1446. Keenser's Story
PUBLICATION: Star Trek #14, IDW Comics, October 2012
CREATORS: Mike Johnson (writer), Stephen Molnar (artist)
STARDATE: Unknown (before, during, and after Star Trek)
PLOT: The story of how Keenser was inducted into Starfleet, came to be on Delta Vega, and his first meeting with Scotty. In the present, he feels like he doesn't fit on the Enterprise, but then finds his size has its advantages.
CONTINUITY: Keenser's people (the Roylans) are even shorter than he is. First Contact was made by the USS Kelvin, when George Kirk was a Lt. Commander. Keenser returned to Earth on that ship and was consequently saddened by its destruction months before he graduated from the Academy. He was posted on Delta Vega long before Scotty was assigned there following the Beagle incident. The monster seen in the movie doesn't scare him. (All concepts from Star Trek.)
DIVERGENCES: None.
PANEL OF THE DAY - Goldilocks Syndrome.
REVIEW: Shown to be much more than Scotty's diminutive sidekick, Keenser is here given some backstory, and efficiently done too. We get inside his head, find a connection to the new Star Trek history (and to the old - if the change in history was the Kelvin's destruction, then Keenser was a Starfleet engineer in the old continuity too), and see him save the ship in a low-key, quiet way that matches his character. e experience some of his saddest and most pathetic moments (and a showcase for his talents too), which "humanizes" him, but he's still allowed to remain a comedy character, though more odd (like Phlox) than witty or bumbling like this version of Scotty is so often portrayed. He was odd on his own world too, so his fitting in is apparently a theme in his life, and though he wouldn't admit it except very grudgingly, his friendship with Scotty counts for something. Keenser is at once the bottom guy on the totem pole AND a man of few words, so his story deserves to be told. It's also nice that a supporting character from the movie gets to have it filled in. The movies would never have time for this, but it still reads like the comics are adding to the canon instead of skirting around it so as not to contradict anything that will show up on the big screen. (A note on the title: IDW seems to have abandoned the practice of giving their Star Trek stories any titles, so I've decided to give them some. Anything's better than Star Trek 14, etc. Hope you approve.)
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