Comic Book Review: Star Trek- Romulans: Schism #1 (IDW Publishing) By Eddie R.

The Final Act begins

Star Trek- Romulans: Schism #1 begins the third and final installment of John Byrne’s Romulans saga. Along with previous appearances in “Alien spotlight” and “Romulans- Hollow Crown”, Mr. Byrne has managed to not only fill in some of the missing details of this classic Star Trek Race, but also add to the already complex mythology surrounding these formidable foes, and to certain events which are all too familiar to fellow Star Trek fans.




Taking place during the Klingon- Romulan alliance, Star Trek- Romulans: Schism opens admits a scene of rising tensions. Like a well played game of chess, the Klingons have managed to position the Romulans against the Federation in an attempt to provoke war. But even by supplying both new weapons and technology to the Romulans, along with stoking the fires of hatred towards the humans, the battle which the Klingons hope to transpire has yet to take place. One of the reasons seems to be an “anonymous player” taking out and destroying Klingon ships within Romulan borders, causing the fight to take longer than expected to get started. Another is the Romulans coming to their senses and realizing they are being used as pawns by the Klingon Empire, causing them to begin questioning their races true role in this conflict.

Now this might seem a bit complex for a tale which is based on the happenings of the Classic Star Trek episode “The Enterprise Incident”, but true to Mr. Byrne’s love of Star Trek history, and his attention to detail, I feel all of this fits seamlessly with what is already considered cannon within the Star Trek Universe. If anything, Star Trek- Romulans: Schism is a “behind the scenes” look at the aforementioned TV episode. And as a fan of the original series, I see no problems with this.

As usual, Mr. Byrne captures that TOS feel and tone with his beautifully rendered artwork, invoking a sense of both nostalgia and curiosity. In fact, it actually makes me want to revisit those old TOS episodes again just to see where this does all fit in. And to me, any book which can get me to do that is worth its weight in gold.

Writer: John Byrne
Artist: John Byrne

On sale September 16th

8.5/10

Eddie R
Review Co- Editor