Grimlock ♥ Ultra Magnus

ARC from Netgalley.  

This was just a brilliant graphic novel; it took the story lines I loved from the original series, and updated them for the Nu!Trek universe.   It isn't a cut and paste job, though, as the author gave a great deal of thought to how to adapt the stories, and while details, and even characters, change, it's nice to see modernization of these favorite stories of mine.  

The characters act appropriately for Nu!Trek, which is to say like themselves if they're from the movies, and consistently if they're being adapted from older material.    Not only that, changes are consistent with the new universe.   This volume has three issues that deal with Amok Time, the episode that deals with pon farr, the need for Vulcan's to mate, and the rituals involved with pon farr.   Of course, this is going to be dealt with differently.   Spock wasn't involved with Uhuara in the original series, and the complications from Nero's actions?   A brilliant twist.   

The last issue deals with the Gorn, and I feel like I've seen this storyline in Astonishing X-Men, and that it extends to Wolverine and the X-Men.   It's more of an extended story line in that, though, which makes it a little more satisfactory.   Pretty much, I hope the Gorn come back in further issues.   As for this particular follow up?   It's not bad as a stand alone, but it's also put after three issues that I felt were brilliant, and that this issue was a little lackluster in comparison.   The supporting characters weren't as well developed, somehow, although they had about as much time on the page.    Henderson, for example, felt a little more cliched.   I was also distracted by how uneven the art felt in this issue as compared to the first three.   Overall, it doesn't even rate knocking down a half a star, because the ending shows a side of Kirk you saw in the original series - that he thinks, that he can come up with peaceful solutions rather than relying on action and his fists, and that he'd actually prefer peace to fighting.  I think I would have preferred more subtle trickery, and less of a rushed ending, but the lead up of Kirk's dreams is really nice, and deals with the stress he has to handle and how it can effect him as Captain of the Enterprise.   I do hope this series goes into more detail about this in the future, instead of dropping this subplot!   Pretty much, if you focus on this story as more of a character study of and character building for Kirk, it's much more satisfactory than focusing on it as a Gorn story.   

Conclusion?   This volume made me squeal in fangirl joy.   I think I'll end up getting a copy for myself to enjoy in the future, and on paper.   Because, while I can't fault the volume itself for this, I enjoy reading graphic novels on paper more than in digital form.