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.