By GustavoLeao / 15:56, 26 September 2008 / Trek Books

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STAR TREK: THE COMPLETE COMIC BOOK COLLECTION (1967-2002 / 2008)

Reviewed for TrekWeb.com by Bill Williams

1 DVD-ROM, MSRP $49.99

Date of release: September 2008

Over the four-plus decades one of the most continuous sources of original STAR TREK material has been the comic book realm. With its penchant for science fiction adventure and exploration of strange new worlds and civilizations, STAR TREK and the comics page seemed, and still seems, like an interesting marriage of the two, because what you have is the ability to tell grander-scale stories with more expansive visuals than what could have been achieved in the 1960´s on a limited budget.

Since the 1960´s there have been numerous publishers contracted to create original voyages of the starship Enterprise for the four-color page. The first publisher was Gold Key/Western, which began its run in August 1967 and continued its run all the way until the 1970´s, ending with its sixty-first issue. (A sixty-second issue had been planned and plotted, but it never saw the light of day.) Those first tales had many inaccuracies to them, among them numerous illustrations of rocket fire coming from the Enterprise´s engines (years before we saw Mr. Spock ordering that rockets be used to blast the Enterprise out of orbit in "The Cage"), many wrongly detailed interior sets of the Enterprise bridge, wrongly colored uniforms, and details and back stories about the Enterprise´s crew that would ultimately conflict with later established elements. We have to remember that in the time these first comics tales were written, not many TREK tales existed out there. All everyone had to rely on were the original 79 episodes, and, in the case of the first several issues of the books, just a few scant set photographs.

Then came STAR TREK: THE MOTION PICTURE in 1979 and with it came a return of STAR TREK to the comics medium. Marvel Comics first acquired the license in 1979-80 and published a magazine-sized adaptation of the first film (which was later reprinted as the first three issues of the monthly comic book with additional artwork to start each issue). While fans were pleased about the franchise´s return to the comic book medium, many long-time fans wanted to see sequels to the original episodes, but the writers and artists were hampered by the fact that they were restricted mainly to the claustrophobic look and feel of the first film, resulting in a poor direction for the comic book that didn´t further explore the rich franchise established in the original series. Equally disturbing was a poor art direction from varying artists that didn´t maintain any flow to it, though artists Joe Brozowski and Tom Palmer seemed to give the book any clean and consistent look to it. Poor sales soon turned the monthly book into a bimonthly book, which would be cancelled without fanfare after its eighteenth issue. Almost as quickly as it began, the STAR TREK title ended, leaving fans again without any new tales beyond the novels.

In 1983 DC Comics acquired the rights to the STAR TREK license, and, in a stunning turn of events from the Marvel Comics version, they had full access to the entire TREK universe. Set after the events of THE WRATH OF KHAN, DC´s new TREK title not only brought back familiar elements from the series but also introduced new supporting characters such as Nancy Bryce, William Bearclaw, and a Klingon pacifist officer named Konom who defects and seeks asylum aboard the Enterprise. (Konom´s character and presence aboard the Enterprise would serve as an inspiration for Worf in THE NEXT GENERATION.) Bridging the events until THE SEARCH FOR SPOCK, readers would also be treated to Saavik´s origin, which would be explored in later novels, as well as adaptations of STAR TREK III and, eventually, STAR TREK IV. The new title would also present one of the series´ most popular tales ever, "The Mirror Universe Saga", an eight-part epic spun off from "Mirror, Mirror", along with storylines that saw Spock take command of his own science vessel; a double-sized tale for the series´ 20^th anniversary in which the crew meets up with their younger selves; the return of Harcourt Fenton Mudd; the marriage of Nancy Bryce and Konom; the attempted assassination of Captain Kirk; the Enterprise crew´s first and last adventures of the five-year mission; and the history of Scotty´s marriage, among others. Over the course of 57 issues, three annuals, and two film adaptations, DC took STAR TREK in a new and fresh direction that harkened back to the days of the original series. In 1987 DC published a six-issue miniseries spotlighting the then-new series STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION, featuring new tales set during the series´ freshman season.

Then, in 1988, the DC run came to an abrupt end, as DC and Paramount had to renegotiate its licensing agreement, which would not come to fruition until the summer of 1989. With both the original series and THE NEXT GENERATION renewed, DC continued the STAR TREK franchise with more all-new tales, starting with an adaptation of STAR TREK V: THE FINAL FRONTIER. This time around, popular Pocket Books novelists Peter David scripted the new tales with the original crew, while Michael Jan Friedman penned the TNG tales. With both monthly titles running concurrently, fans were treated to even more fantastic adventures spotlighting the trial of James T. Kirk against the Klingon Empire and a mysterious alien race called the Nasgul; another return visit from Harry Mudd; Kirk´s love-hate relationship with a political officer assigned to the Enterprise; the return of Gary Seven; and a fantastic look at Kirk´s freshman year at Starfleet Academy. The TNG book featured, among others, a five-part tale in which Wesley Crusher and a shuttle crew are lost and declared dead; a test from Q in which the entire Enterprise-D crew is turned into Klingons; a double-sized tale of Q tempting Jean-Luc Picard, written by John deLancie; and a four-part tale featuring Worf and his adopted brother Nikolai Rozhenko. During both series´ runs DC produced an eight-part miniseries called "The Modala Imperative", the first crossover tale in which events during the Kirk era affected events during Picard´s mission, bringing Spock and McCoy together again for the first time in TNG history. DC furthered its comics adaptations with illustrated versions of STAR TREK VI, GENERATIONS, and the final TNG episode "All Good Things". But after 80 issues each, DC ended its run in 1996.

