And now the conclusion to the first arc that begins Academy’s life as a comic even as paramount foolishly has cancelled the show on streaming!
And having learned that the team works better when they communicate clearly with each other, they make contact with the aliens and all work together to help bring the shield generators back online. And our cadets learn the importance of first contact and interpersonal working relationships. And Starfleet of the 31st century takes important steps towards a positive restoration for the future.
So the art is the weakest part of the story, but it’s a kind of classic comic style as well which I think fits the tone of this arc’s conclusion, where the beginning was a darker more chaotic style and here in 5 it’s more lighter and orderly while we see the cadets get it together and help these aliens.
But I’m probably just nitpicking at this point, reading all five together would absolutely make this whole story make better visual sense. But it’s a good, classic Star Trek story and I hope IDW keeps Academy alive. It deserves better than what paramount did to it.
9/10 IDW actually writes better Star Trek than the people behind streaming NuTrek.