Star Trek 1239: The Boy, The Warrior, and The Veteran

1239. The Boy, The Warrior, and The Veteran

PUBLICATION: Star Trek Unlimited #8, Marvel Comics, March 1998

CREATORS: Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton (writers); Steve Pugh / Ron Randall and Randy Elliot / Tom Morgan and Scott Hanna (artists)

STARDATE: Various (before Sons and Daughters / between The Begotten and For the Uniform / after the TOS part of Generations)

PLOT: In The Boy, Alexander makes friends with Futterman, a nerd from school who consistently pokes fun at him to make himself look cool. Alexander teaches him the Klingon ways and the next time he is bullied, he breaks a few bones. In The Warrior, Worf fights for the life of the late B'Etor's baby against a clan intent on capturing it and making the Duras' holdings their own. He defeats them and gives the child back to the Duras' servants, hoping it will help end the feud between his family and theirs. In The Veteran, Kang and Sulu join forces to follow rumors of Kirk's posthumous presence on the planet where the captain was once pitted against the Gorn. All they find are holograms of Kirk and an automated weapons system set up by the Gorn to give a warrior's death to S'alath, suffering of a wasting disease. The old Gorn captain is killed in a skirmish with Kang and Sulu.

CONTINUITY: All either occur on the Klingon Day of Honor or make use of its "befriend an enemy" concept (Day of Honor). The Boy features Alexander. Futterman is allergic to retinox (a derivative of retinax? The Wrath of Khan). Amusingly, Alexander and Futterman make the Klingon death yell (Heart of Glory). B'Etor's baby had yet to be born in Firstborn. Kang last crossed paths with Sulu in Flashback. Kang cannot believe the reports of Kirk's death in Generations. Kirk fought the Gorn S'alath in Arena. Morgan draws the familiar rock formation seen in that episode (and many others).

DIVERGENCES: Retinox may be misspelled retinax. Bat'leth is definitely misspelled batleth. Again, the Day of Honor's traditions do not really match the ones from the Voyager episode.

PANEL OF THE DAY - No, Alexander. The line is "He TASKS me."
REVIEW: There's a nice theme unifying these three short stories, and I have to admit that the idea of joining forces with an enemy on the Day of Honor is a lot more compelling than Voyager's more reflective activities. The Alexander story is a piece of fluff, but as opening acts go, it's fun. Where else am I going to see Steve Pugh draw Star Trek? The second story is one big excuse to see Worf tear it up against a whole squad of Klingons, which is as worthy a subject as any. Very dynamic and a nice coda to the larger Duras storyline. The Sulu/Kang story ends a lot of exposition, but it was good to see both these characters working together at the end of their respective (TOS) careers. Gorn are always cool and Morgan and Hanna draw a good one.