The crew members of the U.S.S. Enterprise aren't strangers to the concept but, in Mike Johnson and Angel Hernandez's "Star Trek/Green Lantern" #1, they're in their own time period, en route to Nodell-16, which is a most appropriate port of call and a nice homage to the creator of the original Green Lantern. On their way, Kirk and crew encounter an orphan planet (or a "big rock" as Kirk brands it) that has some sort of reading. While not a first, the exploratory mission to the surface presents readers with the rare occurrence where the crew members who were beamed down beam back intact, red shirts and all.

That doesn't keep Johnson from presenting Doctor McCoy's trademark,

"He's dead, Jim." Johnson doesn't even have to work too hard for it and uses that demise as the central mystery of the story, subtitled "The Spectrum War." Ganthet, the most prolific of Guardians and the inhabitant of Oa voted "Most Likely to Appear in a Crossover," is the deceased in action. The writer doesn't jam too many surprises into the issue, choosing instead to showcase characters and situations that are expected, welcoming readers in and showing them around.

This series features the newer, shinier, J. J. Abrams-er Trek, and artist Angel Hernandez captures the likenesses quite handsomely. In some cases, the dedication to likeness leads Hernandez to deliver some stiff figures, like cutouts on a background or ColorForms, but the characters still work in the space Hernandez has designed for them. The characters that afford Hernandez a wider artistic license, like Ganthet and Hal and the crew who go planetside in their spacesuits, are more dynamic and vibrant in their panels, but there isn't a bad drawing to be found in "Star Trek/Green Lantern" #1.

The colors at times do feel a bit off, as the blue and the indigo shade towards each other a bit too much. The hues cast by the rings onto the characters get a little murky as well, especially with the ring faces turned away from the reader, but colorist Alejandro Sanchez keeps the story bright and sharp. He even includes the digital gray/green/not-quite-white of the interior of the Enterprise. Neil Uyetake completes the visuals for this comic, from the mysterious, creepy, disembodied, yet familiar to DC/"Green Lantern" word balloons that open the issues to the rings choosing their hosts. Johnson's story is clean, inviting Uyetake to collaborate as much as Hernandez and Sanchez.

"Star Trek/Green Lantern" #1 meets in the middle but favors Star Trek. The Green Lantern mythos serves as bookends to a fairly typical exploration/adventure for the crew of the Enterprise. Johnson, Hernandez, Sanchez and Uyetake make it more than just standard, however, filling this series with grand potential and this issue with magnificent visuals.