Star Trek: Year Five, Book 2: The Wine-Dark Deep

Star Trek: Year Five

by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Jim McCann

Join the crew of the Enterprise in these all-new adventures featuring the characters from the Original Series! Step aboard with Kirk, Spock, Bones, Uhura, Sulu, Scotty, and Chekov as they begin the end of their original five-year mission and boldly go into an uncertain future in this new continuing Star Trek series! Collects issues #7–12.

Genres: Star Trek, Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Ebooks

128 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 14, 2020

Reviews

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

"Alright, Mr. Seven. That's it. It's just you and me . . . You want to destroy the Enterprise? You want to end my life, or the life of my crew? Well, the bridge is on an isolated circuit and I'm the only one left in charge. Come and get me." -- Captain James T. Kirk, big damn hero

A month ago I enthused about Star Trek: Year Five, Book 1: Odyssey's End - which represents the concluding missions of the U.S.S. Enterprise, if the original 1966-1969 TV series had actually lasted for a full five seasons a.k.a. "its five-year mission" - so I eagerly dove into the sequel Book 2: The Wine-Dark Deep. (Said title is a Homeric nod to a phrase that repeatedly appears in both the Illiad and the Odyssey . . . thanks, Wikipedia.). Anyway, this time around the action sequences are amped up - I particularly liked the opening story 'Episode Four: Trespasser,' with Kirk and Sulu performing a treacherous space walk (something that I don't think EVER would've been depicted on the show due to budgetary and/or special-effects constraints at the time) to untangle the Enterprise from being trapped in grid-like energy webbing - but the remaining tales aren't quite as involving, although I appreciated the sly plot maneuvering that ushered Lt. Arex (the alien navigator who was especially created for the 1973-1974 animated TV series to replace Ensign Chekov) back into the mix.

[Samuel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This second part features some lovely artwork, perhaps even slightly better than part 1, but a weaker story I thought. It was refreshing though that the human / alien love story didn’t involve Kirk or Spock for once, but instead saw Sulu getting his proverbial freak on. It’s nice that this series also puts the other OS characters in the limelight, at least for some of the story. In part 1 that was Uhura and now it’s Sulu. I liked the use of non-binary pronouns for genderless aliens, which is a first for me in Trek.

[Trike · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with the first installment, they’ve really captured the voices of the characters, so much so that I could hear them as I read. I didn’t find the stories as engaging, but they are solid Trek Space Opera, with this book doing more work to bridge between TOS and TAS. (That’s “The Original Series” and “The Animated Series” for those unfamiliar.)

I didn’t completely buy into Sulu suddenly falling deeply in love with a fish alien, nor Chekov’s plot-driven hotheadedness, which cut down my enjoyment of the middle section, but I quite liked the reappearance of Gary Seven and Isis the shape-shifting cat.

The art is truly stellar (ahem), both telling the story and managing to look like the show. It’s really an impressive feat artists Stephen Thompson and Silvia Califano have pulled off.

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

Two main storylines: Gary 7 shows up AGAIN bein' all mysterious, and Sulu f*cks a fish. (Sulu also outs himself as an unworthy officer of Starfleet or any other organization when he throws a hissy fit and refuses to work with Chekov for no reason other than Sulu's feels.) Plus the whole volume is infected with modern psycho-politics. Avoid at all costs.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Less cerebral than Star Trek: Year Five - Odyssey's End, The Wine-Dark Deep still scratches an itch for smart sci-fi that generally avoids big battles in favor of talking/thinking it out. Having said that, this volume is certainly action-packed. In the first episode, the Enterprise is caught in a Tholian trap, with Kirk forced to go extra-vehicular to save the day. In the second episode, first contact turns to war as Spock attempts to help an alien race reconcile their differences. In the third episode, Gary Seven shows up on the Enterprise to wreak havoc in hope of "saving the future."

Who or what are the Tholians? Who the heck is Gary Seven? Questions like these troubled me only momentarily as The Wine-Dark Deep rolled on pleasantly. Though I would have preferred less action, the only real qualm I have is that Sulu's instant love for the alien leader felt a tad YA.

