1383. Nero, Number OnePUBLICATION: Star Trek: Nero #1, IDW Comics, August 2009
CREATORS: Tim Jones and Mike Johnson (writers), David Messina (artist)
STARDATE: Unknown (during Star Trek, just after the destruction of the USS Kelvin)
PLOT: After Nero and the Nerada have destroyed the USS Kelvin, some of the crew ask to return to (past) Romulus. Nero lets them go, but destroys their shuttle. As they wait for Spock to come through the singularity, their ship is attacked by a Klingon fleet commanded by Kor. Nero and his men are captured and their ship, damaged and now self-repairing, impounded. Though Nero stands up to torture, he gets a visit from a Klingon called Koth who welcomes him to the penal asteroid of Rura Penthe...
CONTINUITY: Nero, Ayel and the Nerada waited 25 years for the arrival of Ambassador Spock (Star Trek); this series attempts to fill in that gap. The events of this issue are inspired by a deleted scene. Captain Robau's body (Star Trek) is disposed of at the beginning of the issue. Nero think about the Apnex Sea (The Defector). Kor appears here 34 years before Errand of Mercy (see Divergences). His ship, the Klothos, was first seen in the TAS episode The Time Trap, and mentioned in Once More Unto the Breach. Koth is the Klingon Commandant of Rura Penthe, both seen in The Undiscovered Country (the name Koth may originate from the Star Trek Collectible Card Game).
DIVERGENCES: Kor's appearance is highly suspect. First, he's 34 years younger than in Errand of Mercy and already captain of the same ship. Second, he and his crew are pictured with forehead ridges, which he did not have until Deep Space Nine's Blood Oath.
PANEL OF THE DAY - The upstairs neighbors are a bit noisy.
REVIEW: The creative team responsible for the rather interesting Countdown are back for another chapter in Nero's life. On tap - what did Nero do for those 25 years while Kirk was growing up with a daddy? Right away, there's some action, Nero's ruthlessness and Klingon involvement, and it's all good. Not perfect, as the use of a bumpy-headed Kor seems both unnecessary and off-canon, and one too many splash pages thins out of the story, but still a solid and well-illustrated beginning. Lovely to see Rura Penthe again.
Comments
In a universe where everyone was at the Academy together, the Menagerie never happened, and everyone apparently knew what Romulans looked like decades before Balance Of Terror, who can say that the Klingons didn't get their ridges back earlier? And if Kirk can command the Enterprise when he's 2 days out of the Academy, who can say Kor couldn't get his command earlier, too?
Oh, JJ Abrams, what have you wrought??
That said, I agree wholeheartedly that Kor's appearance here is problematic.