DC and IDW Publishing once created a nearly perfect sci-fi crossover in which DC’s biggest space-based superhero meets the crew of the USS Enterprise in “Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War” in 2015.
It’s not the first “Star Trek” comic book crossover, but what makes “Star Trek/Green Lantern” unique is that it features the crew of the J.J. Abrams-produced “Star Trek” films, complete with the likenesses of Chris Pine (who was once rumored to play Hal Jordan), Zachary Quinto, Zoë Saldaña, Simon Pegg, Karl Urban, Anton Yelchin, and John Cho. In “The Spectrum Wars,” an alternate DC universe is all but destroyed by a villain named Nekron. Before his death, the lone surviving Guardian of the Universe sends the power rings — the only weapons capable of defeating Nekron — into a parallel universe for safekeeping, where they wind up in the hands of the Enterprise crew, among others.
Though not much talked about these days, “Star Trek/Green Lantern” might be the most under-appreciated comic book crossover we’ve ever seen, with a story that makes both sides feel right at home while showing them all at their best. Dramatic and weighty, it’s a sprawling cosmic epic to rival DC’s best event series.
Hal Jordan joins the crew of the USS Enterprise
Even if readers didn’t fully appreciate the greatness of “Star Trek/Green Lantern: Spectrum Wars” when it was first published, it obviously did well and had plenty of admirers, because it got a sequel in 2017. “Star Trek/Green Lantern: Stranger Worlds” begins with Hal Jordan and Star Sapphire serving aboard the USS Enterprise in the J.J. Abrams “Star Trek” Kelvin timeline, a fun status quo that few could have imagined.
As the story kicks off, we learn that without access to a power battery on the planet of Oa, all the Green Lantern rings are slowly running out of power. Luckily, there may be a counterpart to Oa in the “Star Trek” universe. At the same time, however, Sinestro is on a deadly mission of his own, while the villainous Khan steals a red power ring for himself.
Like “The Spectrum War,” “Star Trek/Green Lantern: Stranger Worlds” is a joint production between DC Comics and IDW. The same creative team of writer Mike Johnson and Angel Hernandez returns, too. Ultimately, it’s a worthy sequel that ups the stakes and shows us a new adventure in a reality where Green Lanterns and Starfleet officers fight side by side.