Star Trek 1380: Schism, Issue 1

1380. Schism, Issue 1

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: Romulans - Schism #1, IDW Comics, September 2009

CREATORS: John Byrne (writer), John Byrne (artist)

STARDATE: Unknown (after Romulans: The Hollow Crown and The Enterprise Incident)

PLOT: The Klingon emperor finds that the Empire's machinations to pit the Romulans against the Federation aren't showing results, mostly due to the new Praetor's headstrong wife. Kor and Koloth are still on the case, though the latter is plotting to depose the Emperor on behalf of his treacherous lover, the emperor's daughter. The emperor is wise to this and lets Koloth dig his own grave by going out to help Kor who has gotten himself into a firefight with a cloakable USS Yorktown. Though both ships suffer damage, Kor decides to ram his cruiser into the Yorktown's bridge...

CONTINUITY: Kor (Errand of Mercy) and Koloth (The Trouble with Tribbles) last appeared in the previous Romulans mini-series, The Hollow Crown. Korax (The Trouble with Tribbles) also appears. A Federation starship has the cloaking device stolen by Kirk (The Enterprise Incident). The USS Yorktown (NCC-1717) is commanded by a Commodore who is quite clearly supposed to be Number One (who served as first officer aboard that ship prior to Pike's accident, according to the novel Vulcan's Glory).

DIVERGENCES: The Yorktown's engineer is dressed in command gold rather than services red.

PANEL OF THE DAY - The ladies never called Koloth "the ice man".
REVIEW: John Byrne returns to his epic Romulan story with even more in the way of political convolutions. Young Gaius is now Praetor, and he's got a wife keeping him steady. She still supports his vendetta against the Enterprise (responsible for his father's death), but there's no hint of anything sinister here. If anything, she's keeping the Klingons at bay. For its part, the Klingon Empire is the one that may be undergoing a schism as the emperor's ugly-ass daughter is introduced as a key player. Everybody's got a counter-move, it seems, making this engaging reading. All the action comes from Kor's battle with Number One's ship, and it's nice to see her having finally accepted the captain's chair (as a commodore, which I suppose loopholes Janice Lester's claims about female captains). Both ships show strategy and guts, but that is one WTF! moment at the end. Byrne really starts this chapter off with a bang.