Tuesday, December 11, 2007

STAR TREK #35 DC Comics, 1986


It seems like every comic book publisher – from Gold Key to DC to Marvel to Malibu – has had a crack at Star Trek. The property has been licensed by Paramount to seemingly everybody but Broadsword Comics, but for various reasons such as editorial restrictions and cost, no single publisher has held on to Star Trek indefinitely.

Most of the Star Trek comics I own are from DC, although I think I still have some of those weird-ass Gold Key issues in a long box around here somewhere. I’ll be honest, Gold Key comics were never my first choice – on vacations my dad would stop for gas and we’d beg him for comics and sometimes he’d come back with Gold Key’s Star Trek or Dark Shadows or some shit. “It was all they had," my dad would say. "Be happy you got anything at all.” And then he would hit me. (Kidding! Hi Dad!)

But I digress. Star Trek #35 was the middle of a multi-part storyline written by Len Wein called “The Doomsday Bug." I think I had the Doomsday Bug the other week. This particular Doomsday Bug is a deadly zombie virus, however, and unlike my bug, this one doesn't involve diarrhea. The story revolves around an intergalactic incident caused by the pesky disease. Spock’s life hangs in the balance! Kirk defies orders yet again and gets into a pissing match with a Romulan commander! A plague ship full of Zombulans speeds deep into Romulan territory! Holy shit, dude!

The story is set some time between Star Trek II and III I think, and draws off the designs from those films. The Romulans were nowhere to be seen in the films, so DC got to sort of wing it and make up a new look for these classic bad guys. And by “new” I mean “goofy as hell.” The results were… well, check it out:


I chose this issue because I like the art by veteran penciller Gray Morrow – the characters look like the actors without seeming too heavily photo-referenced, a common pitfall of any Star Trek comic. Seriously, some Star Trek comics draw so heavily on photographs that they might as well just be fumetti. Not here - Morrow manages the tricky balancing act of drawing comic book characters based on real people while still adhering to comic book aesthetics. The coloring is a little washed out, but that might just be the aging twenty year old paper.

Morrow doesn't do so well with the starships, however. Check out the cover - the Romulan ships look OK I guess, but that's supposed to be the USS Excelsior in the center there. It doesn't look any better inside the book - I've included a picture of the movie version of the Excelsior and Star Trek #35's Pregnant Excelsior as a comparison/contrast exercise:


Apparently in space it's really important to have your ship's registry number in HUGE LETTERS on the saucer section for quick and easy identification by binoculars or something.

Aesthetic nitpicking aside, I enjoyed this storyline. It's the kind of Star Trek story I would write: lots of space battles, daring gambits, brinksmanship, and awkward dialogue. Writer Len Wein obviously has some love for Star Trek and its characters, although a couple things stand out.

First, this panel (below). What's wrong with this panel?



This is a pet peeve of mine. "To coin a phrase" means to create an entirely new saying, such as, "That's the cat's banjo!" There. I just coined a phrase. It does NOT mean to use an existing, established phrase. Come on, Kirk, get it right.

My other petty complaint concerns these two panels:

That just seems sort of patronizing to me. Oooh, Kirk is so enlightened that he's willing to turn over temporary command of the ship to - gasp! - a woman while Mr. Scott is in the bathroom. Don't strain anything patting yourself on the back, Starfleet. I understand that this is just Wein's way of saying that Uhura is a capable officer who is much more than just the Enterprise's switchboard operator, but I think the same message could have been conveyed by having Uhura just matter-of-factly taking command without making such a big deal out of it. It's the 24th century, you'd think they'd be well beyond silly 20th century gender politics.

Fun as it is to pick at goofy stuff in comic books, I really enjoyed the Doomsday Bug storyline when I was a youngster and enjoyed re-reading it today. You could do a lot worse in a Star Trek comic, and believe me, people have.

In closing, Star Trek #35 is the cat's banjo.

And now for Klingon Komedy.


33 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:31 AM

    "Star Trek" books by Broadsword Comics? That's a FANTASTIC idea! Can you imagine what 7 of 9 would look like under Balent's pen? I hope those Borg implants come with a cybernetic spine...

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  2. Gads I dislike Star Trek. Bring back more "Thor vs. [insert]" debates!

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  3. Anonymous10:54 AM

    Something that's always bothered me that I noticed in one of those panels you scanned. Saavik is a woman, right? Like, my senses didn't just deceive me for several movies, did they? If she is in fact a she, then why does everyone always call her "Mister Saavik?" Is that some strange Star Trek stab at equality? Always bugged the hell outta me.

    Great post though, Dave! Looking forward to the rest of Star Trek "week"

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  4. I'm not sure why Kirk feels the need to bring Mister Bearclaw along with him as he leaves the bridge. In my experience, interstellar standoffs are rarely resolved by the ship's pastry officer.

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  5. Are you kidding? Bringing pastry is the best way to resolve interstellar disputes. Shows how many negotiations on Regula IX you've been involved with, mister!

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  6. Anonymous12:54 PM

    I'll make it my mission to use the phrase "That's the cat's banjo" in casual conversation as often as is humanly possible.

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  7. "Mister" is "the informal or social title used in addressing a military warrant officer or any naval officer below the rank of commander," and I'm guessing Harv Bennett wanted to show that military discipline and tradition persisted into the 23rd century.

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  8. Anonymous7:09 PM

    Your gripe about the misuse of "coin a phrase" brought to mind a certain boss we once shared who shall remain veiled behind the initials WJD and who frequently said "old hat" when he meant "old saw."