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

No spoilers, but I honestly couldn't help but wonder what the American TV viewer in the '60s would have made of this tale of star crossed romance. I mean, they famously couldn't even take the idea of Kirk kissing Uhura. Just saying.

[C.T. Phipps · Rating 3 out of 5]

The continuing adventures of the Enterprise team on the final year of their mission. This book has a very weak arc with a civil war on a planet with an alien fish race where the Enterprise is involved in kicking it off before just sort of leaving. Mr. Sulu also gets in a romance with a non-binary fish person and that's interesting but not terribly relevant.

There *is* a very entertaining story with HARRY MUDD, CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERATION that is an obvious satire of a certain American politician. Sadly, I don't think the story successfully explained how anyone could think Harry Mudd would be someone's preferred Presidential candidate. I know that may be the point but it detracted from the story. Still, it was fun and that's more than could be said about the alien civil war.

Overall, I felt it was one of the weaker entries in the series.

[Emma Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

Quite a let down. Despite the near-perfect replication of TOS in the first one, the storylines in this book were very weak. The plots were anticlimactic, cliche, and isolated from both the characters and the reader.
The characterization of Sulu (and his friendship with Chekov) was butchered as he acted unprofessional and immature on multiple occasions. (The attempts to give Sulu more character depth through an unnecessary romantic encounter fell short.)
None of the stories seemed reminiscent of TOS in any way. Not to mention the unnecessary mentions of political viewpoints pushed throughout the stories, this book was a disappointment and a step down from the previous.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

The 'Enterprise' Continues Homeward

The Tholian crisis temporarily averted, Kirk continues back to Federation space, but the return of the Aegis in the form of the mysterious Gary Seven pushes Kirk to the edge of his endurance, and the 'Enterprise' to the brink of destruction.

The writers question how far friendships can be tested, with some bent out of recognition, and show that whatever happens, the mission continues.

Again some stunning graphics help present these stories, proving that over fifty years later, 'Star Trek' is still relevant and still pushes boundaries.

[kesseljunkie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little much

While the artwork is still strong, it becomes a bit more of a fan service chore on a few levels. There's some meta awareness as well that detached it completely at points from a sense of its "Year Five" roots.

In short, the mythology/revisit arcs start exerting undue influence and it's no longer a "continuation of" the episodic series but a modern series in homage to it. The characterizations detach from authenticity and become more tribute. May continue on out of curiosity but overall, this could put the brakes on it for me.

[Chris Robertson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bit of a letdown after the stellar first part. I am so over the “space explorer finds love” motif. No wonder so many alien species greet humans with such hostility: we seem to steal all their vulnerable females, who cannot seem to mount even a basic resistance to our charms. At least it isn’t Kirk this go round (love how one of the later movies made fun of this). Sulu gets his moment, at least. More of the overarching plot involving the Tholians and Gary Seven comes to light, with more to come in Book 3, I am sure. For some reason, the artist is changed toward the end of the last issues: not as good as what came before, but thankfully not terribly jarring.

[Kayla Zabcia · Rating 3 out of 5]

75%

This felt like watching a Star Trek episode, but skewed 3 inches to the left. While the art captures the characters fantastically, the tone felt overly meta and the characters were acting, well, out of character.

It was great seeing Sulu get his moment in the sun....until he became a prick. I felt like the romance could've used a few more pages of build-up, as it was VERY sudden and jarring. And then his beef with Chekov was just....huh? So out of character.

I can't complain about the politics of it all; Star Trek has *always* been about criticism of politics and philosophical musings in a clever, palatable disguise. Still, this is already being addressed so much in media, that it felt a just the tiniest bit boring/redundant/meh/"oh no, not again".

Not sure where they're going with Gary 7, but I'm definitely intrigued.

[Sarospice · Rating 2 out of 5]

Um. Girl. No. Lt. Sulu is not going to fall in love with a fish person. No. Ma'am.

