838. Chekov's ChoicePUBLICATION: Star Trek #19, DC Comics, October 1985
CREATORS: Walter Koenig (writer), Dan Spiegle (artist)
STARDATE: 6714.3 (between The Motion Picture and ST II)
PLOT: When Kirk chooses to take the Enterprise away from an exploding ship rather than risk the ship to save lives, Chekov is outraged to the point of insubordination. His emotional healing is helped along by the supple Yeoman Hamilton, and he's soon inciting mutiny and circulating a petition to countermand ethically sensitive orders. Soon, the crew has taken over the auxiliary control room and the ship is flying out of control towards a huge asteroid. Spock confronts Chekov, who is apparently talking to an imaginary girlfriend, and snaps him out of it. They take back the auxiliary control room and are contacted by illusion-casting aliens who fear attack from other species. Kirk teaches them about opening up to others, after which they meet the Klingons, no doubt.
CONTINUITY: The auxiliary control room hasn't been seen since The Way to Eden.
DIVERGENCES: Spock says there haven't been any Vulcan warships for 20,000 years, which is a deluded view of the NX-01 years.
PANEL OF THE DAY - Chekov shouldn't have eaten so much onion dip before going to bed
REVIEW: Walter Koenig's idea of Chekov is a lot more emo than you'd expect from his television and movie appearances, but then, there wasn't much depth to him. So this is Koenig's own insight into the character he's played for almost 20 years (at this point). Chekov is pretty much my least favorite character from the original series, even under Yeoman Rand and Dr. M'Benga. This issue doesn't make me like him much more and I'll tell you why. Koenig's mistake is that this ISN'T actually Chekov. His mind is affected, and so he's not himself. It taints any character development he might undergo. (I can't buy that he ISN'T under the influence because Chekov would never call Kirk a tyrant like that, not after all those years.) On the plus side, Koenig's writing is a lot more cinematic, replacing the heavy narration we've been getting from comic book writers with silent, emotional panels. I'm liking it. Dan Spiegle has a couple of good likenesses and can adequately emote through his art. His Enterprise is strictly the pits, however. A mixed bag, but not unlike a lot of TOS morality plays.
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