Star Trek 845: Double Blind, Part II

845. Double Blind, Part II

PUBLICATION: Star Trek #25, DC Comics, April 1986

CREATORS: Diane Duane (writer), Tom Sutton and Ricardo Villagran (artists)

STARDATE: 8890.1 (follows the last issue)

PLOT: With the arrival of the war-like Grond, the Ajir Kirk had surrendered to show their true colors and scuttle away to hide. Turns out the Grond are just like Ajir, purely posers without either the appetite nor the talent for fighting. In fact, they look like large house cats.
Kirk goes through the motions, surrendering once again and befriending the species. When they find the Ajir on the rec deck, they panic. Each species has convinced the other they were a powerful empire and thus chased away not only potential threats, but trading partners as well. Kirk hatches a deal - in exchange for Federation trading posts on each of their worlds, Starfleet will offer protection and the chance at a more prosperous economy.

CONTINUITY: See Part One in the previous issue. Recreation officer Harb Tanzer from Duane's novels also appears.

DIVERGENCES: Jim Starlin draws Saavik as Robin Curtis on the cover, though she's Kyrstie Alley inside the comic. Tanzer has brown hair instead of the white described in the novels. And yes, Part One/Part II is an odd incongruity.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Uhura is HIGH-larious!
REVIEW: Ok, the cats is where is veers into silliness, but otherwise, this is still a very effective comic piece, one in which Kirk comes up aces by thinking outside the box. Duane obviously had a lot of fun with the format and has Sutton produce some memorable visuals and cute, humorous scenes. A nice change of pace.