By BWilliams / 08:52, 8 September 2005 / Reviews - Books

STAR TREK COMICS CLASSICS: TO BOLDLY GO
Contributor(s): Mike W. Barr, Tom Sutton, Ricardo Villagran

Pocket Books MMPB
160 pages

Price: $19.95
Pub Date: July 2003

Buy now from TrekWeb:

• Amazon.com
• Amazon.co.uk
• Amazon.ca
• Amazon.de
• Barnes & Noble

• Beam story to friend
• Join our newsletter
• Syndicate news
• Divine Treasury forum

Synopsis: In the aftermath of STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN, when the Klingons begin making lethal strikes against Federation ships, Kirk must discover how they appear from nowhere, before the Enterprise becomes their next target…

Review: I remember the time when there was no new STAR TREK on television, when the only new TREK adventures given to the fans were the motion pictures themselves. By 1984 there were only two such cinematic spin-offs, STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE and the critically and commercially successful STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN. At this point the events of STAR TREK III had yet to unfold, and fans like me wondered how the saga would continue. A few years prior, Pocket Books had launched its short-lived Timescape imprint of STAR TREK and science fiction novels, and Marvel Comics had just completed an equally short-lived 18-issue series set after the events of TMP that failed to motivate the fans.

Enter DC Comics, home of Superman and Batman. Editor Marv Wolfman, who had written many classic comic tales for Marvel during the 1970's, had suggested to DC Comics officials the idea of launching a new STAR TREK comics series after the events of WRATH OF KHAN. Bringing writer Mike W. Barr aboard, with artists Tom Sutton and Ricardo Villagran at the artistic helm, DC sought to fill in the gaps between the events of the films with original tales that explored the TREK tapestry and take Kirk and company into new directions. What resulted was one of the most popular STAR TREK spin-off comics to be produced during the 1980's.

Over the course of the 1980's, 57 issues, two comics adaptations and three double-sized annuals were produced, all of which met with varying degrees of success, with one of the most successful comics tales being "The Mirror Universe Saga", an eight-chapter tale that reunited Kirk and crew with their Mirror Universe counterparts from the Original Series episode "Mirror Mirror" in an epic struggle to save the galaxy. Later tales saw the first and last missions of the Enterprise, Kirk and company taking command of the U.S.S. Excelsior for a time, a single-issue tale written by Walter Koenig (Chekov), a day in the life of Kirk and crew, the return of Harry Mudd, a Klingon named Bernie (whom Peter David would bring back in the NEXT GENERATION novel STRIKE ZONE), and, in 1986, a double-sized adventure bringing Kirk and crew with their counterparts from 20 years prior. In a clever move of foresight that would lead to the character of Worf in THE NEXT GENERATION, the Enterprise crew also boasted among its crewmembers its first Klingon crewman named Konom.

Now Titan Books has stepped up to the plate and reprinted the first six issues of DC's STAR TREK comic for the first time in a new collection entitled TO BOLDLY GO. While those original issues in my collection have long since become dog-eared yellow, seeing this new reprinted edition is like stepping back in time back to the days of my youth! This is not the first time that STAR TREK comics have appeared in graphic novel format; in the past we have seen collections of "The Mirror Universe Saga", "Beginnings", "The Star Lost", "The Modala Imperative", and others. But this is the first time the reprints have looked this good!

The first four issues in this volume, "The Wormhole Connection", "The Only Good Klingon", "Errand of War"?, and "Deadly Allies", picks up the pieces from WRATH OF KHAN and brings Kirk and crew once again into contact with old enemies Koloth and Kor, from the Original Series episodes "The Trouble with Tribbles" and "Errand of Mercy", respectively, as both Starfleet and Klingon forces must discover the secret behind a series of attacks on outposts from both governments. What leads the crew to possibly gear up for war may turn out to be false propaganda generated at the heads of their respective governments, leading Kirk and Kor into contact with old enemies of theirs.

Barr balances a solid tale with characterization that splendidly continues in the same vein as WRATH OF KHAN, while introducing a group of junior cast members created especially for this series: Lt. Konom, the Klingon defector who seeks asylum on the Enterprise; Ensign Nancy Bryce, the Starfleet officer who befriends Konom; Ensign William Bearclaw, a racist crewmember who despises Bryce because of the death of his father aboard her father's starship, who will encounter more racism in the months to come; and Lt. Elizabeth Sherwood, the ship's helmsman who harbors a secret crush on Bearclaw. These supporting players ably support the main cast and would later play important roles throughout the DC Comics run during the 1980's.

Next up is "Mortal Gods", which is basically a movie-era version of the Original Series episode "The Omega Glory", as Kirk must convince a former Starfleet captain of the errors of his ways. Finally, in "Who is Enigma?" Kirk is assigned to ferry Starfleet ambassador Robert Fox (from the episode "A Taste of Armageddon") to a series of peace talks between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, but Fox's life, and the lives of the Enterprise crew, are threatened with an attack from a mysterious alien with ties to Fox's past.

The artwork of Tom Sutton and Ricardo Villagran shines in the first few segments, particularly in the first issue, but as time progressed through the series it becomes evident that the quality from the Sutton/Villagran team seems to decline a little bit more with each successive issue. The weak spot in this collection is the sole replacement of Sal Amendola as inker for Villagran on the fifth issue, which is why the artwork seems to falter a little more than usual. At least throughout their collaboration together, Sutton and Villagran complement each other well.

I was genuinely surprised by the top quality and care Titan Books has taken in reproducing each of these vintage issues, though the only place the quality seemed to falter was in the reproduction of page 15 from "Mortal Gods"; the image here is a bit blurrier than the rest. And page 13 seems to have some unusual color differences. I don't know if this was the case in the original printing of issue 5 from DC Comics, and I don't currently have access to those original magazines, so I cannot confirm if the page had been miscolored in the initial printing from 1984 as well. Overall, it's beautifully done and faithful to the original source issues.

Also included in TO BOLDLY GO is a new foreword from Walter Koenig, in which he reflects on his days as Chekov and filming WRATH OF KHAN. The paperback also reprints interviews from the mid-1990's with William Shatner and DeForest Kelley from the British STAR TREK Monthly magazine, both of which appeared in print in the United States in the STAR TREK Communicator; a personal memoir from Mike Barr that appeared in the first issue from DC Comics; and full-color reprints of the covers from the first six issues, the first three of which were beautifully illustrated by George Perez.

This is Titan Books' first foray into reprinting the vintage STAR TREK comics from the 1980's into graphic novel format, and future volumes featuring the Original Series crew are promised next year, along with the first volume featuring the NEXT GENERATION cast coming later this year. For those of you who missed these tales the first time around, you'll want to pick them up. If you enjoyed these issues the first time around, you'll want to enjoy them all over again. I know I will!

TrekWeb's Rating Scale
	A Must Read
	Recommended
	Average
	Mediocre
	Don't Bother