Captain Kirk returns in IDW's “Star Trek: The Last Starship” comic this fall

Captain James T. Kirk returns to the comics this fall in a new series called “Star Trek: The Last Starship.”

Cover art from IDW

The William Shatner version of Captain Kirk is back, facing a galaxy in crisis known as "The Burn." This anomaly, introduced in the third season of Star Trek: Discovery, involves an alien child causing all dilithium to explode, making warp travel impossible and resulting in trillions of deaths as ships explode across the galaxy. Such is the nature of modern Star Trek.

More intriguingly, Captain Kirk returns to command a brand-new ship with a fresh crew. His mysterious return might connect to Star Trek: Picard Season 3, which showed Kirk's body in stasis. For context, Kirk's last appearance showed him sacrificing himself alongside Picard to save Veridian III in "Star Trek: Generations" (1994).

I'm excited about this series, written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, launching from IDW Publishing on Sept. 24.

My main reservation about IDW's Star Trek comics is their tendency to inject contemporary politics and ideas into futuristic narratives. Whether you view it as DEI or simply poor storytelling, it feels out of place in a far-future setting. This isn't like the classic crossover crews we've seen before—the Defiant staffed by Worf, Torres, Ro, Spock or Sisko working with Dr. Crusher, Data, Tom Paris and Scotty. I hope these new Trek comics recapture the magic of DC and Marvel's runs from the '80s and '90s. IDW has also announced upcoming mini-series featuring TOS's red shirts, Strange New Worlds, and a Voyager sequel.