Back around the time of Star Trek‘s 30th Anniversary, a number of series based on the franchise were set to be published by Marvel Comics. To kick off this multiseries event, a one-shot comic featuring the X-Men and the crew of the original USS Enterprise was produced. While its an interesting concept since both handled the issues of their times, the two franchises clash in terms of style, one being a space opera and the other had spandex-clad superheroes, which wasn’t a thing until the early Next Generation.
Our cleverly-titled story, Star TreX, involves a rift of psionic energy near the planet Delta Vega. The Enterprise crew meet the X-Men when a ship commanded by the villainous Deathbird and her allies passes through the rift. Aside from Wolverine being Wolverine, the encounter goes relatively uneventful, and the X-Men offer their aid as Deathbird is the rogue sister of one of their allies. However, both teams have their suspicions about the origin of rift; Captain Kirk suspects that his friend late Gary Mitchell, whom had gone mad after gaining god-like powers, may be behind the rift. The X-Men believe that an old advisary of theirs, Kevin MacTaggart aka Proteus, could be behind it.
Little do they know they are both right.
One challenge any crossover has to deal with is how accessible it is to its audience. The reader might only be familiar with one element while having passing knowledge of the rest. In this case, I had a decent amount of knowledge about the franchises, knowing a great deal about Star Trek while having limited knowledge of the X-Men. I knew most of the X-Men and had a good idea who the Shi’ar were and what happened in the Dark Phoenix Saga, but I didn’t really know who Proteus or Deathbird were. While at a slight disadvantage, Star TreX did its best to fill in the blanks.
Another issue a crossover has is how well it deals with the characters involved, like getting the personalities right or even how they are used. In this case, Star Trek‘s Power Trio (Kirk, Spock, and McCoy) are the main focus, leaving the other characters with minor roles… so nothing new here. Cyclops, Phoenix, and, of course, Wolverine had the most importance of any of the X-Men with the rest in minor roles, especially my favorite X-Man Gambit. Even Deathbird and her allies get literally shoved aside when the Proteus-possessed Gary Mitchell shows up even after being set up as the main threat.
There’s little conflict between the X-Men and the Enterprise crew, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Most early encounters between the two sides are played more for laughs than drama, with the encounter between Beast and Bones referencing that the Dr. McCoys, while the encounter between Wolverine and Spock resulting in the former being quickly (albeit briefly) subdued by a Vulcan Nerve Pinch. The moral implications of how Kirk’s handled his friend’s mutation is brought up in a conversation with Phoenix, which allows the two parties to relate in some regards.
All-in-all, I found Star TreX to be a fun little adventure but in the end nothing too special. It starts off very slow and ends up feeling rushed when the action happens. I honestly think it could have been better if it had been done as a miniseries as it would have allowed for more conflict and character development between the two franchises and allowed underused characters moments to shine. Of course, using the last dozen pages for fan-service and previews didn’t help.
This isn’t the last time the two franchises crossover. A couple years later near the end of the Star Trek comics run, Marvel followed up with Second Contact, which involves the crew of USS Entrprise-E meeting with the X-Men on their turf. Being a huge fan of The Next Generation, you can bet I was interested in this one.
