1266. ThanatosPUBLICATION: Star Trek: Early Voyages #16, Marvel Comics, May 1998
CREATORS: Ian Edginton and Dan Abnett (writers), Javier Pulido and Steve Moncuse (artists)
STARDATE: 2390.5 (follows the last issue)
PLOT: The Temazi are a pre-industrial people who built their religion around the aliens who once visited their world and, it is rumored, left a cache of weapons there. Pike, Spock and Boyce have infiltrated the Temazi to find this cache before the equally disguised Klingons do the same. Pike hopes to get inducted into the temple's mysteries, and a young Klingon woman boards his as a temple official, hoping this inductee will lead her to the temple's sanctum. When the plan is about to be pulled off, her leader, Kaaj, recognizes Pike and attacks him. This alerts the temple guards...
CONTINUITY: Robert April is in command of the Enterprise (as per issue #12). Kaaj last appeared in issue #7.
DIVERGENCES: See previous issues (stardates).
PANEL OF THE DAY - Robert April, not the nice guy I was execting
REVIEW: Kaaj returns and Pike almost falls for the wrong girl in this tale drawn in a pleasant Parobek style by Pulido and Moncuse. It's a fun enough plot and looks good, can't ask for much more. The meat of the issue takes place on the Enterprise, however, with April showing unexpected colors. He gives a very strict assessment of the crew, finding them lacking, and the implication is that he doesn't trust women in high ranking positions. Is Pike unusual then, and the sexism as prevalent in the TOS era as Turnabout Intruder said it was? Or is this a way to make April old-fashioned? I can't very well go and say the writers are sexist because they've been having the female characters kick ass since issue #1. Engineer Grace finally gets a subplot (a grating Australian second engineer), but with the end of the series looming, I'm not sure it can really be resolved (nor will that Aussie's romantic triangle with Colt and José). It's really too bad.
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