Star Trek: Waypoint #4
STORY: Vivek J. Tiwary; Scott Bryan Wilson
ART: Hugo Petrus; Caspar Wijngaard
COLORS:
Fran Gamboa
PUBLISHER: IDW
As a lifelong Star Wars fan, jumping ship and paying attention to what is happening with on the other side of the cosmic street has been a daunting task. While I’ve never been the most avid Star Trek fan, I enjoy delving into that universe from time to time to break up my life-long obsessions with the galactic minutia of Skywalker and Co. Until recently, however, I’ve never dedicated enough time to check out the excellent comics that explore the exploits of the Federation and the captains of the USS Enterprise. I was excited then to see what was happening with IDW’s Star Trek: Waypoint, a rollicking adventure anthology that sets out to explore (if you will) the manifold stories that haven’t yet been told about our favorite galactic wayfarers.
Star Trek: Waypoint #4 is a solid title packed with two entertaining, yet distinct, stories. Each tells a story from a different timeline from the Star Trek universe while concomitantly being able to be compositionally distinctive and visually engrossing. Indeed, one of the most appealing aspects of this collection has been its ability to skip around the universe non-linearly, pairing up stories from the classic series to iterations of The Next Generation, Voyager, and Enterprise.
Indeed, it’s during the Enterprise era where the first of the two stories—The Fragile Beauty of Loyalty—is set; interestingly, this also the first time this period has been depicted in a comic book. With a story written by Vivek J. Tiwary (The Fifth Beatle) and drawn by Hugo Petrus, this is a restrained but affecting tale from Johnny Archer’s (the future Captain of the Enterprise) childhood. Johnny, moving with his family from upstate New York to San Francisco, decides to some exploring in the icy expanses of the hills near his home. Refusing the companionship of his beagle, Archer almost drowns under a frozen lake after being accosted by a member of the Suliban Cartel (I had to look up this info, just to confirm what exactly had happened).
What should immediately draw in readers is the lush art and Tiwary’s direct use of space, silence, and vivid, frenetic action to create a story that toes the line between sentimentality and mortal danger.
The second story, set during The Next Generation timeline, has a feel of a lost episode of the series and a more sweeping, classically Star Trek philosophical tone to it. Titled Mirror, Mirror, Mirror, Mirror—an enticing titled indeed!—the yarn follows fan favorite Worf and Dr. Crusher as deal with the ramifications of discovering a device that temporally replicates objects down to the atomic structure. As one could probably guess, this causes massive headaches for the crew as they try to discern which Worf is the original. It’s a droll tale, and writer Scott Bryan Wilson & artist Caspar Wijngaard imbue the story with a witticism befitting the understated nature of these characters.
Overall, this is a solid story collection that will keep both long-term and new fans entertained by all the Star Trek minutiae that inhabit every page, and it’s bright diverse palette. Fans of the lore will surely debate the place that these stories have in the canon, but from what I could tell, they are welcome additions to the rich tapestry of the Enterprise and her crew’s mission.
Is that not the most epic depiction of Worf ever? You can just hear him thinking “Good tea… Nice house!”
