By Peter David, Tom Sutton & Ricardo Villagran (DC Comics)
ISBN: 978-1-563890-09-3
This book collects a sampling of favourites from DC’s 12 years of publishing Star Trek comics. The first tale is ‘Mortal Gods’ by Mike W. Barr, Tom Sutton and Sal Amendola (from issue #5, 1984) wherein a Starfleet officer survives a crash landing on a protected world and goes on to become a religious figure-head. Despite being an old, old plot the creative team have produced enough tweaks and nuances to make it a comfortable if not fresh read.
This is followed by ‘The Final Voyage’ which was the lead tale from the 1986 Annual (#2, written by Barr and illustrated by Dan Jurgens and Bob Smith). Set at the close of the original “Five Year Mission†it sees the homeward-bound USS Enterprise assaulted by Klingons who control the mind-bending abilities of the Talosians (see the TV episodes The Cage/The Menagerie).
Next up is the wonderfully comedic ‘Double Blind’ (issues #24-25 of the first DC comicbook series, March and April 1986) by Diane Duane, Tom Sutton and Ricardo Villagran. Set between the movies Star Trek: The Search for Spock and Star Trek: The Voyage Home it tells of an encounter between two of the most fearsome species in the cosmos – but all is not as it seems in this wickedly satirical romp. This is followed by the moving life story of Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott. ‘Retrospect’, by Peter David, Curt Swan and Villagran tells the bittersweet tale of Scotty’s career and the woman he lost in a clever series of flashbacks that will remind many of Christopher Nolan’s film Memento. This originally appeared in the 1988 Annual.
The volume concludes with ‘The Trial of James T. Kirk’ (#10-12, by Peter David, James Fry, Gordon Purcell and Arne Starr), another great tale, but one already covered in my review for the Titan Books edition of that name (see The Trial of James T. Kirk, ISBN: 1-94576-315-7 in our archive section).
These yarns are magical romps of fun and thrills that fully embrace and enhance the canonical Star Trek for the dedicated fan, provide spectacular comicbook adventure for followers of our art-form and most importantly, provide an important bridge between the insular world of fans and the wider mainstream. Stories like these about such famous characters can only bring more people into comics and isn’t that what we all want?
© 1984, 1985, 1986, 1988, 1990, 1991, 2001 Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.