[David Agranoff · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have not figured out a rhythm for writing graphic novel reviews, but let me give you a few thoughts on this comic series. I have mixed feelings about Star Trek Year four and five comics. They are fun, and I enjoy them. There are two ways to write these stories. To make them feel like lost episodes or make use of the lack of budget to tell wild Sci-fi stories that the TV show wanted, but couldn't do.

In this case, they are also telling stories that TOS would not have gotten away with...we will get there in a moment.

I enjoyed 2/3 of the stories, and the first one featuring the Thoalian child, was really interesting, and really built on Thoalian lore as we know. The best storyline however was The Sulu meets A Shape of Water was great, and when they returned to her planet...I loved all that. Loved it.

[Akshay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'M GIVING HER ALL I'VE GOT CAPTAIN!

That's what I was feeling when I was reading this second story arc by Lanzing and team. The intensity and story-telling really amps up and the art team seems to have found a hell of a groove and it all shows.

We follow the crew as they face a few new standalone challenges and in the meantime we have the running plot of the Tholian child they rescued in the first arc, but there is no magic-translator and Scotty and Uhura have their work cut out for them as they try to (respectively) keep the alien they know next to nothing about, alive, and try and find a way to communicate with it.
In the meantime, the underlying story of this season continues to unfold as the pieces start showing - the infamous Gary Seven and his cat-person Isis cross paths with the Enterprise crew again and neither side is happy about it and the Tholian Assembly starts to make their presence felt and tensions begin to rise and flare.
Will our heroes survive the dangers as they head toward the end of their legendary five-year journey? Or will tragedies strike? Who or what is working behind the scenes against the Federation and what is their end-game? I can tell you all but it's too good and in case you plan to take my word that this is a great series, I don't want to spoil anything for you!

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked volume one of IDW's Year Five series but this all over the place and was a bit of a let down. It feels like the middle part of a story where the plot threads are frayed and all over the place. Meh.

[Paul Spence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note this comic is book 2, as well as individual stories this follows an over arching story, you shouldn't read this until you have read book 1 first.

On the overall series:

Artwork is great. The stories themselves are ok. They are very simple and on the whole are using nostalgia a little too much taking you to locations & characters from the show. I wish it would a little less of that fan service & a little more telling a story. Each individual story tends to be too short with time to set up, have one or two scenes then resolve. As such there are no complex sci-fi or moral dilemmas to ponder. Character wise Kirk has had a bit of a mental shift, he now seems to go around quoting Shakespeare & Homer.

It's a shame because as I said the artwork is really good and the style of The Original Series really does suit the comic aesthetic. A TOS Klingon war comic would be epic in this format. I think it is worth buying for the artwork.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trying to close up some loose ends and finish off some series by the end of the year. I started in February of 2023, nearly two years ago, but remembered right away the entire plot with the Tholian (Bright Eyes?) and the intro of the crashing Enterprise.

The three storylines here involved the Enterprise escaping from a Tholian web, Sulu’s affair with an alien aquatic and his falling out with Chekhov’s over the letter’s being used to trigger a civil war on his lover’s planet, and the third was Gary Seven’s attempts to destroy the Enterprise to save the timeline. (Think Captain Braxton?)

All in all, fun stuff. The second storyline had the most meat to it I felt, although curious to see where it goes with Seven. The Tholian storyline was probably the weakest in that it was difficult to process what was happening in comic book format.

Ten points to Scotty for stealing the show. Very canny, indeed.

[Steven · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mixed bag for me, again. On the one hand it’s nice to see the storyline fairly casually dealing with gender, with the non-binary I’qos (and Sulu’s romance with Ayla of that species) and Bright Eyes apparently being ungendered — very alien species, you know — but at the same time I *hate* what was done with Gary Seven and Isis in this series, something not helped by the re-establishment of the Supervisors and Agents as benevolent guardians working for the Travelers. Having Seven become a cold, vicious killer willing to commit genocide is stupid and lazy. The same goes for the war between branches of the I’qos, with the land-bound group being willing to annihilate the planet because, I don’t know, torching everything is fun. Again, it’s lazy, a solution jammed in there because these stories are deliberately short.

