PRIDE MONTH 2024! What immediately strikes the reader about IDW’s Pride Month Star Trek: Celebrations one-shot is how much its title is a statement of intent. This collection of five self-contained stories puts queer-themed social commentary largely to one side and focusses instead on spotlighting the expanding LGBTQIA cast across the franchise. With just six pages per story the set-up requires each creative team to really flex their storytelling skills with a necessity to be concise in plot while retaining the audience’s connection with the characters in such an economic narrative space.
Before delving further, a note that one slightly confusing element of the issue is there are credits for “Inks” but none for “Artists” so I will assume those terms are interchangeable from hereon. Star Trek: Celebrations jumps across a number of timelines and series beginning with the Kelvin timeline Sulu telling a bedtime story in ‘The Knight Errand’ (below). Writer Steve Orlando uses Sulu’s past adventures in swordsmanship in an alien arena as a contextual framework to draw our attention to his family unit of daughter and husband and their home life. Artist Lauren Knight ably counterpoints action and domesticity while JP Jordan’s colours create an eerie alien landscape.
In ‘Lady Luck’ Vita Ayala remind us that even in a utopian future there’s no escaping the horror of the school reunion. Seven of Nine is there to support her partner Raffi as Ayala memorably depicts in dialogue the awkwardness of this particular rite of passage, with Liana Kangas capturing likenesses well but without a slavish obligation to photorealism. ‘Facemaker’ by Mags Visaggio and Tench emphasises the science and tech aspects of the Star Trek universe centring on an older Christine Chapel and her partner Roz. There’s a neat bit of fan service at the end of this short for devotees of the largely neglected Star Trek: Enterprise.
In ‘Innovation Interruption’ Stephanie Williams and Denny Minonne once again underline that Star Trek: Celebrations is about giving the franchise’s queer characters a dedicated moment to shine. From Star Trek: Discovery we observe Stamets and Reno having to work together to solve the problem of an unlikely onboard infestation. Again it’s another six-pager that reflects how good the offerings in this anthology are at blending sparky character interaction with a self-contained yet satisfying story.
The standout is, without a doubt, ‘Risian Rendezvous’ featuring the cast of Lower Decks. Hannah Rose May provides a fun and witty story of Mariner on a date while on a disastrous shore leave, with Jack Lawrence’s cartooning providing some wonderful moments of comedic timing. It’s a fitting finale for a one-shot that looks to elevate Star Trek’s LGBTQIA cast in such an accessible and celebratory format.
Steve Orlando, Vita Ayala, Mags Visaggio, Stephanie Williams, Hannah Rose May (W), Lauren Knight, Liana Kangas, Tench, Denny Minonne, Jack Lawrence (A), Paulina Ganucheau, Kevin Wada (CA), JP Jordan, Liana Kangas, Denny Minonne, Rebecca Nalty (C), Jodie Troutman (L), Neil Uyetake (D) • IDW Publishing, $5.99
Review by Andy Oliver
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