by Kris Straub
This is the first (and so far only) volume of Starslip to cover what happens after the universe is rest after the battle with Deep Time. For the most part, it's a return to glory for the strip, which is simplified back to its roots: stuffy curator Memnon Vanderbeam in charge, with ex-pirate Cutter Edgewise and the strange Mr. Jinx at his side. There's even a couple of new characters, Doctor Dahk Tohrr and Protocol Officer Quine, both of whom are good additions to the cast. (Engineer Holiday, alas, still has nothing to do besides be the only girl.)
There are some good storylines here: the war games exercises, the locked-room mystery, and especially the ship's hijacking by space pirates when only Quine can stop them. (Kinda like "Starship Mine" from The Next Generation but with a total dweeb instead of Patrick Stewart.) But unfortunately, the spark is not quite at the same level as it was back at the beginning-- with the crew now serving on the exploration cruiser Paradigm instead of the starship museum Fuseli, it is a little more accessible like Straub says... but it's a little bit more generic sci-fi parody. It never quite goes all the way, though; the opening storyline here is a rewrite of the bonus story at the back of Volume 3, and with Vanderbeam instead of that generic Kirk-parody, it's ten times as funny, so clearly Straub is doing something right.
That's all the Starslip I've got for now, because it's all that's been collected. I hope Straub releases another one soon, 'cause I'll buy it, even though I don't read it as a webcomic anymore. (I don't read any, actually, because I don't have the time.)
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