expansion of supporting characters created specifically for this series. The returning characters like Kirk and Jurati are all fine and I’m particularly interested in what happens to Jurati, but it’s the exploration of these new crew members that I’m most interested in. In addition, the USS Omega is built on an interesting concept, and we hope that its potential will also be realized.
Olly: I’m also looking forward to seeing what happens with Jurati. When she appeared in the first issue, I almost burst out laughing with excitement.
In addition to enjoying this comic’s self-referential moments, I like its bold use of the classics to tell Kirk’s hero’s journey and explore his very human desire to achieve immortality through acts of self-sacrificing heroism. What’s especially great is how Kirk’s journey in these first issues mirrors William Shatner’s journey over the past few years as he grapples with experiences nearing the end of his life, such as going into space.
Star Trek: The Last Starship #1 is available now at your local comic shop (LCS), with more issues coming soon. The final order deadline (FOC) for The Last Starship #3 is Monday, November 3, 2025. So let LCS know you need a copy now.
Check out all of The Beat’s Star Trek coverage here.
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