Star Trek 1277: All of Me

1277. All of Me

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: All of Me, Wildstorm Comics, April 2000

CREATORS: Tony Isabella and Bob Ingersoll (writers), Aaron Lopresti and Randy Emberlin (artists)

STARDATE: 6618.4 (before The Trouble with Tribbles)

PLOT: With a brig full of Orion pirates, the Enterprise is deviated from its course by Starfleet to answer an urgent summons from brilliant scientist - and former classmate of Spock's - Armand St. John. When they get to his laboratory on Pollux II, they find that 1) he's gone insane and 2) he's populated the planet with versions of himself from alternate universes. He plans to take over the Federation with one of himself to govern each planet and he quickly captures the landing party and commandeers the Enterprise with the Orions' help. Scotty locks out the computers, giving Kirk and Spock below more time. Spock gets on St. John's good side and tricks him into revealing his machines don't really work. How could they? Finding St. Johns of different species and genders that are all pliable to his will hardly makes sense. Spock surmises some unknown force is creating the duplicates, and in knocking St. John out, they disappear. As they ferry him to a mental health facility, they are visited by the Djinn, a god-like being that hates humanity and wants to prevent it from realizing its full potential. He belives he's won, having taken the mind of a once brilliant man, and prevented the Enterprise from making a discovery at a now destroyed colony that would have set humanity on the path to godhood.

CONTINUITY: The Orions of both sexes appear. Armand St. John was inspired by Kirk's trip to the Mirror Universe, and some version of Mirror Spock appears (Mirror, Mirror). St. John is sent to the Elba II asylum (Whom Gods Destroy). Scotty is shown to be the source of the computer lock-out strategy (TNG and beyond).

DIVERGENCES: It seems unlikely that this would take place on Pollux II, a stone's throw from Pollux IV (Who Mourns for Adonais?).

PANEL OF THE DAY - That night, at Tribal Council...
REVIEW: In the early 2000s, the Star Trek comic book license passed to DC's Wildstorm imprint, which used it to publish graphic novels and mini-series, but no continuing series. The same model would later be adopted by IDW, so Marvel were the last to invest in monthly and bimonthly series for the franchise. All of Me is the first TOS graphic novel and though retro in many ways (a god-like being, a "fantasy world"), it has a slick modern look with many fun set pieces. It basically starts with Kirk kicking an Orion upside the head. Yay! Lopresti's art is quite pleasant (that's a fetching Orion slave girl!), and Isabella and Ingersol are "name" writers that are never less than competent. Sure, not every cast member gets a proper moment, but they're all here, and good for some gentle comedy. It's all about Kirk and Spock, with a side-order of Scotty. I was a little disturbed that St. John would have a female duplicate of himself, but as the truth of the situation was slowly revealed, it became more palatable, and "Jane T. Kirk" is a really funny idea. Best not to dwell on how the tv show would have done this... As for the Djinn, he seems to promise to return, but I don't think ever did. Not a problem. The Star Trek universe is already jam-packed with "gods", often with cultural links to Earth. We didn't really need another one. His motives and complex agenda were interesting for a one-off, but I'm in no hurry for another tale of this type to come from Wildstorm.