906. The First Thing We Do...PUBLICATION: Star Trek v.2 #10, DC Comics, July 1990
CREATORS: Peter David (writer), James W. Fry and Arne Starr (artists)
STARDATE: 8495.6 (follows the last issue)
PLOT: Kirk delivers himself into the hands of the Federation's justice system through which both the Klingons and the Nasgul are trying to get his head. His lawyers, Sam Cogsley and Areel Shaw. As the trial gears up, we visit with the other characters. Blaise confides in Uhura that she has infuriating feelings for Kirk. Sulu tells Li and M'yra to settle things before he has them transfered. Etc.
CONTINUITY: Multiple references to the films - the characters from Final Frontier, Kirk holding a grudge for the death of his son in Search for Spock, and the glasses paradox from Voyage Home. Sarek appears. Samuel T. Cogsley defended Kirk once before in Court Martial. He's now married to Areel Shaw from the same episode. Scotty visits Peter Preston's grave (ST II). Blaise can't believe Uhura's stories, but we know they're true (The Man Trap, Plato's Stepchildren).
DIVERGENCES: None.
PANEL OF THE DAY - Still got it!
REVIEW: Peter David has a lot of subplots going, and he uses this issue as yet another R&R subplot session, despite it being Part 1 of a 3-part story. And yet, it mostly works. There's some pathos, especially in the family scenes, and the humor works everywhere else. Especially fun is the Blaise-Uhura stuff, especially since Blaise can't tell when the crew of the Enterprise is joking about their craziest adventures (i.e. all of them). Some scenes feel more like filler (the bit about Kirk's glasses) and Spock's conversation with Sarek is bizarre (Sarek never had a friend, really?!). To keep all these conversations dynamic, James Fry plays a lot with layouts, which works, but sometimes calls attention to itself. Any time the girls get to talking, it starts to look like Dave Sim's Glamourpuss. All fashion layouts and cheesecake.
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