751. The Ashes of EdenPUBLICATION: Kirk Series Book 1, Pocket Books, June 1995 (DC Comics adaptation 1995)CREATORS: William Shatner with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens (comics adaptation by the writers and artists Steve Erwin and Jimmy Palmiotti)STARDATE: Filling in the details between The Undiscovered Country and GenerationsPLOT: After the events of ST VI, meets a Klingon-Romulan girl who seduces him and brings him to her planet, a sovereign colony (Chal or Heaven) in the throes of a civil war over the planet's apparent fountain of youth. He's to become their security expert and her lover. As an act of good will, the Federation government has given Chal a gutted Enterprise-A, which Kirk is all too happy to command (with Scotty at his side). What he doesn't know is that the fall of the conspirators in ST VI has created a power vacuum exploited by an old colleague of Kirk's by the name of Drake. He's the new head of Starfleet, but just as much a conspirator as Cartwright was. He manipulates the rest of the TOS crew (Chekov and Uhura are now in Starfleet Intelligence) in an attempt to frame Kirk as a conspirator, turn the tables on Klingons, and get the secret of eternal youth. The Excelsior tracks down the Enterprise where revelations abound: There is no secret to eternal youth, the Children of Heaven are genetically engineered, the girl was using Kirk but really did fall in love with him, Chal was stockpiling weapons, and of course, Drake's plans are blown. It ends with a space battle in which both Drake and the Enterprise-A are destroyed, Excelsior thankfully beaming in its crew at the last minute. Kirk feels rejuvenated by the experience, but leaves his latest love behind, ostensibly to get himself a cabin in the mountains.CONTINUITY: Kirk holographically revisits the events of Captain Garrovick's death mentioned in Obsession (the technology is not necessarily any more advanced that the holodeck in the Animated Series). Kirk is in an on-again, off-again relationship with Carol Marcus. He shaves off and misses his "Starfleet sideburns".DIVERGENCES: Drake's special shuttle hits Warp 10 (it must be on the old warp scale, but we never see this technology again).SCREENSHOT OF THE WEEK
REVIEW: You know, I really like William Shatner's Kirk novels. They're very entertaining. He likes big ideas and action set pieces, but doesn't skimp on character development for his star, a character he knows intimately. His "ghost writers", the Reeves-Stevens, are masters of Star Trek continuity and their books are also usually some of my favorites. It's a winning combination even if Ashes of Eden is perhaps the least entertaining of their collaborations. The problem lies in the multitude of reveals at the end where everything seems to be a twist. I just didn't care that much about Chal and what was really going on there, expect as a way to explore Kirk's ongoing midlife crisis. And while getting the old crew together for one last adventure(TM) is a lot of fun, the Enterprise doesn't go out in big enough a blaze of glory. It's still a good character piece, however, setting up Kirk's return in Generations and beyond, with action, humor and some rousing lines ("Starfleet captains have to be invincible. It's their job."). Shatner's quirky ego becomes a strength when he writes for Kirk, a little bit as if we were being told a story from Kirk's perspective with all the exaggerations you would expect. Kirk always gets the girl, finds a way to get Sulu out of the captain's chair and into the driver's seat, etc. Enjoy the "quiet", Kirk's adventures get crazier after this.
In our last issue, a Dire Wraith witch unleashed a giant seaweed monster upon the undersea world of Atlantis, an Atlantis infiltrated by Dire Wraiths. At the same time, Namor the Sub-Mariner sent the sensitive 13-year-old companion to Rom, Sybil, to Atlantis inside a bubble blown by a giant goldfish for protection. I'm sure it made sense at the time.Now she's spotting Wraiths left and right and they want to kill her, but before they can, the giant monster attacks!
The best thing about this full-page spread is that Atlanteans apparently ride dolphins like they were horses. I love that. Poor little deep sea dolphin. Don't they have to go back up to breathe pretty often? Now, if I'm an Atlantean looking for a more fuel-effective mount, do I have other options?
Yes, much nicer. I like the painted finish on that whale shark. What else have you got?