    Ha ha ha! Those were the days. I still dream of that job...and wake up screaming.

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  9. Star Trek #35 was part of a three-part storyline that took place to roll back the alterations made in the comics timeline between III and IV. Here's more information than you need about why:

    After the third movie, there was a multi-part storyline involving the Mirror Universe and Spock's duplicate helping him get his Katra back in place. Starfleet gave Spock the Captaincy of the science ship Surak so they could monitor any aftereffects from the Genesis device while Kirk and the rest of the crew zoomed about on the Excelsior.

    When DC got the script for STIV, they realized they'd need fuzzyheaded Spock back and to make sure everyone was on Vulcan with the Klingon Bird Of Prey again. "The Doomsday Bug" took care of that for them with some Zombulans, etc, etc.

    I really love DC's first Star Trek series, despite the fact it's not very good. That movie period is still "my" Trek, as I was 8 when Star Trek II came out.

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  10. Wasn't the Bird-of-Prey from ST3 supposed to have been in Excelsior's shuttlebay for however long Kirk was in command? I can't figure out how it would have fit, especially since a previous issue showed it being towed behind Excelsior.

    Oh, and Ensign Bearclaw was a Native American character created by Mike Barr in 1983 for the comics. Around the same time Barr also created ... dammit, can't think of his name ... a pacifistic Klingon who joined the Enterprise crew early in the series. I can't remember what happened to either of them, although I know they were phased out by the time DC got the license back in 1989.

    Anyway, like Kevin, too much information. Looking forward to the rest of Star Trek [Indefinite Period Of Time], Dave!

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  11. can't think of his name ... a pacifistic Klingon

    Konom.

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  12. Oh, and Ensign Bearclaw was a Native American character created by Mike Barr in 1983 for the comics. Around the same time Barr also created ... dammit, can't think of his name ... a pacifistic Klingon who joined the Enterprise crew early in the series. I can't remember what happened to either of them, although I know they were phased out by the time DC got the license back in 1989.

    Not long after he created the Outsiders. How long can his list of crimes be??

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  13. Anonymous10:43 PM

    Anyone notice that Kirk was taking Saavik and Bearclaw, ordering both off the bridge probably for a little ready room "briefing"?

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  14. Oh, and Ensign Bearclaw was a Native American character created by Mike Barr in 1983 for the comics. Around the same time Barr also created ... dammit, can't think of his name ... a pacifistic Klingon who joined the Enterprise crew early in the series. I can't remember what happened to either of them, although I know they were phased out by the time DC got the license back in 1989.

    Konom and Nancy got married in the first Peter David-written issue of the series and Bearclaw was accused of (and exonerated from) stabbing Jim Kirk in the chest with a big-ass knife. From what I can recall, Paramount was displeased with the amount of time writers on the series spent on the background characters - you know, the only ones who could change and grow in any way - and had them take it back to "the Magnificent Seven" of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Uhura, Chekov, and Scotty.

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  15. Konom! Yes! Thank you!

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  16. Anonymous7:49 AM

    Did that Romulan go to the Bugsulan Bunnyulan School of Diplomacy?

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  17. Those weird-ass Gold Key Comics are available for FREE, legal downloads at www.wowio.com, along with all sorts of other comics, some great, some not-so-great. Unfortunately, you can only download three books a day...

    Jon

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  18. Bonus points for referencing fumetti.

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  19. Anonymous10:10 PM

    Wasn't the Bird-of-Prey from ST3 supposed to have been in Excelsior's shuttlebay for however long Kirk was in command? I can't figure out how it would have fit, especially since a previous issue showed it being towed behind Excelsior.

    The Bird-of-Prey was inside a Tardis inside the Excelsior.

    Sort of a Starfleet turducken, if you will.

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  20. Enjoyed your article. But I think you might have to give back your IDIC badge or something over this:

    The story is set some time between Star Trek II and III I think

    combined with this:

    Spock’s life hangs in the balance!

    Because, you know, not to spoil anything and all, but between Star Trek II and Star Trek III, Spock was dead, Jim.

    Anyway, Kevin Church cleared it up in his comments. But it gave me a chuckle.

    Thanks for the blog. Sorry for amusing myself in the comments.

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  21. Anonymous11:19 PM

    I came to rag on you about the ST II/III thing but I see I've been beaten to it.
    On the subject of "Mr." Saavik: In the 1st episode of ST:V, Capt. Kathryn Janeway made a big deal about strongly disliking the Starfleet SOP of calling female superior officers Sir (as in "Yes, Sir!") and insisted that she be referred to as Captain or "Ma'am" should the occasion arise. So it persisted into the 24th century at least.
    For more wacky ST political correctnes see early eps of ST:TNG with male extras in the ST:TOS female miniskirt & hose uniform, proving that it wasn't sexism! Guys wore that uniform too!

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  22. Anonymous10:04 AM

    Nonononono... don't blame Wein, Kirk is an idiot and a dick. Look at Uhura's face in the first panel. She is being sarcastic. When Kirk evidently doesn't get it Uhura in the second panel she just laughs at him. Yeah, that's it. Now where's my no-prize?

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  23. Anonymous12:33 AM

    Chill Chris
    if kirk wants to call Saavik, mister then as far as I'm concerned he can. It sounds just fine by me. Saavik can call captain Kirk Ma'am if she's wants no probs chris man or woman dude or dudess lol

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