Star Trek 895: The Return!

895. The Return!

PUBLICATION: Star Trek v.2 #1, DC Comics, October 1989

CREATORS: Peter David (writer), James W. Fry and Arne Starr (artists)

STARDATE: Unknown (after ST V)

PLOT: The Enterprise-A's refit is completed and its first mission is to answer a distress call from a Nasgul ship under attack by one of its own. The sole pilot, Argus, has been declared an enemy of the Church and after being offered political asylum, the "Salla" (a sort of pharaoh) pronounces him dead... and he dies! Kirk is next. Back on Earth, the Klingon ambassador declares the Empire has put a price on Kirk's head...

CONTINUITY: Recurring characters introduced include the demon-like hottie M'yra and transporter chief Sara Tuchinsky. The Klingon ambassador and the Federation president are right out of ST V.

DIVERGENCES: None.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Brainiac 5 in Starfleet
REVIEW: Right away, this series feels different from those that have gone before. A lot of that is due to the artwork. James Fry gives it a dynamic comic book look, kind of like a poor man's Mark Bagley. His faces aren't always strong, but everyone is recognizable and his aliens and ships are distinctive. Larger panels and fewer caption boxes make the storytelling more modern than previous attempts. Star Trek Volume 2 also uses a more vibrant coloring process, which is often messy, but generally helps. David introduces a few new characters very quickly, including a new love interest for Sulu, but in scenes with the regulars. Hopefully, it will keep them out of the "small people" ghetto Bryce, Konom and Bearclaw sometimes were trapped in. They've got interesting looks, which is enough to pique interest in a first appearance. The plot is almost secondary, so we'll see next issue. Nice comic touches throughout as well. David doesn't overdo it.

Comments

De said…
Ah, the beginning of the Richard Arnold era of the licensed fiction. Supposedly, preliminary art showed M'ress instead of M'yra but was shot down by Arnold.

Incidentally, Myra was the name of Peter David's wife at the time (he's since remarried),
Sara Kocher said…
Peter David likes (liked?) to use the names of real people in his life. M'yra wasn't the only one in this issue...Sara Tuchinsky was an assistant editor at Marvel at the time. And quite a number of other characters he's created in comics and books bear the names of real people.
Sara Kocher said…
Also, the reason I know this is that I'm the former Sara Tuchinsky...kinda felt disingenuous posting without mentioning that.
Siskoid said…
Which makes you royalty of a kind around here!

Thanks for stopping by Sara! How did you enjoy being transporter chief on the Enterprise?
Sara Kocher said…
Not royalty...I didn't work on the comic. But it was fun to see my name and likeness (more or less, James Fry made me look pretty good) in a few issues. I think it's my 15 minutes of fame.
Siskoid said…
The SBG is a lot more than Star TRek, so any comics work is recognized ;)

There wasn't much to Sara the character, but she was likable, and still appeared a few times after the great purge of Peter David characters.