Star Trek: Alien Spotlight – Romulans

Star Trek AS - Romulans

Written and Drawn by: John Byrne

Colors by: Leonard O’Grady

Letters by: Neil Uyetake

Edited by: Chris Ryall

Covers by John Byrne and Zach Howard

February 2008

SYNOPSIS:

Legendary writer/artist John Byrne, in his first-ever full Star Trek work, concludes this special series of one-shots in which the many alien races of the Star Trek universe get their due. The Romulan Empire has a new “ghost ship” that can’t be detected by normal means. Will the Praetor use it as a weapon to thrust his people into full-blown war with the Federation—or are his motives even more sinister? A tale of loyalty, betrayal and intrigue, with scripting, pencils, and inks handled by Byrne.

PRO:

Definitely John Byrne. Though his “internet reputation” seems to be in flux, I am a big fan of his work and am glad to see him on a Star Trek book. Though sometimes I find his layouts and panels to be a-typical, meaning it’s a standard shot that he seems to use a lot, its still all Byrne.  The coloring was very vivid and worked well with Byrne’s style.

CON:

Thought the story is good, I feel as though I am left out of “something.” I’m not sure if it has anything to do with the fact that, though knowledgeable, I’m not a Trek Encyclopedia. I’m curious if this story has anything to do with what happens in the Original series or not – that might be the reason.

Another, and this happens a lot in books I review, is the whole 22pages of story advertised as 32pages for $3.99. But, lucky for me it was .25 cents at a local comic show, so that’s more in my budget.

Additionally, there is a cool “making of the cover” page in the back of the book, that although always impresses me to see Byrne’s pencils and the process, it gives a blaring production/ editorial error on the front cover. The right claw of the “Bird of Prey” is missing on the final cover. If you look at the “Making of” page you’ll see that Byrne drew half of the bird design and in production, the artwork was just going to be mirrored. It was but the claw was somehow missed. Not worth doing prison time, but obviously an error.

High Point:

Wonderful art by Byrne.

Low Point:

Blatant cover production error. Did I miss a reference to an OS Star Trek episode?

Will I Aquire the Next Issue:

Seeing as this is a one-shot, nope!

Review (c) 2008 Mark Robert Bourne

Art (c) IDW Publishing