“This is personal for us”

Despite playing a little fast and loose with the rules of the Green Lantern universe, IDW’s Star Trek / Green Lantern crossover has been a fun and satisfying ride so long as you accept it for what it it – a meeting of two great science fiction franchises that puts the emphasis on serving up copious portions of what the fans want to see.  The penultimate chapter gives readers the space battle to end all space battles as starships from all factions engage in an all out confrontations while ring wielders throw down in their own cosmic struggle.  Meanwhile Krona amasses his own army while no one has been watching.

Issue five finds the crew still under the effects of Sinestro while Hal Jordan takes the center seat.  With Uhura reviving her crew mates it’s time for Captain Kirk to get some of the spotlight.  With Saint Walker still on life support it falls to Hal Jordan, Carol Ferris, Chekov and Uhura to stand up to Sinestro and the darker side of the emotional spectrum.  The odds are against them until the arrival of some familiar ring bearers and their numbers increase when Scotty manages to make a power ring of his own which is given to Sulu to “beta test”.

Sure it’s a bit goofy but again this isn’t a story which is canon to either universe and knowing that it makes it easy to give some of this a pass.  While I think the addition of more lanterns makes this cast a bit more crowded than it needs to be, my greater concern is knowing that, with only one more issue left, the conclusion to this story will be rushed an unsatisfactory.  When I interviewed writer Mike Johnson a couple of months ago I got a good impression of his commitment to telling a good story so I have great faith that he won’t be letting us down and that the finale will be as much fun as the series has been thus far.

Nekron using Vulcan as his staring point is a brilliant choice and Johnson makes a point of having Kirk and crew react accordingly.  It helps make this fight a personal one for the Enterprise crew and one can only hope that Spock will have an encounter with his mother in full on Black Lantern mode.

Angel Hernandez once again provides the visuals for this issue and while there are some hits an misses the issue is certainly as good if not better than what we get from DC Comics.  Hernandez does a great job at depicting all the frantic action of the space battle while finding opportunities to be creative, such as having Chekov make a giant phaser construct or having Larfleeze try to grab a starship with giant hands so he can one for his very own.  The arrival of Guy Gardner, John Stewart and Kilowog is also presented in a nice full page splash.

Star Trek / Green Lantern #5 continues to be a fun hit for fans of both franchises.  Mike Johnson and Angel Hernandez keep the party going as the limited series heads for the home stretch.  It’ll be sad to say goodbye to this one next month, but for now the story continues to be running on full thrusters.  Eight out of ten lanterns.