Manta ray chariot or hammerhead mount? So many options! Maybe if I saw how they handled...
Ah yes, well, in battle with seaweed creatures, the whale sharks seem the most stable and least likely to throw you. I'll have one of those. As I was finishing my shopping, you might have noticed Rom and Namor arriving to fight the monster. It doesn't go too well until a random soldier gives Namor permission to destroy the city. Who cares about Heritage when there are lives at stake? (Well, Namor, apparently.) So with cover fire from Rom, the Sub-Mariner starts to spin around the monster to rip it to shreds, taking half of Atlantis with it.
(So when it's not Aquaman, it's the Flash.)Just because the monster is dispelled, it doesn't mean the threat is eliminated though. There are still Dire Wraiths to find and send to Limbo, not to mention long-winded speeches to give! I mean, we have Rom AND Namor here. It gets a little Shakespearian, let's say. So before going into battle, Rom makes sure to have a little soundcheck.
But they're too late! Sybil has been drowned!
Oh that poor goldfish! Namor avenges it by putting a trident through the Wraith witch while Rom does his thing on her brood. But what about Sybil? Well, Namor's not done.
Can he do that? Apparently so. He changes her DNA into an Atlantean's so that she can breathe water. As the blue returns to her cheeks, she hopes for a brighter future under the waves, with a new family who hopefully haven't had their house destroyed.And so Rom must forge once again... alone!
750. The Mummies of Heitius VIIPUBLICATION: Star Trek #21, Gold Key Comics, May 1973CREATORS: Unknown (writer), Alberto Giolitti (artist)STARDATE: 30:26.5 - Follows issue #16 (Season 3).PLOT: The Enterprise must deliver an alien mummy to a research center, but that mummy turns out to be a robotic cyborg that takes over the ship and tries to make it cross into Romulan space, thinking it was bringing its people to a new, fresh world. Our heroes narrowly avoid a battle with the Romulans, while back on Heitius VII, Spock and McCoy fight more mummies and learn their secret history.CONTINUITY: The similarities between the mummies and the Borg are impressive - zombie-like cyborgs with personal force fields and a desire to convert others into mummies. The Romulans' treaty with the Klingons is mentioned.DIVERGENCES: Chekov is referred to as a security officer, which he wasn't yet. But then, this is a series that frequently uses Scotty as the resident muscle. The Romulans have a sallow complexion and normal-shaped ears (except the commander). Their ship looks nothing like any design from the show (inside or outside).PANEL OF THE DAY - Those are Romulans?
REVIEW: Two things strike the reader here. First, it's amazing how close to the Borg the mummies are, enough to make you wonder if they had anything to do with the Borg's genesis (or if they were just also inspired by the Cybermen). Second, there's a fine, completely silent sequence with the mummy rising from the dead and walking the halls of the ship, very rare in this books. Nice and atmospheric. Otherwise, there's just not much to it. Lots of firing phasers at mummies, and an aborted outer space battle.
Worse than Jack Frost (either the lame horror movie one or the Michael Keaton vehicle).Worse than Calvin & Hobbes' monstrous snowmen.
Thanks Batman: Gotham After Midnight #8! I really needed Nightmare Fuel to get me through the holidays!
749. A World Gone MadPUBLICATION: Star Trek #20, Gold Key Comics, September 1973CREATORS: Unknown (writer), Alberto Giolitti (artist)STARDATE: 32:47.2 - Follows the last issue.PLOT: The Enterprise returns the spoiled prince Raviki to his home planet where an unscrupulous regent is currently ruling. After trusted subjects try to kill the bratty prince, including his sister, the crew start thinking it's more than political. Turns out a comet passed by spewing gases that have given the population a bad case of SPACE... MADNESS! While Kirk defends the now proven courageous prince from rioters, McCoy and Scotty spacewalk through the comet's tail to get a sample and fabricate an antidote. McCoy gets a little nutty from breathing in the fumes and jumps through the Guardian of Forev--no wait, that's another episode. No, he goes nutty and has a zero-G fist fight with Scotty. When that's done, Scotty seeds the atmosphere with the cure and everything goes back to normal.CONTINUITY: The Galileo makes another appearance. I guess they fixed it since #16.DIVERGENCES: McCoy seems to know a lot more about vacuum cleaners than Scotty does. Baseball doesn't seem so forgotten anymore.PANEL OF THE DAY - Take Me Out to the Ball Game
REVIEW: Star Trek has done a number of SPACE... MADNESS stories, and this one stands out by being at once comic booky (fighting in a comet's tail, hanging out of shuttles, etc.) and pretty violent (mad assassins getting killed, a murdered dog and a guy driving himself into lava!)
