Saturday, August 15, 2009

Star Trek Archives Volume 1: Best of Peter David
Includes 5 original comics in one collection
Star Trek Annual #3 - Retrospect
Star Trek #13-15 - Return of the Worthy series - co-written by Bill Mumy
Star Trek #19 - Once a Hero

Great fun. I am a big fan of Peter David - I've read most of his earlier work and was not aware he had written Star Trek comics. So when I saw this in my local comic book store on Thursday I had to buy it. All of these focus on the original Star Trek crew and seem to be after ST2. All of these have a definite nostalgic feel as the various ST crew deal with loss.

Retrospect focuses on Scotty, it beings as he receives a package from home we see him grieve for the woman whom he loved. The story is told in reverse and ends with the first time they meet as young children in Scotland. Very sweet and always nice to see a story revolve around Scotty.

Worthy is a trio of comics that focus on the legend of the Worthy that are discovered by the Enterprise when they are exploring the planet before they set up the Lamver Unit, which is an inter-planetary device which is scheduled to be tested on the planet. During their exploration they are attached by a flying robot and discover a small space vessel which houses several humanoids in suspended animation. As they wake up the humanoids they find out that they are the Worthy who are legendary beings who go from world to world saving them. The storyline goes from the crew of the Enterprise getting to know the Worthy to deciding not to use the planet as a test sight as it is now a burial ground for the fallen Worthy to taking them home and finding it destroyed. In the end the Worthy decide to take back up their mission and save planets from a fate their planet suffered.

Once a Hero - is mostly about Kirk trying to come to terms that a member of his crew, Ensign Lee died to save Kirk's life but no one including Kirk knows anything about Lee except his name and rank. The storyline focuses on Kirk interviewing various members of the crew who interacted with Lee to see what they know about him as well as re-living the mission that ends Lee's life. It ends with a eulogy in which Kirk challenges everyone to get to know their fellow crew members no matter how insignificant they might be.

Now unless you are a Star Trek fan these comics won't do much for you. But Peter David has written so many novels for Star Trek that it really shows in these comics plus he writes really excellent dialog. I so enjoyed it.