Star Trek: Captain's Log: Pike #1 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: CAPTAIN'S LOG: PIKE No. 1, September 2010

Pitched after the events on Talos IV, “which were detailed in the classic television two-parter, The Menagerie”, Stuart Moore’s script for “Star Trek: Captain’s Log: Pike” probably proved something of a disappointment to its 6,038 readers in September 2010. For whilst the twenty-two page periodical contains plenty of action-packed excitement, both aboard the Constitution-class starship as well as in outer space, and certainly features plenty of ‘screen time’ for the comic’s titular character, it seems a pity the prose novelist elected to create a new antagonistic extra-terrestrial species for this story rather than continue his narrative’s nostalgic feel by utilising one of the many races previously encountered on the Sixties Television series.

Admittedly, in many respects the Halogians do a stellar job of providing the U.S.S Enterprise and her crew with some formidably powerful opposition. Their “suspicious” spacecraft design, which initially “matches no know configuration” within Mister Spock’s records, definitely gives the Federation vessel a run for its money in the firepower stakes, and some “twelve years later” causes almost catastrophic damage to Captain Colt’s Class J Ship due to its “radiation beam... generating intense heat.” Likewise, the tendril-covered crustacean-looking beings are clearly capable of posing a considerable threat when encountered at close quarters as their phaser-fight with Pike, Yeoman Colt, and Ensign Stevens, which is dynamically-pencilled by J.K. Woodward, attests; “Wonderful. Two more deaths… For no reason whatsoever. Maybe someday…”

But surely of all the Rim Worlds “not currently Federation-affiliated” the American freelance editor could have selected one that was a little less arguably clichéd and much more familiar to his audience, such as the Tholians, the Gorn, the Andorians, the Klingons, the Romulans, or even a ship of political refugees from the planet Chero? Perhaps then, Moore wouldn’t have had to invent such a contrived case of jeopardy in this publication’s second act, where the Halogians have somehow managed to penetrate Earth’s Solar System undetected and are about to ignite Jupiter’s core, having discovered the “giant ball of gas” is actually a failed sun twinned to our own “G-type main-sequence star.”

Somewhat less perplexing, though similarly frustrating, is this comic’s lack of Number One and Spock. Both bridge officers prominently appear in the tale’s opening moments, yet are then conspicuous by their absence throughout the remaining tome as Captain Pike suddenly selects to take J. Mia Colt with him on a boarding party instead of the half-Vulcan, and the entire book’s script unexpectedly shifts to arguably focus more upon the “pert and shapely” Yeoman from Operations Division, and her sky-rocketing career to becoming a Starfleet Captain…

‘First published on the "Dawn of Comics" website.'

Writer: Stuart Moore, Art and Colours: J.K. Woodward, and Letters: Robbie Robbins

Star Trek: Captain's Log: Jellico #1 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: CAPTAIN'S LOG: JELLICO No. 1, October 2010

Irrefutably the most unpopular of all the captains to so far command a Federation starship named Enterprise, this particular instalment by “IDW Publishing” in their “Star Trek: Captain’s Log” mini-series manages to convey all the arrogant unpleasantness yet mesmerising tension of Edward Jellico; an especially domineering and uncongenial commanding officer whose only appearance on the American science fiction television series “Star Trek: The Next Generation” in December 1992 was as disconcerting as it was riveting. In fact, in many ways this additional glimpse of the NCC 1701-D’s short-tenured captain probably made many of its 5,580 readers in October 2010 wish the supercilious Starfleet officer, as played by Ronny Cox, had remained ensconced within the Galaxy-class starship’s central chair somewhat longer than just two forty-five minute-long episodes.

Fortunately, some solace can at least be taken by this twenty-two page periodical’s narrative and its engaging account of Commander Leslie Wong’s early days aboard the U.S.S. Cairo “…serving under Captain Edward Jellico.” For not only does Keith R.A. DeCandido’s writing force the comic’s audience to equally shoulder the former Starfleet Academy Instructor’s difficulty in acclimatising to her superior’s overly-disciplined regime, but it also has them seemingly sustain the excelsior-class ship’s “new first officer” in her trials and tribulations as she battles the enthusiastic breaches of protocol by Ensign Sim, as well as “six disruptor cannons and five torpedo launchers” belonging to “Gul Zarkat of the [so-called] Cardassian Science Vessel Harkon.