Yeah, that's hardcore. In the end, there's an odd moment with the prince taking his shirt off, but that's what makes it a TOS story. The story is little more organic that previous issues, with less reliance on "random encounters", but one does wonder what happened to the villain at the end. We never find out his final fate.
Just now adding to my Unauthorized Doctor Who CCG...
Merry Christmas everybody!
748. The Haunted AsteroidPUBLICATION: Star Trek #19, Gold Key Comics, July 1973CREATORS: Unknown (writer), Alberto Giolitti (artist)STARDATE: 24:92.5 - Follows the last issue.PLOT: Kirk and crew visit an apparently haunted asteroid tomb, a shrine to a long-dead queen from which looters never return. With the help of the expert Dr. Krisp, a lovely lass who sometimes needs to the fear slapped out of her...
...they navigate the dungeon, fighting robots, harpies, ghosts and flaming fountains along the way. Eventually, they get to the heart of the tomb where the queen is found still alive after centuries. She reveals all. Born with a mutation that would make her nearly immortal, her loving husband created this palace for her when he found out to spare her the paparazzi and resentment, later joining her after his own faked death. Since then, she's turned looters into permanent guests and will soon die anyway, taking the asteroid with her. Kirk and crew escape and she dies a peaceful death triggering the explosion.CONTINUITY: Kirk finally gets some. After slapping Krisp into submission, he invites her to dinner. Now that's the Kirk we know and roll our eyes at.DIVERGENCES: Sulu is apparently a former gymnastics gold medal winner (chalk it up to another completely unrelated sphere of interest). Scotty's more into weight-lifting, able to get a half-ton robot over his head and spinning it round.(ODDLY EROTIC) PANEL OF THE DAY
REVIEW: A real mess, this one. Though it features a couple of shocking images - the room full of human remains, Spock on fire - it's also full of plot holes and contrivances. The madness some looters have returned with is never explained. Nor is Kirk's school chum's missing memory, or the fact he's going barefoot. Spock mistakes robots for zombies, twice. Kirk and Krisp's cell isn't locked, apparently on purpose, but the rest of the crew's is. And of course you have the contrived abilities of both Sulu and Scotty, the latter verging on the super-human. One to read for the camp of it all.
751. The Ashes of Eden
REVIEW: You know, I really like William Shatner's Kirk novels. They're very entertaining. He likes big ideas and action set pieces, but doesn't skimp on character development for his star, a character he knows intimately. His "ghost writers", the Reeves-Stevens, are masters of Star Trek continuity and their books are also usually some of my favorites. It's a winning combination even if Ashes of Eden is perhaps the least entertaining of their collaborations. The problem lies in the multitude of reveals at the end where everything seems to be a twist. I just didn't care that much about Chal and what was really going on there, expect as a way to explore Kirk's ongoing midlife crisis. And while getting the old crew together for one last adventure(TM) is a lot of fun, the Enterprise doesn't go out in big enough a blaze of glory. It's still a good character piece, however, setting up Kirk's return in Generations and beyond, with action, humor and some rousing lines ("Starfleet captains have to be invincible. It's their job."). Shatner's quirky ego becomes a strength when he writes for Kirk, a little bit as if we were being told a story from Kirk's perspective with all the exaggerations you would expect. Kirk always gets the girl, finds a way to get Sulu out of the captain's chair and into the driver's seat, etc. Enjoy the "quiet", Kirk's adventures get crazier after this.
