Star Trek: Crew in Trade Paperback

[lstyer]

The trade paperback collection of John Byrne's Star Trek: Crew apparently just came out. I just bought and read it yesterday at any rate. What an awesome TOS-style series! I'm a big Byrne fan anyway, but this is my favorite stuff I've seen from him lately. If you are a TOS fan and haven't seen this yet, pick it up!

There are at least two Starfleet ship classes that I don't believe I've ever seen before. U.S.S. Fortune is a smaller ship that doesn't look quite like any of the other ship classes I've seen, but in terms of design really fits into the fleet. I'm not sure the class of U.S.S. Ventura, either, but its design cleaves a little closer to the usual.

Really the design elements, from the ships down to the settings and "costuming," really evoke TOS without seeming totally derivative. Byrne seems to be channeling Matt Jeffries.

The science officer, Luabba, in Issue 4, is a very cool looking alien. I'm not sure exactly what he is, but I'd love to see a photomanipulation of an actor made to look like him In fact, I might try to do one myself at some point.

Issue 4 was my favorite of the stories, despite the fact that TOS-style Klingons figure prominently in Issue 1. Even more than the other issues it felt like an unproduced episode. I'd love to revisit the planet from this issue in a sequel, and I fully plan to lift it wholesale for an RPG scenario at some point.

Number One reappears in Byrne's Romulans: Schism miniseries, which I've been picking up an enjoying a lot too. I missed Hollow Crown, and I can't find my copy of the Alien Spotlight: Romulans that Byrne did, so I'm looking forward to the upcoming Byrne Romulans trade paperback, but after seeing some previews of the Klingons in the latest miniseries, I couldn't bring myself to wait before reading this latest mini.

Anyway, the point is that I can't recommend Crew highly enough for any TOS fans.

 

[Mysterion]

I've been enjoying most of what IDW has been doing in the way of Trek, but I think Byrne's work has been the stuff I've enjoyed the most so far. It's pretty obvious that he's a fan of TOS just looking at his work.

 

[Therin of Andor]

The trade paperback collection of John Byrne's Star Trek: Crew apparently just came out.

Yep, and then "Mission's End" came out this week.

 

[Thrawn]

The trade paperback collection of John Byrne's Star Trek: Crew apparently just came out.

Yep, and then "Mission's End" came out this week.

Amazon says November 4th?

 

[Steve Roby]

Two possibilities: Amazon's wrong again, or Diamond gets stuff out to the comics shops before it gets stuff out to the book trade.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Amazon says November 4th?

I'm in Sydney, Australia, and the book arrived with this week's comics. I'm holding it in my hand.

 

[Daddy Todd]

Two possibilities: Amazon's wrong again, or Diamond gets stuff out to the comics shops before it gets stuff out to the book trade.

Diamond gets IDW trades out to comic shops a week or two before Amazon starts shipping them.

That (and the fact that Amazon doesn't pack comic trades adequately, and they consistently arrive with cracked backs and wrinkled covers) is why I'm getting the IDW trades from my friendly neighborhood comics dealer now. It costs a few dollars more, but it's worth it to avoid the aggravation of damaged copies!

 

[fleetcaptain]

I haven't seen this trade or Mission's End at all in my local bookstores yet. I have all issues of Crew but I was waiting to pick up Mission's End as a trade instead.

 

[seigezunt]

thanks for the head's up. I only buy the TPs, and I've been eagerly awaiting this.

 

[C.E. Evans]

John Byrne has had more than a fair share of detractors when he was doing his more traditional superhero work, but I think he's been solidly knocking stuff out of the park with his Star Trek efforts at IDW. Bringing back Number One in Crew and Romulans: Schism has been great and would love it if he continued her adventures further...

 

[Avro Arrow]

The Crew series was fantastic. Personally, I think everything Byrne's done for IDW has been gold. My only disappointment with the series is that they dropped one of the planned issues!

Spoiler: Very, very minor "spoiler" re: corridor panel

I thought for sure though we were going to see the inside of that panel from issue one somewhere in the last issue. Although it probably would have only revealed an illegible scrawl!

 

[Daddy Todd]

The Crew series was fantastic... My only disappointment with the series is that they dropped one of the planned issues!

Yeah, that was weird. I thought it was probably so they could fit the trade into a smaller number of pages, and sell it at a lower price point. But then they ended up printing the pencils from the entire 3rd issue in the trade, so the page count was the same. I though that editorial decision was a real head-scratcher.

 

[lstyer]

Yeah, that was weird. I thought it was probably so they could fit the trade into a smaller number of pages, and sell it at a lower price point. But then they ended up printing the pencils from the entire 3rd issue in the trade, so the page count was the same. I though that editorial decision was a real head-scratcher.

As a fan of black and white comics art, I absolutely loved getting to see the raw pencils, but I would have happily traded that for a sixth issue.

 

[JD]

John Byrne has had more than a fair share of detractors when he was doing his more traditional superhero work, but I think he's been solidly knocking stuff out of the park with his Star Trek efforts at IDW. Bringing back Number One in Crew and Romulans: Schism has been great and would love it if he continued her adventures further...

So did he give her another name in either of the series? I know one of Trekmovie's reviews said they avoided it, for the first few issues at least, and I was just wondering if he kept that up for all of both series.

 

[Mysterion]

John Byrne has had more than a fair share of detractors when he was doing his more traditional superhero work,

I would disagree with these people.

IMO, his run of X-Men with Terry austin and Chris Claremont is still some of the best stuff ever. And Byrne's run on Fantastic Four has some amazing work in it as well.

 

[lstyer]

So did he give her another name in either of the series?

Nope. On the few occasions someone comes close to speaking her name the speaker is interrupted, and otherwise she is addressed by rank.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

John Byrne has had more than a fair share of detractors when he was doing his more traditional superhero work, but I think he's been solidly knocking stuff out of the park with his Star Trek efforts at IDW. Bringing back Number One in Crew and Romulans: Schism has been great and would love it if he continued her adventures further...

I've enjoyed his Romulans work, even if I'm disappointed that I'm going to have to double-dip on the issues to get the Romulans trade paperback; the collection will have an exclusive adaptation of "Balance of Terror."

 

[drychlick]

i love the book! it was like just like seeing the TOS again on tv

 

[indianatrekker26]

For those of you who read Crew, I was kinda disappointed it was never explained in issue 2 why that destroyed colony was running fake holograms of the people. Unless I missed something. Other than that, I think this was my favorite series yet put out by IDW.
Mission's End wasn't bad.

 

[Tara]

Weren't the projections of the colonists some kind of trap? To lure rescue parties to the surface?

(Sorry--had to go grab my TPB off the shelf because the issues are floating around my flat someplace).