Both the writing and the artwork are variable.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, Star Trek Year Five is definitely one of my favorite print media explorations of the TOS era. There's something about the storytelling behind this series that feels absolutely PERFECT in terms of capturing the spirit of that first series and its cast of characters.

This second volume is a great demonstration of that fact including the return of Gary Seven, a most interesting character of fiction whose legacy will always be deeply connected to Star Trek TOS. And to have Gary turn out to be someone actively working against the Enterprise does make for an interesting turn of events. This second volume felt like it had much tighter writing in terms of addressing the longer-term meta-plot, but that doesn't take from the general sense of adventure that's still very much present.

[Ellen Schoener · Rating 4 out of 5]

I repeat myself, but these are very well done.
Consistently entertaining, well drawn, with good pacing, adding interesting side characters, mixing new aliens with already known ones, plus giving all of the crew something to do and some character exploration.
I also like the ongoing story arcs.
I have been going through quite a few Star Trek comics over the past few months, and they can be hit and miss. I am happy that this series comes across as quite strong, and that it provides a worthwhile narrative that is true to the original TV series.

[Yosef Shapiro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This volume continues the voyages of the 5th Year of TOS. The story of the Tholians continues. One minor thing has annoyed me and that is Chekov's manner of speaking. He does say "Keptin " But, he does not swap W's and V's. Not sure why this was done. It's just not the same without him saying "wessel". They also gave a reason for Chekov being shifted over to Security. This does fill in a gap in TOS lore.

[Jeff Bleyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

For a fan of the Star Trek--The Original Series like me this series is a real pleasure. The Tholian story thread carried over from the first volume stagnates a bit in this middle volume but I'm willing to see it through, especially to see the WTF return of Gary 7 who is now trying to wipe the Enterprise and crew from existence.

[Kara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pitch perfect continuing of TOS, but also I loved how the graphic novel takes advantage of its own medium and shows things such as all sorts of diverse and fantastic alien life, truly alien planets, and issues shut as an enemy turning Enterprise’s artificial gravity off – all special effects that a TV show either doesn’t have the budget for or the tech just flat out doesn’t exist (yet).

[Al Berry · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art is good, but writing is abysmal, they have Sulu date a Trans Cannibal, unlike the past volume where the writing suites are split, this has all 6 issues written by the same team and they cannot write well, this is not the classic crew written faithfully to the show.

I salvaged the book by ripping out enough pages to make it readable, hence the two stars, book as written is 1 star.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Volume 2 was just alright. It had some goofy stuff in it like Mr. Sulu instantly falling in love with a fishperson. It was just bizarre even if you insert modern sensibilities into the story. They seem to be trying a little too hard to tie everything into previous episodes as well. It's OK to do your own thing here and just write interesting stories.

[Ricky Cruz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Expect the unexpected

Wow. It's an understatement to say I didn't see that coming. It makes sense but there still is the reason why. I don't want to spoil it but let's just say an ally becomes an enemy and we'll just have to continue to book #3 to see where this is heading. Highly recommend!

[Luke Michaels · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like the style and think the writing is strong in these books. I’m open to Sulu having a love interest but I particularly disliked that it was a fish. There’s not really precedent with the original crew and a non-humanoid romantic interest. I just didn’t think that middle chunk worked. Overall this one started strong and kind of fumbled a bit after that.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

It has its moments, but also has Sulu going "The Shape of Water" with some random Alien. Like how the animated series characters are starting to come into play. Curious on how they are moving forward in the next book

[John Yelverton · Rating 2 out of 5]

I just was not satisfied with this edition of the book series. It felt like the author had a story to tell and the characters were merely inserted where necessary. It did not feel like a "Star Trek" book and certainly not like a "Star Trek" book based on the original series.