Making It Fit

Star Trek (1984 series) annual No. 1
DC Comics
Mike W. Barr, writer
David Ross and Bob Smith, artists

These days, I try almost anything with Star Trek in the title. I've been a fan of The Original Series since growing up watching reruns in syndication in the 1970s. In fact, my brother and I used to plan our entire Sunday afternoons around the television when I was in grade school — we'd watch not only "Star Trek" but the Irwin Allen science-fiction greats "Land of the Giants," "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" and "Lost In Space" all in one big afternoon block. When those shows were over, "Maverick" would come on (I don't know how the western fit in with all of those sci-fi programs; maybe it was the comedic aspects of the show since its lead-in was the unintentionally cheesy but lovable "Lost In Space."), and then it would be six o'clock, time to change the channel to catch "The Wonderful World of Disney." Those were great days!

Anyway, that helps show my love for classic "Star Trek" goes back a ways. But I didn't always buy everything Star Trek. I don't think I bought a single copy of the 18-issue Marvel Comics series that came out in the wake of "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" in 1979. This later DC version of the Enterprise crew was a little more on my radar, but still wasn't a guaranteed purchase month in and month out. A lot of what would catch my eye about this series were the "special" issues that didn't just continue the movie adventures of the classic Enterprise crew, but tried to shoehorn stories into that original television run, something in comics called a retcon, or retroactive continuity. This annual from 1985 is one of the first such attempts at such a story in this series.

There is a brief framing sequence at the beginning and end of this issue set in the then-current movie timeline. But the bulk of this comic is made up of a lengthy flashback showing "The First Mission" of James T. Kirk's classic crew in a story titled "All Those Years Ago ..." Now the easy thing to do would be to just show some mission where all of the familiar characters are getting used to working together, but Mike W. Barr and company take things a step further. Included in this tale is the actual change of command ceremony where Kirk assumes command of the Enterprise from Christopher Pike, who is being promoted to the rank of fleet captain. Pike, of course, was the captain of the Enterprise in the original pilot episode "The Cage," footage from which was repurposed into the only classic two-part episode, "The Menagerie."

Great attention to detail is shown including a number of characters who only ever appeared in one episode of the "Star Trek" television program and working them into this story. Gary Mitchell, Lee Kelso and Number One are all featured in this comic. Even important characters from Star Trek canon who really played minor roles in the television show — characters like Capt. Robert April, Dr. Mark Piper and Admiral Nogura — get at least a mention in this story. All of that work adds layers that make this story feel like it really could be the untold story of the crew's first mission together.

As more and more Trek is written, I can't swear that this story holds up and still fits in with everything else seamlessly, but at the time this issue was written, this WAS the definitive version of these events. It simply had to be to include so much attention to detail. And that's a great reason why I still enjoy reading this story three decades after it was first released, and feel justified in heartily recommending it to any Trek fan who hasn't had the pleasure before.

Requiem For A Series

Aquaman and the Others 6-11
DC Comics
Dan Jurgens, writer
Lan Medina, Allen Martinez and Wayne Faucher, artists

Both work and personal demands have kept me away from the blog of late, but as I alluded to in a previous post, it is not just the time to write blog posts that has been suffering. I haven't had time to read many comics of late either beyond a stray trade or random issue here or there or what little time I have spent in the past few months trying to go through issues from my collection deciding what to sell and what to hang onto. Bottom line: Its been a busy few months, and I am waaaay behind on current issues of the comics I'm buying.

How far behind, you ask. Well, while most of the current comics-reading public is diving head-first into Secret Wars or getting ready for the very near windup to Convergence, the last "current" comics I read were the various Future's End tie-in issues DC did more than six months ago. Yeah, I'm a little behind.

One perk of being so far behind is being able to read several issues of a given series at a time. It's almost like trade-waiting, but not really; trade-waiting would have been cheaper in the long run. It's also kind of a bittersweet perk when what you are reading is the very last arc of a title canceled much too soon.

The Others were first introduced in the second Aquaman story arc in his own New 52 title. The international cast of characters came together with a common purpose before the Justice League was formed, and Aquaman served as their leader in a quest to locate and safeguard several Atlantean relics. The Operative was an American, but Ya'wara hailed from Brazil, Vostok from Russia and Kahina was an Iranian. The final member of the group, Prisoner of War, was also an American, but he contained within his own body the souls of many fallen soldiers, maybe not all of them American. That was just one of the many avenues open for exploration with these characters.

The Others showed up again in Aquaman No. 20 and the first New 52 Aquaman annual, adding new member Sky Alchesay, a Native American, further spicing up the international flavor of the group. It was also no secret that these stand-alone stories were try-out issues meant to gauge interest in the group prior to them getting their own ongoing title, which launched in 2014.

This final story arc of the very short-lived Aquaman and the Others title pits the group against a similarly diverse group of assassins and mercenaries, some of them new creations for this story, as far as I know. Mayhem brings together the New 52 versions of Cheshire and former Soviet spies KGBeast and NKVDemon. Rounding out the cast of villains is a trio of new creations of undetermined nationality — Maelstrom, Stranglehold and Braze.

I'm not saying the "Alignmernt: Earth" story arc is perfect; there are some missteps and plot deficiencies. For example, none of those three new villains is fleshed out beyond a name and a basic character trait displayed in the fighting. The one exception is Maelstrom, whose heart doesn't quite seem in the fight during the final battle, but even that glimpse of something more never goes anywhere. Now, to be fair to Dan Jurgens, a talented writer and artist whose work I quite enjoy most of the time, maybe that is because once the series had been canceled, he didn't see much point in developing the other villains more only to have them fade away.

I also think the conflict between the Operative and Prisoner of War in this arc could have been resolved much more quickly than it was. But again, maybe Jurgens initially had more in mind with some of his moves here that the cancellation cut short.

Obviously, I was a fan of this series and was willing to continue to support the ongoing adventures of the Others. Now that the book has been canceled, however, I am reminded of an oft-repeated refrain on the Internet that some characters just aren't meant to support an ongoing series. Some characters, commentators say, are better suited to a miniseries or series of recurring finite stories.

I hope that at the very least, DC opts to go that route with these characters. They still show much promise, much potential for great storytelling. And I like how they interact with each other and team leader Aquaman. If the Others can't have an ongoing title, I hope Jurgens and company will at least trot them out from time to time with guest appearances or even their own mini, as time and inspiration allow. If I can't have a monthly dose of these characters, I at least want to visit them frequently.

Please DC, make it so.