This was fun! The retellings of classic stories are getting a lot less one to one, so it feels like the series is maturing and finding it's own footing. I am of course, not a fan of Section 31, but I understand the comics are trying to lay the groundwork here for Into Darkness, and it's not the comic book's fault that that movie sucks. That said, I am very skeptical of the implication Sulu is involved in Section 31, but am reserving judgement until this thread resolves itself. It is possible that the comic could be better than the films and use the organization to provide a salient critique of US intelligence organizations. Not likely, but possible.

The real fun to be had here though is in the tribble story. It does of course share some similarities to The Trouble With Tribbles in that it is Kirk and crew's first encounter with tribbles, but it takes that story and makes a unique one with various elements from established lore. It was really fun to see the Klingons partaking in the tribble hunt that Worf references later on, especially since it also gives us another chance for Uhura to save the day with her Klingon language skills. And seeing the tribble homeworld was a delight! They're really taking advantage of the medium and the fact that they can make much more alien flora and fauna than you could in a film or TV show, and it was gorgeous. Also, Rand was here, but in engineering. Rare aos feminism W.

I'm still iffy of the threads left hanging in the Return of the Archons retelling, but this was a significantly better take on tribbles than Short Treks would attempt a few years later, and I had a blast reading it. 4⭐️