853. Judgment Day!PUBLICATION: Star Trek #32, DC Comics, November 1986
CREATORS: Len Wein (writer), Tom Sutton and Ricardo Villagran (artists)
STARDATE: 8904.6 (follows the last issue)
PLOT: A Federation mining facility has just exploded on the Klingon-Fed shared Magellan's World, and though sabotage is proven, no one really thinks the Klingons are to blame. After all, their methods were winning over the locals; they had nothing to gain. Mace Magellan suspects Miss Ruthven, the Federation miner who found dilithium crystals and is already counting her credits. She's guilty as hell and follows up on her act of sabotage with Magellan's murder with a drunk Klingon patsy on hand. Unfortunately, "Maggie" is wearing a phaser-proof vest and she's caught in the act. Before being disarmed, she kills Ambassador Stanton who dies a hero. The locals do end up choosing the Klingons, but force a compromise on them that prevents strip mining and allows the Federation to buy dilithium at fair prices. Back on Excelsior, Uhura receives a garbled call from the USS Enterprise...
CONTINUITY: Same as the last issue. Mention of the tribbles incident confirms this Koloth is the same as in the series.
DIVERGENCES: Same as the last issue.
PANEL OF THE DAY - What might be called progress
REVIEW: The disappointing second half of Maggie's World, if only because things are resolved too easily or predictably. Mace Magellan is too interesting a character for what he's given here. The villain is given away very early (and such a classic switch, it fails to surprise). Stanton dies for no real reason, failing to give the crew enough grief. Morelli seems to break up with Sulu over career issues, but Stanton hardly has anything to do with it despite the last issue's hints. Even the deal at the end is a rush job if you even believe the Klingons would be this compliant. The previous issue had a plotting credit for Tony Isabella, with Len Wein on script, but this one is all Wein. Was there some kind of disconnect between the two parts of the story, and the pay-offs aren't everything they could have been?
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