Random Happenstance

Time for another pulse-pounding, senses-shattering, action packed Marvel Star Trek panel!

Between watching the revamped original series, the animated box set, and Comics 101's Professor Tipton's announcement of a new comic (and Gold Key recaps!), Star Trek has been on my mind lately. Today's panels are from Marvel's first run of Trek comics; they would try again around 1996. Of course, lots of companies have put out various Star Trek comics: Gold Key, DC, Malibu, you could add IDW and probably Wildstorm to that list as well.

One thing I wonder about those comics: do they appeal to the larger group of Trek fans overall, or just to the smaller subset of Trek fans that are also comic fans? Are the comics profitable, after you factor in licensing dues to Paramount? How much editorial interference is there from Paramount? Is there less now that Trek is kind of at a low ebb? Is a licensed property like this going to be made by fans, as it cuts into the profit margin to bring big-names to the table? I don't want to sound disparaging--I'll probably buy the Klingon language version, for god's sake. I have a big box full of random-ass Star Trek comics spanning the decades, and that brings us to this issue:


Before anyone goes off, "Hey, Frank Miller was mistreating comic book women back then even," let me assure you it totally makes sense in the context of the story. Honest.

Star Trek #5, "The Haunting of the Enterprise!" Written by Mike W. Barr (of Camelot: 3000 and some good Batman stuff), art by Dave Cockrum (Uncanny X-Men, duh, and a fan of Trek) and Klaus Janson (inker of tons of great stuff). No offense to anyone who's worked on Trek before or since, but that's a pretty A-list team. They don't bring the A-game, but even so.

I don't have the previous issue, so we're starting mid-stream: the Enterprise was transporting a prisoner and an ambassador to a planet in Klingon space that wanted to join the Federation. Said ambassador is killed "by a being who appeared to be Dracula," they find a haunted house floating in space, and inside the house? Klingons. As usual here at Random Happenstance, we're just going to hit the ground running and go from there.

The Klingon's "warning shot" kills an Andorian ensign on the first page, and Kirk responds by stunning one of the Klingons, which seems a little tame. Eye for an eye! As a brawl breaks out, McCoy scans the young, amnesiac woman they found in the house; and finds the readings...strange. The Klingons smash a chair over Spock's head and beam out with him.

On the Klingon ship, the Klingon captain explains to Spock that while the Enterprise's crew was expendable, Spock's knowledge of the ship was considered valuable. He also alludes to the secret weapon they are testing, which looks like Professor X in Space. Hmm.

Back on the Enterprise, Kirk questions their prisoner, the alien Raytag. Raytag had warned them before, but apparently not very strongly. The Klingons then fire phasers to disable the Enterprise's warp drive, then stop. Kirk knows they plan to keep them there, but not why.

McCoy's readings of the amnesiac girl turn up startling results in the computer, but before he can tell anyone, monsters start appearing all over the ship: zombies, demons, the Martian ships from the old movie version of War of the Worlds...

Back on the Klingon ship, Spock calls the captain on his boast of an "all-powerful new weapon." So of course the captain shows him: a thought-enhancer device, and a Federation prisoner attached to it: "He was a horror film archivist and his specialized knowledge proved useful to us. We offered him the honor of serving the Klingon empire...as a living weapon!"

...Keep in mind, the Klingons had only recently picked up their updated appearance--bony-browed foreheads and black leather armor. Most of the characteristics associated with them like their sense of honor, ritualized combat, etc. weren't really developed yet; so while this seems like a pretty wacky scheme for them, it wasn't completely out of line from their TV days.

The Klingons had to let the archivist create the image of his dead wife before they could drug him into their control. Then they use his mind to generate the monsters, and they reconstructed a space station to look like a haunted house. Bwuh? Well, in for a penny, I guess. The Klingon captain explains they needed a receptor device to broadcast the monsters, which Spock deduces was implanted in the prisoner Raytag. Kind of a long way to go for that, huh? Spock is left under guard, but convinces the guard the archivist seems ill, and offers to take a look at him.

On the bridge of the Enterprise, as Kirk and security crewmen fire phasers in one of the more sensitive areas of the ship, McCoy says the girl's scan readings are almost identical to the monsters'. Kirk doesn't know about that, and the girl doesn't know anything about it either. Looking at this issue now, it really seems like Kirk is thinking with his crotch...

Spock convinces his guard to let him examine the archivist, which lets him get close enough for a mindmeld. (old-school Trek shortcut #1: when in doubt, go with the mindmeld.) He sends a message to Kirk to "destroy" the girl. Kirk wonders if that was a Klingon trick, but McCoy knows the truth, and phasers her down, instantly waking up the archivist.

The monsters disappear, only to reappear on the Klingon ship, where they commence busting the place up. In the Enterprise brig, Raytag dies of psychic feedback. And Spock knocks out his guard with a nerve pinch, frees the archivist, and escapes with him and the thought-enhancer device. All without breaking a sweat. They beam back to the Enterprise, which then leaves the Klingons to stew in their own mess, and one page for the denouement.

First, what the hell happened in the future to make horror-film archivists both vital parts of society and able to land hot blondes? There's your science-fiction story, because I could buy one or the other...

This story also falls under the old science-fiction saw of a perfectly good secret weapon or master plan, that goes to hell with the use of (or on) the wrong test subject. The secret weapon is then shelved forever, even though it would kick ass if used correctly. (Come to think of it, I was going to harp on this with that Silver Surfer panel from yesterday: When he was imprisoned on earth, every time he managed to get away, he would end up back; but then wouldn't try the same escape again.) Admittedly, this seems like a completely out-of-character plan for the Klingons now--too esoteric high-tech, not hand-on violent or 'honorable.'

Hmm, now I'm in the mood for more Star Trek comics, although I'm not sure I'll blog them out. I did particularly enjoy Marvel's second run, or at least their...how to put this? Less directly-tied-in titles, Early Voyages, with Captain Pike and young Spock and no Archer, and Starfleet Academy, probably the finest comic ever featuring Nog. Still, Marvel's first run had "Spock the Barbarian." Tough act to follow...