While STAR TREK enjoyed a healthy run at DC Comics, the fledgling publisher Malibu Comics began to branch out with an illustrated take at the third TREK series DEEP SPACE NINE. Through 32 issues, several annuals, two miniseries, and a number of special #0 issues, Malibu saw to it that the TREK franchise was furthered. But the most monumental crossover occurred in 1994, when DC and Malibu collaborated on a four-issue miniseries featuring the crews of TNG and DS9 together in a spectacular tale, something that neither of the series attempted during 1993 and 1994. With each company producing two issues apiece, the first-ever TNG/DS9 crossover proved to be a popular hit among fans.

In the late 1990´s Marvel reacquired the TREK license and began producing several new incarnations of the different STAR TREK titles, including an illustrated version of the then-new fourth series VOYAGER, adaptations of the FIRST CONTACT feature film, all-new tales involving DS9, and two original titles - STARFLEET ACADEMY, which featured DS9 cadet Nog and his classmates on Earth, and EARLY VOYAGES, spotlighting the adventures of Captain Christopher Pike ("The Cage") aboard the Enterprise. There was even a short-lived book, STAR TREK UNLIMITED, featuring tales with both the original and TNG crews. During this run Marvel/Paramount produced the first-ever STAR TREK comic written in the Klingon language, two crossover tales between the Enterprise crews and the X-Men, and a six-part miniseries entitled "The Telepathy War" spanning nearly all of the different comics series. Despite a very sincere attempt to continue in the spirit of the series, this latest run was short-lived and ended after only two years. The worst casualty of the cancellation was EARLY VOYAGES, which was forced to end its run in mid-story.

DC reacquired the STAR TREK license another year later, this time under its Wildstorm imprint, producing several miniseries tales including another TNG/DS9 crossover tale, "Divided We Fall"; a separate DS9 miniseries "N-Vector", the first-ever NEW FRONTIER graphic novel; and two TNG hardcover graphic novels, THE GORN CRISIS and FORGIVENESS. Wildstorm even produced its first comic book adaptation of a TREK video game, ELITE FORCE. Unfortunately, the latest DC/Wildstorm attempt, while sincere in effort, didn´t prove to be equally lasting, ending after only three years in 2002. The Wildstorm books were the last STAR TREK comics that would be produced until 2007, and no new TREK comics were produced during the four-year run of ENTERPRISE on television.

Now Graphic Imaging Technology has collected all of the different comics from the various publishers and imprints into one DVD-ROM compilation entitled STAR TREK: THE COMPLETE COMIC BOOK COLLECTION. This brand-new DVD-ROM collects over 500 separate issues and books together for the first time ever, including the extremely hard-to-find Gold Key/Western issues from the 1960´s, many of which I had never seen or read before. The disc can be played on any computer that includes Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0 or above, Windows XP or 2000 or 2003 or NT. The files are easily accessible on your computer screen and can be accessed from the different publishers. Each respective series is broken down according to series, miniseries, one-shots, annuals, specials, or magazine collections, depending on the publisher. All of the pages of the comics are downloadable and printable, so you can print out your favorite titles and issues.

In addition to the over 500 TREK comics, the DV-ROM includes the six hard-to-find Peter Pan comic books produced in the 1970´s with the comic/record sets, which is a find indeed. The disc also contains biographies of the various TREK casts, a brief history of the TREK franchise, a credits page, an e-mail link to Graphic Imaging, and web links to Graphic Imaging and StarTrek.com. The only downside to the collection is that neither of the Marvel/Paramount STAR TREK/X-Men crossover books is included on the disc, more than likely due to licensing reasons between the different companies. Also, none of the recent and current books published by IDW and Tokyopop, respectively, have been included on the disc, since both companies currently hold publishing licenses to the TREK franchise.

Graphic Imaging Technology´s DVD-ROM collection of STAR TREK: THE COMPLETE COMIC BOOK COLLECTION is nothing short of a stellar accomplishment in and of itself. With over 500 books compiled for easy access, and at only $50, that breaks it down to less than ten cents per individual issue, which is a steal of a deal. The DVD-ROM can be ordered directly through Graphic Imaging´s website or through other retailers. Having lost nearly all of these comics two years before, getting this DVD-ROM has been a sweet deal to gain back all of these books and then some! If you´ve missed out on a number of these books, if you have all of the books, or even if you´ve never picked up any of the comics, it´s more than worth getting this disc.

Rating: 5/5 stars

Bill Williams is TrekWeb Media Reviewer.