Before I comment on Chris Chibnall's Doctor Who, I thought I might watch a third episode first. Today, therefore, I decided to continue with reviews of the Eaglemoss Star Trek hardback reprint collection.
In the last post, we saw the final adventures of the Enterprise crew at Marvel, in 1982. That period, post-The Motion Picture, is also covered by a series of newspaper strips. They were also collected by Eaglemoss. Although they include a lengthy Kzinti adventure (and as a fan of the animated Trek, I was pleased to see them), the artwork in the one volume I own is often execrable, compared to 70s strips like Syd Jordan's Jeff Hawke or Horak's James Bond. There are only a couple of stories (by Gerry Conway) which are readable, including one where the Enterprise crew beam down to out world: Earth-Prime, as it was called by DC.
Marv Wolfman, who successfully adapted The Motion Picture for Marvel pursued the licence at DC and early covers were drawn by his Titans co-creator, George Perez. The interior art was by Tom Sutton, who had drawn the Beast, Werewolf By Night and other "weird mystery" strips for Marvel. Likenesses were enhanced by the inks of Ricardo Villagran.
The DC Trek was launched in 1984, in the aftermath of The Wrath of Khan. Spock is (believed) dead and his half-Romulan protégé Saavik has stepped into his shoes. Where Martin Pasko had to work around an injunction to include plot elements from the original and animated series, here scripter Mike W. Barr has no such impediment and his first eight Trek stories are giddy with callbacks to TOS.
1.The Wormhole Connection. The title for this collection makes me think of both The Muppet Movie and Gene Hackman!
The USS Gallant is destroyed by Klingon Commander Koloth ( previously seen in the two Tribbles episodes, one of which was animated). Enterprise crewmembers William Bearclaw and Nancy Bryce are at each other's throats as a result of the Gallant's loss.
Despite being on the bridge when the Enterprise was sucked into a wormhole in TMP, Bones asks Scotty what a wormhole is. It transpires Klingons are using wormhole technology for sneak attacks.
2.The Only Good Klingon. Kirk and Bryce discover a Klingon space station in the wormhole ( prefiguring DS9). Sulu has ambitions of his own command and McCoy is troubled by Spock's dying word(s): "Remember".
Konom, a Klingon revulsed by killing, aids Kirk and Bryce. Finding himself defeated by Kirk, Commander Koloth, commits suicide. Emperor Kahless IV ( the "Kitumba" of Star Trek: Phase II?) declares war on the Federation of Planets.
3.Errand of War. The Benecia medical station is destroyed by the Klingons. Kor ( last seen in the animated Trek episode, The Time Trap) and Kirk return to Organia to stop the war, by petitioning the omnipotent energy beings there, whom they both encountered in Errand of Mercy.
The instigators of the war are revealed to be the silicon Excalbians, who have chosen a greater stage for their drama of good and evil, last seen in The Savage Curtain.
4.Deadly Allies: the final part of the war storyline. A riot breaks out in the Enterprise brig. Konom is rejected by the Klingon prisoners of war. Kirk sets the Organians against the Excalbians and they remove themselves to struggle on a cosmic plane.
5.Mortal Gods is a Prime Directive story. Captain Hodges, a former pupil of Kirk's is shipwrecked on a warring planet after the war. He is worshipped as a god until Konom impersonates another god to prevent a civil war on the planet. Saavik says they are little better than the Excalbians but Kirk pooh-poohs this claim.
Animated Orions
6.Who is...Enigma? This is a very "comic-booky" story in which a mission to Babel is infiltrated by a shape-shifting assassin. Enigma is an agent of the Orion Victory League and her powers came from Antos ( like Garth of Izar). She is also the daughter of Ambassador Fox from A Taste of Armageddon. We see an Andorian, a Tellarite and a Gorn.
7.Saavik's Story: Pon Far. David Marcus, Kirk's estranged son, is a banqueting guest while Saavik shows symptoms of the Vulcan reproductive cycle. Saavik is depicted as being rescued by Spock ( in his Cage/Menagerie uniform) and adopted by Sarek ( just like Michael Burnham in Star Trek Discovery!). She is pair-bonded to Xon, who would've been the fully Vulcan crewman had Star Trek: Phase II made it to the tv screen.
Amanda enquires about Spock's katra of Sarek and McCoy has secret concerns about his new-found scraps of Vulcan knowledge. The mating cycle is usually spelled " Pon Farr"
David Gautreaux as Xon
Saavik and David Marcus transfer to the USS Grissom in time for Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Unfortunately for them...
I'd have to say I like these Star Trek comics more than the Marvel version (although I prefer TMP's uniforms to these more martial red ones.) I always thought it was a pity that Saavik had a successively smaller role in the movies ( and that Robin Curtis replaced Kirstie Alley). I suppose in some ways doomed Tasha Yar had similarities to Saavik.
I enjoyed the numerous callbacks to TOS and animated Trek and I wish the eponymous Survivor was the aggressor in the "Enigma" story.
With Bearclaw, Bryce and Konom ( preceding Worf by three years!), Barr created more interesting emotional conflicts in his characters. DC's series feels less episodic and arbitrary than Marvel's. Barr crafted links between the second and third movies well and Sutton/Villagran's art has a classic DC look that appeals. I miss Cockrum's designs slightly, however.
The Gold Key reprint in this volume is A Perfect Dream, by John David Warner. He wrote a lot of Son of Satan and created Bloodstone, the monster hunter for marvel. The Enterprise crew discover a rogue artificial planet inhabited by clones and patterned on feudal Japan. The setting is pretty but it could've been a vehicle for Sulu rather than Spock. That would have been...logical.
In future posts, I'll look at DC's take on Star Trek:The Next Generation and John Byrne's IDW Star Trek comics.
All images are presumed copyright of their respective owners
No comments:
Post a Comment