Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War by Mike Johnson – A Review

Star Trek Green Lantern the Spectrum War

Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War by Mike Johnson
Art by Ángel Hernández
Science Fiction | Superheroes | Comic Books
Published by IDW Publishing
Released April 12th, 2016
Goodreads | Amazon
Rating: 5_Star_Rating_System_3_and_a_half_stars

If you’ve been reading this blog for any amount of time, you know I’m obsessed with all things Star Trek. Something else you should know is that the only DC Comics series I care for at all is Green Lantern. So, naturally, this 6-issue comic book series caught my eye.

The Spectrum War brings the Green Lantern universe into Star Trek’s Kelvin timeline after the Lanterns are decimated by Nekron, aka death. Ganthet, a guardian of the universe, uses a last-ditch effort to save the remaining Lanterns called The Last Light, essentially throwing anyone still living into an alternate reality.

Star Trek Green Lantern art1.jpg

Note: For anyone not familiar with Star Trek, the Kelvin Timeline is that of the newer films, Star Trek, Star Trek Beyond, and Star Trek Into Darkness.

Rings of all emotional spectrums end up in this new universe, with three of the rings ending up with Starfleet officers aboard the USS Enterprise, and the rest going to some old Star Trek enemies. Hal Jordan and the remaining lanterns assist Captian Kirk in fighting the Klingons, Romulans, and Gorn, but make a startling realization that they were not the only ones to cross over into this new universe: Nekron followed them.

The USS Enterprise fights alongside the Lanterns to defeat Nekron, and things are looking grim until they realize that they have a secret weapon that could change the fight for good.

I really enjoyed this series. While I am not a fan of the Star Trek Kelvin timeline and wish this series focused on the Star Trek: The Original Series crew, I tried to overlook that. The story itself is really fun and it was interesting to see which Star Trek characters the Lanterns’ rings chose to wear them.

star trek green lantern art2

The climax of the story and the ensuing battle between Star Fleet, the Lanterns, and Nekron felt too short for how epic it should have felt. Six issues don’t give the writer much freedom, however, so I get it – I just wish there had been more of a fight.

The art, drawn by Ángel Hernández, is wonderful. Lots of color and emotion contained within the panels, which made the entire series more enjoyable.

To read this series, I’d say you just need general knowledge of Star Trek, but you might want to know a bit more about the Green Lantern series. If you’re not familiar with Green Lantern, it might get a bit confusing as to how the rings work and what they represent because it is never explicitly explained.

This series was really enjoyable, although far from perfect. There were times when the story felt a little thin, but overall it was fun watching the crew of the USS Enterprise work together with Hal Jordan and some of the other Lanterns. There is a sequel to this series, called Stranger Worlds, that I’ll be reviewing soon as well.


Have you read any of the Star Trek crossover comics? Are you a Green Lantern fan? Let me know in the comments!




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