988. PrisonersPUBLICATION: Star Trek v.2 #76, DC Comics, October 1995
CREATORS: Kevin J. Ryan (writer), Rachel Ketchum and Mark Heike (artists)
STARDATE: Unknown (before Where No Man Has Gone Before)
PLOT: The Enterprise comes across the planet Tendar where, despite being at a 20th century level of technology, have developped advanced communications tech that has allowed them to listen in on subspace com traffic. Now they want to join the galactic community. Kirk, Spock and Gary MItchell beam down on the Prime Minister's invitation and are immediately arrested for crimes unknown. Tendaran justice is swift and remorseless, with no trial, only punishment. The trio manages to escape prison and Kirk has Scotty beam up the prison warden and the Prime Minister on charges of kidnapping, hoping to give them a taste of proper Federation justice before releasing them and putting the planet under quarantine. Violation of the Prime Directive? Probably.
CONTINUITY: As per the first few episodes, there are no red shirts. Gary Mitchell is in the crew (Where No Man Has Gone Before).
DIVERGENCES: None.
PANEL OF THE DAY - Imagine three years of TOS with Gary Mitchell aboard.
REVIEW: A fun one-off totally in the spirit of the original series, with wise-cracking heroes, 1984-ish societies and Prime Directives be damned. The three captured characters get a chance for heroics and humor, which is often the best we can hope for. We never do find out what law Kirk broke, which would have been nice. As for the art, Ketchum really isn't at her best in stark cities and ships, though you get used to her wonky body positions.
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