1425. Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes Part 3PUBLICATION: Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #3, IDW Comics/DC Comics, December 2011
CREATORS: Chris Roberson (writer), Jeffrey and Philip Moy (artists)
STARDATE: Unknown (follows previous issue).
PLOT: The Enterprise senior staff and the Legion initially fight, but soon realize they're on the same side by virtue of coming from parallel universes that have disappeared and been replaced by this amalgamated timeline. After they cooperate to fight an alternate universe version of the Fatal Five, they split up into two groups. One will investigate a temporal anomaly in the present, while the other will go back in time to fix what an event they have in common.
CONTINUITY: The Star Trek historical splash features Vulcans, Andorians, Tellarites, Klingons, Romulans, Gorn and Trelaine (The Squire of Gothos). The Legion history splash features, in addition to Superboy and the LSH, Durlans, Khunds, Dominators and Universo. Also, the Legion's voting machine. The "Imperial Elite" is really the Fatal Five with Star Trek characters in each role. The Emerald Empress is an Orion, Persuader is a Gorn, Mano is a Benzite (both require a special atmosphere to breathe), Tharok is really Ruk (What Are Little Girls Made Of?), and Validus is a Mugato (A Private Little War).
DIVERGENCES: Uhura mentions having an Orion roommate at the Academy, which surely, wasn't true until the reboot? The same might be said of Sulu's martial arts skills shows here, though that's more nebulous because of Star Trek III.
PANEL OF THE DAY - Star Trek's version of the Fatal Five
REVIEW: Like the best team-ups, the two teams fight one another, and then combine forces against a common foe. It's the best of all worlds. And I gotta say, that common enemy is awesome. I'm a sucker for Amalgamation and that's exactly what Roberson has given us here. But it's more than just the Fatal Five! The two universes have been merged and there's no unmerged home to go to! Alternate universe stories are fun, but "fix history" stories are even better. Can't wait to see what common point in time the DCU and Trekverse might have... Edith Keeler, perhaps? But that'll be next month. This month? The Trek guys actually hold their own against supervillains and it doesn't seem forced. Each fight is won through teamwork, and we'll see more of that with the two recombined teams that leave the battleground. It's the IDIC at work. Roberson admitted this series was a big helping of continuity porn in a recent interview, and it is, but that may be exactly what the doctor ordered for these two nerdaliscious franchises. He's certainly doing it cleverly, and as you can see, the art is as fun as the writing.
Comments
As for Uhura having an Orion roommate, it's possible given that nearly nothing was mentioned about Uhura's time at the Academy on screen. The political landscape between the Federation and the Orions that we saw was 20 years after her time there.