These Were the Voyages, pt. 8

Welcome back. This post covers issues 26 (May 1986) through 33 (Dec 1986).

Sorry about the barcode.

This is a good stretch of issues. I didn't realize until I sat down to do these that I've been missing issue #28 all these years that I've been moving this box of Trek comics from place to place. The plot for that one (from the wiki) is: "McCoy story written by a registered nurse. Comic debuts of Pocket Books novel original characters, Lia Burke and Dr Tom Krejci. Referenced are Athende the Sulamid and Avoca."

Little of that makes any sense to me, but the registered nurse in question is Diane Duane, who wrote the two-parter discussed two TWTVs ago. Kind of an odd way to allude to her, no? Unless they mean the story itself is from the perspective of a registered nurse? Oh well. 

#26. The Surak is sent to study the planet Verdee. (The planet from a few posts ago) A member of the landing party (a conspicuously introduced Felicia Mello) fails to materialize after transport.

Working with Lt. Brinks and the other crew on the ship, Spock and the other soon discover there are Romulans hidden on the planet, capturing their crew members (first Felicia, then Brinks herself) with a phase weapon of some kind.

I like this Surak crew. Spock in command of a science ship getting into Starfleet shenanigans would've been a fine thing to do in the 80s. Or the 70s or the 00s for that matter. There's an intriguing thematic overlap with the Romulans/ phase weapon of “The Next Phase” going on here - the dice-throwing-instigator part of my brain is always trying to make "Did TNG and subsequent movies take plots from the DC comic?" happen - but I suspect it's more of a callback to "The Tholian Web."

And with that:

#27. A day in the life of the Excelsior.

Chekov wants to come up with a drill that really tests the crew so he tinkers with some systems and wreaks some minor havoc. Saavik endeavors to understand human relations and questions Kirk and Bones on mating customs. Sulu heads a class on fencing and begins a romance with Lt. Morelli.

To answer its author's call up there (editor Robert Greenberger), I really enjoyed this one. A nice slice of life story which neither gets too bogged down in inconsequentials while still moving things along with character development. 

I should shout out to Michele Wolfman's coloring job more often. She really does a good job on this series.

I actually had no idea she had the number of credits she did. Kudos - she worked especially well with the Sutton/ Villagran style.

This above is from a later issue, actually, but still. 

#29. Commander Thimon, an Andorian, leads an away mission just prior to his retirement on an uncharted planet just outside known space. The landing party is attacked by phaser-resistant giant apes, who maul Lt. Konom and a Tellarite officer. Ensign Bearclaw insubordinates and kills his way to freedom.

The entire point of this attack is to see if the insides of the alien ape are as phaser-resistant as the outside. But does it look like he's shooting down his throat, or under his chin? You make the call.

They’re really leaning into Bearclaw’s bigotry and unpleasantness. He hates himself as much as anyone else but still kind of a repetitive note. Here it works pretty well as contrasted to the sentiments of the senior leadership.

A letter column in a later issue draws attention to the number of Beverly Hillbillies references going on. There’s also this cute panel as Yeoman Hathaway (presumably Jane Hathaway) gets after the Admiral for some old business he has to clean up...

#30. The Excelsior assumes orbit around Tally, a M-class planet in its last hours of life. While preparing the ship to record the demise, they pick up a faint distress signal with Enterprise’s signature, the shuttlecraft Kepler, left there years ago during the Enterprise’s original five year mission. Uhura relays the story to Saavik of the last time they were there, which turns out to be the story of her first (rogue) command, when she saved Kirk, Spock, and the gang from the Klingons.

The art is by Carmine Infantino, which I didn't realize until this panel right here:

He has certain unmistakable illustrative tics. (The other two I can think of are the distinctive saucer eyes of any alien he drew back in the Mystery in Space et al. days and that one odd, running pose he uses a lot. No examples at the ready alas.) 

This was another one I really liked. The Sulu or Uhura specific Pocket Books I read never really did it for me - although in fairness I don't recall many, spotlighting any character. But so far these side adventures in the comic have been fun. Someone somewhere said this comic is the first appearance of "Nyota," but that seems wrong. It'd have been in the Trek bible anyway (I don't recall if it was in the World of Star Trek by David Gerrold book). Does anyone out there know definitively: where did Uhura's first name get used first?

#31 and #32. – “Maggie’s Planet.” A planet claimed by both the Klingons and the Federation had a ten year contest to see who could develop it faster. The Klingons are winning, though the Federation’s way is more ecologically sound. The planet and its natives anachronistically belong to “Maggie,” straight out of central casting with his hot-blooded space Mexican wife.

Complications ensue when the popinjay ambassador sent to negotiate works to sabotage the event, and Captain Koloth returns to represent the Klingons. (Wait a minute, Koloth? Didn’t he die back in the first few issues?)

This is a very un-Trek like story, more or less just a western/ Age of Empire story.

Ay caramba.

We're a long way from the end of "What Are Little Girls Made Of".

#33. Who are these people on the cover? Please tell me that is not Uhura. Is that supposed to be Bones? Chekov?

