Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The Illyrian Enigma #1-4

This week I've been reading Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The Illyrian Enigma.

Now, this wasn't something that was long term planned (as in chosen from the relevant Previews, pre-ordered with my LCS, etc) but was instead something of a happy accident.

Back in late December (or possibly early January), my wife had planned on a shopping trip which would put her in the region of my Local Comic Shop. As I was looking after the kids, I didn't go with her. However, in a act of kindness that is quite standard, she was good enough to go into the shop and pick up the comics I had waiting for me.

... And a copy of Star Trek: SNW #1 that the shop had thought I might want (because my LCS has a habit of adding comics that are in some way related to my pull list comics, whether I ask for them or not).

So, now with an #1 comic I hadn't wanted, there was only one thing I could do: get in touch with my LCS and order issues two through to four. I then held all the issues together until I had them all before I started reading them without delay.

And this is what the term 'happy accident' must have been created specifically for.

The Illyrian Enigma picks up right after the events of Strange New Worlds season 1 (which I haven't seen yet, so maybe a bad idea due to the spoilers) where a member of Captain Pike's crew is in trouble and so the former Blackbolt has to go and find evidence to help his crewman out.

(I'm keeping this particularly vague in case someone hasn't seen season 1 yet).

I didn't know what to expect with this series because A. I'm not as versed in SNW lore than I any other part of Trek but also B. the series I've read have been all over the park in terms of enjoyment.

However, I absolutely loved this mini-series! Writers Mike Johnson and Kirsten Beyer really found the voices of these characters so well that I could particularly hear the actor's voices as I read it (at least those I've seen in Discovery). Also, the story was so compelling, with it having a seemingly lasting impact due to the plot points it runs off of, that I found myself unable to put these issues down in a way I don't think I've done with a Star Trek comic since Mirror Broken.

Meanwhile, I also loved how Megan Levens' art and Charlie Kirchoff's colours really gave the look of this comic such a clean, bright aesthetic that felt incredibly in keeping with what I've seen and know of the TV show. As such, it continued to make this mini-series feel like a true companion to what is seen on TV rather than professional fan-fic.

Of course, being a slave to the show was probably the Illyrian Enigma's only failing because its ending felt lacklustre, most likely due to the limited resolution the writers could truly instil as so as not to contradict or affect how season 2 will start.

That said though, I seriously enjoyed Reading Strange New Worlds and hope that another mini with this creative team might follow it up for a tale which has a little more independence to it.

But also, it makes me wonder if I should just pull a random comic off the shelves every so often.

Something to think about.

Today's dilemma; How do I finish reading X-Terminators?

I went and picked up my March pull list comics from my folder at my LCS this past weekend.

Everything I was expecting for the month was in: FF 5, Star Trek 5, the finale to Star Trek the Illyrian Enigma, She-Hulk 11 and the first issue of the new Jon Kent series.

Unfortunately, not everything I was expecting in the folder was there. Still missing was the finale of Marvel's X-Terminators by Leah Williams and Carlos Gomez.

X-Terminators #5 was release on January 25th, a little over two months ago. I won't lie, I'm unsure why it wasn't in my folder when I went to pick up my January Comics, especially as I know I asked for it to go on my pull list. Did Diamond simply run out and decide that my LCS didn't need the solitary issue (or maybe more, I don't know) that it asked for? Or was it my LCS, who forgot that I asked for it and either didn't order that final issue or else sold it to another customer?

The truth is, I don't know and, honestly, I don't care. I don't deal in blame, I just want a solution.

So, I find myself wondering, what do I do now?

My LCS back-ordered the issue some time back (like when they didn't have it initially) and I was told it would be a couple of weeks. However, a couple of weeks has been and gone and I find myself wondering, how much longer could it be? A month? A Year? Maybe it'll never show? Maybe they've all been sold out.

Of course, some of this seems a little moot as of the beginning of April because one of the reasons I buy Marvel print is for the digital (in truth, if I feel that a series doesn't warrant my keeping of it, then having the digital copies allows me to keep the series without sacrificing the space). However, based on the comics for March that I picked up, the digital codes only last a couple of months and I suspect the expiry for X-Terminators has been and gone.

So, I find myself at something of a quandary. I want to finish the series (because it was turning into a great read by the time I got to issue 4) but I don't know how to proceed.

I could continue to wait but who's to say that a copy will find its way there? Of course, if a copy appears, then there'll be no code, impacting the completionist in me. Of course, I could buy the digital with it, but then I'm taking twice the hit, something I'd rather avoid and use that spare coin to buy a different comic.

I could try and sell 1-4, and with it buy issue 5 digitally. The problem I have with this is if the end holds up to the rest of the issue, then I'd be sacrificing the opportunity to read the series as the Gods intended (and by that I mean in print).

There is one final option though, I could sell the load of issues and buy the trade, which is coming out in the near future (like the end of April, I think). To be honest, this tempts me as 1. I might actually receive the full story before I get the final issue. 2. It allows me to have the whole run in a single entity which not only is easier to read but easier to share with people who might get a kick out of it. 3. .... Well, there is no three, but these are certainly tempting ideas, and at least then I could maybe hold out for a final digital copy issue should the company formerly known as Comixology put it on sale for cheap.

When's all said and done, I just can't decide which road to travel here. What I do know is that the extended wait is darn near killing me and I really want to get the story finished ASAP!