Star Trek's James Kirk officially joins the Borg, but as a captain or as a king?

Earlier this year, The Neighborhoodcame to an end after eight seasons, which is truly a remarkably long run for a sitcom these days. The show was centered around a White family, the Johnsons, who move into a Black neighborhood in Pasadena, and next door to the Butlers, where Calvin Butler (Cedric the Entertainer) sees himself as the sort of "head" of the neighborhood. Dave Johnson (Max Greenfield) wants to be friends with Calvin, but Calvin doesn't want to be friends with him.

However, obviously they DO become friends, as Dave is a lovable guy. The "problem," as it was, though, is that the show would often want to keep telling the same sort of stories from Season 1 with Dave and Calvin in conflict with each other, where Calvin acts like he isn't friends with Dave, and it's, like, show, Calvin pretty much admitted Dave was his best friend in, like, Seaosn 4! You can't go back to the "Calvin doesn't like Dave" well.

That's the problem with long-running shows, you really can't keep personality conflicts going forever, because, well, you know, people who have major personality conflicts with each other tend not to spend years together. The same goes for procedurals. Sergeant Grey gave Officer John Nolan a hard time on The Rookie for years, but by the show's most recent season, they had obviously bonded and were basically like family members.

That, though, is where Star Trek: The Last Starship has a leg up, as it doesn't have to worry about going on forever, and so the personality conflict between Captain Delacourt Sato and his First Officer, Commander James T. Kirk, can really go deep, and we see it boil over in a shocking turn of events in Star Trek: The Last Starship #8, where Kirk joins...The Borg?!

Star Trek: The Last Starship #8 is from the writing team of Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, artist Hernan Gonzalez, colorist Lee Loughridge, and letterer Clayton Cowles, and it deals with the shocking heel turn that we saw last issue from Agnes Jurati, the Borg Queen!

How Are Agnes' Attempts at Assimilation Foiled?

Last issue, we got confirmation that the U.S.S. Omega's tactical officer, Vi T’Galatheon, has been secretly working as a double agent for her people (the reunited Vulcans and Romulans), and we see a bit more of that, but moreover, we see that her people have had an ace up their sleeve this whole time with a mysterious implant hidden inside Vi's body, and they are not afraid to take things to an absurd degree if that's what it takes (even if it means Vi losing her life in the process)

As we saw last issue, Agnes has been working with the Federation since this all began, but she finally appeared to give up last issue, and decided that the only way that the galaxy was going to be saved was if she just assimilated EVERYONE, and brought them into the Borg! Naturally, her allies on the Omega have a hard time with that approach.

The ship's doctor, Zed, discover that he is so pumped up with drugs that he CAN'T be assimilated, and he uses that information to free Captain Sato. However, in all of the confusion, Commander James T. Kirk takes the chance to confront Agnes directly.

What Does James T. Kirk Decide When He Joins With the Borg?

The big reveal in this issue is that The Borg were actually decimated during The Burn, and Agnes is actually the only member of the Borg left standing. She turns to Kirk, and asks him to join her as a full-fledged member of the Borg. Hernan Gonzalez and Lee Loughridge go WILD with this OUTSTANDING splash page depicting Kirk as a Borg King. Kirk IS willing to work with the Bog, and really, so much of this issue is Kirk deciding to go with the Borg (hence the headline), but he has a specific idea of what that means to work with the Borg.

He won't allow Agnes to assimilate everyone, but she has convinced him that he MUST act, but he must act as a CAPTAIN. Agnes reveals that she has done the math, and the only way that they can possibly turn things around is by bringing Kirk back, but she admits that she has lost hope in her own plan (hence her turning to assimilation), but Kirk explains, in a CLASSIC Kirk speech by Lanzing and Kelly (it must have been so cool for them to be able to get the chance to write one of those classic Kirk speeches. You can almost hear the dramatic pauses in the speech, Shatner-style), he explains that he can't accept her offer of making him the Borg King, but he DOES agree that what they've been doing isn't enough.

No, Kirk realizes that what they need is a Captain who can truly take on the great responsibility that the U.S.S. Omega needs to live up to, and that Captain is not Delacourt Sato, but it "has" to be Kirk himself.

I love that Lanzing and Kelly have provided a setup where we have seen Kirk and Sato truly TRY to make it work for a number of issues, but at the end of the day, their conflict is too great. There is not going to be a "meeting of the minds" between the two men, there is only one of them that can lead the Omega on this mission, and Kirk, a man who has always been devoted to honor, realizes that he might have to do a DIShonorable thing to save the Federation that he loves, and that is to effectively lead a mutiny against his own Captain.

Come on, that's just an awesome setup for a story! The willingness to take bold directions in this story has really led to this comic being quite unpredictable, but also quite enjoyable.