See Why Star Trek: The Last Starship Is the Must-Read Sci-Fi Comic of 2025

It’s safe to say that Star Trek: The Last Starship is the most anticipated new Trek comic in recent memory. Not only is it the latest project from Star Trek: Lore War masterminds Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, it features the resurrection of arguably the most iconic starship captain of them all, James T. Kirk.

With Star Trek: The Last Starship #1 nearing release, IGN can exclusively debut a new set of lettered pages from this issue. Get a closer look in the slideshow gallery below:

The Last Starship is written by Kelly and Lanzing and illustrated by Adrián Bonilla, with colors by Heather Moore. The series is set in a mostly uncharted era of the Trek timeline, taking place centuries after the time of Captain Kirk and the Enterprise. The series unfolds immediately after The Burn, the devastating event first revealed in Star Trek Discovery that involves the destruction of every active warp core in the galaxy. With trillions dead and the Federation on its last legs, it falls on the lone surviving Starfleet starship to keep the fire burning.

It’s into this bleak new era that Captain Kirk makes his return, just when the Federation needs him the most. IDW also recently revealed that the Borg will factor heavily into the new series, which can’t be good for the survivors.

“This is us writing our fears,” Lanzing recently told IGN. “This is about what it’s like to live in a society that is falling apart, where injustice seems to be winning over justice every day, and when everyone in that society is being challenged to live up to the ideals that they thought were inherent, that they thought were endemic. That story I can give to anybody. You don’t need to be a Star Trek fan. You just need to look outside your window and be looking for a story that talks about what’s going on all over the world right now.”

We can vouch for Lanzing’s comments. We recently had the chance to read the first issue of The Last Starship, and it indeed reads very much like a Star Trek comic for the uncertain and foreboding climate of 2025. It’s also a perfect gateway into the Trek comics, focusing on a new era and cast of characters and requiring only a basic familiarity with the Trek franchise as a whole. If you’re at all curious about the series, we highly recommend giving the first issue a try.

Star Trek: The Last Starship #1 will be released on September 24, 2025.

Be sure to check out our roundtable with IDW’s new lineup of Star Trek creators to learn more about how the franchise is boldly going where it’s never gone before.

Jesse is a mild-mannered staff writer for IGN. Allow him to lend a machete to your intellectual thicket by following @jschedeen on BlueSky.