Support by buying at your local comic shop http://www.findacomicshop.com/ or purchase a digital copy.

• Price: $7.99
• Pages: 48
• On Sale: April 4, 2018
• Writers: Kirsten Beyer & Mike Johnson
  
• Artist: Angel Hernandez
• Publisher: IDW

From the Publisher – The U.S.S. Discovery is a ship unlike any the galaxy’s ever seen, developing tech based on an unstable mycelial network… and it’s all in the hands of Science Officer Lt. Stamets, tasked with perfecting it to win the war against the Klingons. Explore the origin of the mycelial network in an all-new story that ties directly into the hit CBS All Access series!

Our We Talk Comics WeView – Star Trek Discovery was one of the biggest surprises for me in recent memory. I watched it on a lark, but was quickly hooked on the interesting characters and awesome storylines. The Star Trek Discovery Annual 2018 acts as a lead-in to the series, giving some of the history of Lt. Paul Stamets and the Stella spores that is alluded to during the show. It’s interesting reading given that I have watched Discovery season 1 and therefore recognize a lot of the little “Easter Eggs” that come up during the story. This would definitely work best as reading material prior to watching the tv series though.

Kirsten Beyer and Mike Johnson have done a good job taking a lot of elements from the tv show and weaving them in to this story. There are many moments that will be recognizable to fans that were brought up in the show and are now referenced here. The dialog is heavy on the Star Trek science, but the characters still talk and behave the same way as they do in the tv show which is a good thing. It’s also nice to see the relationship between Stamets and Dr. Culber fleshed out a little bit more.

The art on licensed series titles is always a tough thing to review. The job of an artist is to draw characters that look as close to the actors as possible and you are judged on that accordingly. The art by Angel Hernandez is solid, and the renditions are simple, yet close enough to the actors that you have no problem telling who is who. Where Hernandez really shines is on the backgrounds, specifically that of the mycelial network.

This highlights one of the real awesome elements of comic books, the ability to tell stories that help fit in to an existing show timeline and flesh out the experience. I appreciate these comic stories that help flesh out characters and concepts from the show to give you that extra investment. My real complaint about this comic is that because it is being used to expand on the concepts from Discovery, there isn’t a lot of action. As well, this book would be a tough read unless you had already watched Discovery, or were intending to start watching Discovery. But from a fan perspective, this is a really interesting exploration of a key character and plot point. If you have any interest in Star Trek Discovery, then I absolutely recommend this book.

Rating – 7.5/10 Very Fine (VF)

Review by Brett

Love the review? Hate the review? Disagree with me? I’m happy to talk comics on twitter @Brett_WeTalk

Three great ways to subscribe to We Talk Comics now. Try us on iTunes. For those of you looking for an alternative we’re now available on Stitcher Radio. You can also check the show out on the versatile TuneIn radio.

And join the We Talk Conversation on Twitter @wetalkpodcasts. Plus give us a like now on Facebook.