“I’ve been shot at, hounded, chased, forgotten... but I’ve never been idolized. It’s a nice change of pace.”

It’s a two-for-one post on Christmas Eve, partly to limit the number of posts that I need to write ahead of being out of town; partly, because these two issues are tied together as one story that ends Dreadstar. Looking at the cover dates, it’s a bit surprising that there was only a three-year gap between the First Comics version of the title ending and the six-issue Bravura one coming out. Even as a kid who didn’t really read my dad’s copies of Dreadstar, more flipped through them many times, reading bits here and there, I remember it seeming like there was no Dreadstar for a good decade. But, that’s neither here nor there.

What we have here is a bit of joking around with the idea of aliens making first contact with Earth, which segues into a Star Trek parody. After issue 62’s reset, it’s very much a return to the sensibilities of the first few issues of the title that Peter David wrote. It’s not the Ninja Turtles, it’s the USS Enterprise this time out. David was the midst of numerous creative difficulties working on the DC Star Trek comic and this seems like a nod towards that.

These are inauspicious issues to end on. They’re largely forgettable aside from Angel Medina’s twisted versions of the Enterprise’s crew. I like the resolution where, basically, The Next Generation crew show up, offer apologies for Kirk and company, and the plot is done. But, really, I just reread these a few weeks back and I barely remember anything about them. They’re forgettable and are only notable for the commentary exposed on David’s real life issues and because they’re the final issues of the series.

There’s a promise that Dreadstar would return in three planned graphic novels as First shifted towards that model of release, but the company folded before that could happen. As I said, it would be three years before the story would be concluded... sort of. That’s far more interesting.

In two days: Dreadstar #1.