The arduous saga of the Lantern Corps clashing with the Star Trek Universe is coming to a close in an issue that manages to encapsulate everything right but also everything wrong with this crossover series in one issue. Battle ensues in the undead planet of Vulcan, with all its former inhabitants now turned Black Lanterns and looking for the same from the Green Lanterns and the crew of the USS Enterprise. All our heroes are surrounded by death with no way out and no help coming. Kilowog blasting Black Lanterns away, Hal and Kirk trying to figure out how to change thing to their advantage before they’re inevitably overrun by the Vulcans. The only way to stop them is to stop Nekron and the one weapon to stop Nekron went out with the Universe the Lanterns left behind… or so they think.
The team behind this book knows what we wanted from the very beginning, and they deliver it on this issue. More of what happened in Blackest Night, with the cast of Star Trek involved. The story being at its strongest when there is a lot happening behind the page and not just people talking. Having the Enterprise crew fight alongside Hal, John, Guy and Kilowog was a delightful sight. Added to that was the help of the other Lanterns, the new ones and the experienced ones. With an effective show of how overwhelming the power of Nekron can be, and the battle becoming one long metaphor about one being unable to escape death. This issue revels in everything I praised about the last one, having great moments within the battles, allowing Angel Hernandez and Alejandro Sanchez to pull no punches and regale us with action packed splash pages. That was always the most fun moments throughout the series, involving great moments like Hal Jordan sitting in the Captain’s chair, Sinestro commanding an entire Klingon army, or Hal shielding the entirety of the Enterprise. With all of that being said, this issue wasn’t without plenty of flaws.
While everyone is kicking everyone’s ass, Spock is near paralyzed, having to face his “mother” manipulating him and attempting to kill him and turn him into a Black Lantern. This should be a tough moment for Spock and for the reader. The logical response for would be for Spock to blast her away, because that’s no longer his mother talking, but his human side gets in the way of his lack of emotions, and he’s unable to pull the trigger. As said, this should be a very heartfelt moment for the series, but it lacks the feeling behind it, and that’s mainly because of the problem prevailing every single issue of this series. Hernandez’ seems to have a problem portraying emotions in any of the characters’ faces. Yelling, sad, hesitant, surprised; it’s all a variation of the same expression, added to the strange shininess in their skin this issue, it made it that much more noticeable. The art when it’s from a further point of view is at its best, it truly portrays a battle and all the implications with it. But every time we have a close up of any of the characters, the story falls apart on their faces. The other major problem with the issue was the fact that the entire evil spectrum of the lanterns was left aside once again, not seen except for Sinestro coming in for battle and the rest duking it out amongst themselves where they were left last issue. The fact that they have such an abrupt ending makes all the time spent developing the characters a waste, since it was all for nothing and it’s not enticing enough to follow the story should a second series were to happen.
Star Trek/Green Lantern #6 finishes this crossover strongly, but it suffers from the terrible flaws that dragged the series down.
Score: 2/5
Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War #6 Writer: Mike Johnson Artist: Angel Hernandez Colorist: Alejandro Sanchez Letterer: Neil Uyetake Publisher: IDW/DC Comics Price: $3.99 Release Date: 12/9/15 Format: Mini-Series; Print/Digital