Star Trek 810: All the Infinite Ways

810. All the Infinite Ways

PUBLICATION: Star Trek #13, Marvel Comics, April 1981

CREATORS: Martin Pasko (writer), Joe Brozowski, Tom Palmer, and D. Hands (artists)

STARDATE: 8264.5 (follows the last issue)

PLOT: The Federation and Klingons are competing for mining rights on the Vulcan-like planet Hephaestus (ho ho ho), when strange murders start to occur. Because the ape-like natives owe their intelligence to an implant, the Klingons are trying to sabotage their implant factory and remove the implants that were once a gift from an ancient alien race. That way, they can better annex the world. Meanwhile, McCoy's estranged daughter Joanna is also on the planet, and engaged to a Vulcan no less. The gulf between them widens, even after that Vulcan dies helping save her from the Klingon who had taken her hostage. In the end, our heroes manage to upload the alien data to the ship before the factory is destroyed, and so the information and the society is saved. But can McCoy start the healing process?

CONTINUITY: Klingons. Joanna McCoy is Bones' daughter from the Animated Series; no relation to Gold Key's Barbara. Spock espouses the IDIC philosophy.

DIVERGENCES: Spock tracks down Klingons telepathically by following their irrational impulses.

PANEL OF THE DAY - McCoy pulls a Hank Pym
REVIEW: You may not agree with the characterization of McCoy as a racist (especially since his relationship with Spock has always seemed colored by a hidden friendship), but points to Pasko for at least trying to give the characters a semblance of psychology. He's actually trying to make these comics about more than plot, which they've been for a while, and inject them with emotional depth. And hey, Kirk goes to a strip joint.