This sequel to “Tomorrow Is Yesterday” was the series’ contribution to the franchise’s twentieth anniversary. And a worthy one (despite some gaffes here and there with details, as lovingly called out in lettercols to come). The Enterprise overshoots its own time and arrives in the time of the Excelsior, where the two crews must work together to stop the universe from unraveling. Why? Some typical Trek hibbity-swibbity but we know the real reason is that the two eras are simply two damn awesome to exist at the same time. No timeline can hog all of that to itself. 

Interesting that the comic’s twentieth anniversary tribute involved a slingshot around the sun as well, same as The Voyage Home. Looking back/ time travel was written into the commemoration that year. I don't know if they got the idea from learning the movie was going to do it or if both were independently inspired by a re-run of "Tomorrow Is Yesterday."

Good stuff, though. I like that it's mostly about the two crews interacting. The problem they have to solve is mostly maguffin stuff. 

 
And now: all the pics left over in my folder. 

Until next time.

I like the internal continuity of this moment.
Spock from the TOS era has never known Saavik as a grown woman.

Eww or Aww? I say aww. Although that really doesn't look much like Yeoman Rand.

Lt. Brinks from the Surak.

Good night, Uhura.

~

These Were the Voyages, pt. 7: Who's Who

DC put out these two Who's Whos in 1987. Wonderful stuff. If you're familiar with the whole Who's Who/ Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe approach, you know what to expect: encyclopedia-style entries for characters and concepts of the Trekverse as it existed up to that point of time. 

Re: that last point, the up-to-1987-ness: this is Trek as it existed just prior to TNG. I don't know how much of the Trek-watching audience these days can still look at such thing and say "This was the Trek of my childhood/ adolescence, or even (shudder) college years." I bet it still happens, but to that portion of the audience to whom it happened not by choice but by virtue of being the only Trek to exist up to that point, it's an interesting window. 

Would such a project coming out only a couple of years later include Kevin Riley?

Or how about Mr. Leslie? Extra points to the writer, here (see credits for everything at end of this post) - the actor who played Mr. Leslie was Kirk's stunt double in many episodes. 

Even with the limited source pool, they had to leave several folks for the inside back cover.
Poor Landru.

The covers are by Howard Chaykin. I used to be a big Chaykin fan but grew steadily disenchanted over the years. So full disclosure, maybe he just annoys me. The overall design is fine for these, but some things baffle me.

Who are these folks? Just Starfleet randos? Why are they on the cover?
Is it supposed to be Sulu? If it is, why put him a new outfit?

Okay, that's Saavik, but... Cyrano Jones? And slimmed down? I mean, who else would it be, with a Tribble in his hand. Who' the blonde, though? Marsha Mason? And again: CYRANO JONES? Arms akimbo with Saavik? It's just crazy talk. 

Someone might point out "Hey, that's not Sulu/ Cyrano Jones." And they might be right. The better choice would've been to make all six characters easily recognizable to avoid the issue and to (always) leave Cyrano Jones out of it. If you showed me the first picture and told me it was Trek, no time frame, I'd assume it was probably Travis from Enterprise and Harry Kim from Voyager, maybe. (Do the limbs and legs in both pics look off, to boot? Pick pick pick.) 

I left out some of the better ones, below, like George Perez's rendering of Gary Seven, John Byrne's of Sarek, Ron Frenz's of Yeoman Rand, and more. I figure if you don't have it, those will be your reward for getting there. Aren't I thoughtful! Also: lazy. (Insert bitching about from-iPhone-to-Gmail-to-Paint-to-blog process here.) A lot of these artists I've never heard of. Some are not quite my cup of tea, but it's cool for the lesser-knowns they got to write their names in the Big Book of Trek. 

Let's start with some cast members:

These depictions of Natira look more like Majel Barrett than her other entries:

The less said about this one the better.
Although to be fair she was pretty sexed-up in "The Paradise Syndrome" as well.

Scotty and Bones by Gray Morrow, Kirk by Tom Sutton.

"YOUR MANUAL OVERRIDES
ARE EXTREMELY LIMITED IN LIFE!"

Let me give you the artist credits:

Andorians by Mike Clark. Bones and Scotty by Gray Morrow. Carol Marcus by Kevin Maguire. Covers by Howard Chaykin. Excalibans by Jim Reddington. Ilia by Ron Randall. Kirk by Tom Sutton. Klingons by Dan Jurgens. Redjac by Marc Pacella (and Klaus Janson). Riley by Jan Duursema. Romulans by Walt Simonson. Talosians by Bill Wray. Orions (and USS Surak, below) by Todd McFarlane. 

These others are by Jim Brozowski and Ken Penders.

~

That's a wrap on tonight's 80s DC Trek revisit. I jumped ahead a bit - these actually came out either alongside Star Trek IV or thereabouts. Next time we'll jump back in where we left off, Star Trek, DC v1, issue 26. 

Excellent job, everyone, particularly Allan and Robert.

Harry Mudd, FFS.