866. Paradise Lost!PUBLICATION: Star Trek #43, DC Comics, October 1987
CREATORS: Michael Carlin (writer), Tom Sutton and Ricardo Villagran (artists)
STARDATE: 8954.8 (follows the last issue)
PLOT: Returning to Gamma Trianguli VI, Kirk finds it much changed, and it's all his fault. Gone is Vaal's paradise. Instead, chief Makora rules his people using the legend of Starfleet gods. To strengthen his power, he aims to add Ensign Bryce to his harem and her Klingon boyfriend Konom runs away rather than fight for her. No matter, Makora'll fight McCoy and thus kill a god. Kirk, Spock and Chekov escape the torture chamber just as Konom returns with a small sect of Vaalites to save McCoy and Bryce. Contacting the Enterprise, Kirk has McCoy beamed up and the entire area hit with the ship's phasers set to stun. But when he tries to call the Enterprise again, it mysteriously fails to answer...
CONTINUITY: Gamma Trianguli VI is from The Apple. The first Vaalian they meet is Makora, who was one of the kids in love 20 years ago. He's effectively replaced Akuta as leader, while Akuta leads the smaller sect.
DIVERGENCES: Deep Space Nine would use the same title, though without the extreme punctuation.
PANEL OF THE DAY - Kirk's real contribution
REVIEW: Carlin explores one of Kirk's most famous breaches of the Prime Directive in this fun follow-up to The Apple. How could he have known teaching sex to the Children of Vaal would turn one of them into a polygamous warlord/sex fiend? Carlin doesn't fail to also use the original characters to some effect. Bearlcaw is still on the outs with Scotty up on the ship, and Konom must confront his terminal pacifism/cowardice down below. While he's pretty lame, he does get to do a little swashbuckling here. Clearly, the writer's having fun... Torture scenes aren't usually this humorous:
To be continued, and there is the question of an unexplained illusory dinosaur in the opening pages.
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