IDW; $3.99 per issue

The five-issue Star Trek Starfleet Academy miniseries sends our favorite Starfleet crew members back to school. The first issue is split between two stories, set three years apart. Uhura has found a mysterious signal while working in a long-range sensor lab, and is curious about its origins. When Spock denies her request for assistance, she finds it in Cadet Chekov.

Three years in the future, the story follows T’Laan, a Vulcan Starfleet Academy cadet who wants to leave to join the survivors on New Vulcan. Before her professor will approve the transfer, he negotiates with her to join his team for the Inter-Academy Exploratory Competition.

The first issue by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott, Star Trek Starfleet Academy started fairly well, establishing series favorites while introducing new characters. Then it kept getting better issue after issue as mysteries unfold, the reader sees similarities between Spock and T’Laan, there’s funny banter between Kirk and Uhura, and the parallel of intrigue between both points in time keeps your fingers racing to turn the pages. The art by Derek Charm is as vivid and colorful as any good Star Trek comic should be, filled with crisp lines and expressive characters.

-Amanda Sheriff