The USS Omega’s First Officer, Wowie Carter, was a remarkable, fearless child, but his hope, optimism and infamously courageous nature is being eroded by his galaxy-saving mission. As the USS Omega continues its journey, the time dilation caused by its method of travel, every time Carter returns home to visit his family, he’s only aged a few months while they’re aging by several years at a time. The question is: has he given up too much, in doing his part to save the universe?

Though The Last Starship can hardly be called a comic filled with non-stop action sequences, even in its more philosophical or calmer moments, the focus has generally been on events occurring on a universe-sized scale. That’s not the case with issue 4, which zooms right in to focus on Wowie Carter’s situation specifically, telling a deeply personal and moving tale in the process.

It’s a bold move from writers Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, and along with the ground level view of the personal cost of the time dilation, it fills in some important details to let us know how and why Carter has ended up being held in such high regard by Starfleet and his peers.

I’m still not sold on the decision to resurrect and include James T. Kirk in the story, however; it feels as if that has been shoehorned in as a way to celebrate Star Trek’s 60th anniversary, rather than by any need to have him involved in a series which has plenty of smart and capable characters already. Even Carter’s ultimate decision in this issue feels a bit flimsy in terms of its justification, given the fact that it involves Kirk too.

Though The Last Starship has a few weak points, and hasn’t been brilliant in every issue, #4 is a superb story, well told, and it’s a shame that we’re almost certainly going to return to the more bombastic action, led by a resurrected James T. Kirk, in the next issue.

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