Such well-penned emotional and action-packed drama genuinely makes it a shame that the Bronx-born author’s enthralling depiction of life within the corridors of the century-old Federation fleet warhorse didn’t eventually flourish into an ongoing series rather than remain a simple ‘one-shot’. It certainly would have been interesting to see more of Wong’s interaction with her fellow crewmembers after a somewhat 'charged' initial meeting, as well as how she succeeded Jellico “as commander of the Cairo” before the vessel was presumed destroyed by the Dominion whilst patrolling the Romulan Neutral Zone in 2374.

J.K. Woodward’s artwork for “Star Trek: Captain’s Log: Jellico” also does a very good job of capturing both the facial likeness of the titular character and his somewhat stiff, rather agitated-looking physical mannerisms. Indeed, the American artist’s likeness of Cox is so ‘spot on’ that at times it is hard not to believe the panel hasn’t in some way incorporated an actual photograph of the actor into the illustration.

The regular cover art of "STAR TREK: CAPTAIN'S LOG: JELLICO" No. 1 by J.K. Woodward

Star Trek: Captain's Log: Harriman #1 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: CAPTAIN'S LOG: HARRIMAN No. 1, April 2010

The second issue of a comic mini-series printed by “IDW Publishing” on “an infrequent basis” in 2010, “Star Trek: Captain’s Log: Harriman” closely follows the exploits of the U.S.S. Enterprise-B’s commander six months after the Federation starship’s maiden voyage as depicted during the 1994 American science fiction film “Star Trek Generations”. Indeed, Marc Guggenheim’s narrative focuses almost exclusively upon the impact that the excelsior-class vessel’s ‘filmed’ rescue mission to save two El-Aurian ships from the mysterious Ribbon’s gravimetric field has had upon the officer, as well as his traumatic realisation that everyone will always remember him as “the captain who’s responsible for the death of a monument” - retired Captain James Tiberius Kirk.    

Such a dauntingly destructive legacy for a man arguably at the pinnacle of his Starfleet career is incredibly well-handled by the Long Island-born screenwriter, especially when his failings aboard the ship are feistily highlighted to him by both an incredibly prickly Doctor McCoy and the doubtful, ever-questioning behaviour of his bridge crew; “As best as I can tell, Jim Kirk was in command. He was calling the shots. You were figuratively balled up in the fetal position.” Certainly the titular character’s self-torment and indecisiveness must have markedly reminded the title’s 5,610 readers of actor Alan Ruck’s marvellous portrayal of the ineffective 'Big Silver Screen' incarnation of John Harriman.

Surprisingly however, particularly when one considers just how much of the script is dedicated to their dwelling upon “Jim’s death”, it is not the New Yorker’s dialogue-heavy debate between Bones and his superior which causes this twenty-two page periodical’s disappointment, but somewhat shockingly, Guggenheim’s inclusion of General Choroth and the Klingon Battlecruiser Vengeance. True, the American author’s touchingly sentimental flashback sequence to “Star Trek III: The Search For Spock” as McCoy tells the deflated captain about his absent friend’s scuttling of the Enterprise, is an overly long and somewhat sickly sweet sequence. Yet its misplaced sentimentality pales in comparison with the excelsior-class vessel’s sheer impotence before its K’Tinga class opposition and the fact that the comic’s lead protagonist has to resort to sneakily transporting “the ship’s stores of photon torpedoes” inside the supposedly inferior Klingon craft in order to destroy it.

Equally as disconcertingly inconsistent is Andrew Currie’s breakdowns. The comic book artist’s depictions of John Harriman and Leonard McCoy are rather impressive caricatures of their movie counterparts, as is his renditions of Kirk, Scotty and the Enterprise-B bridge crew. Sadly though, the same cannot be said for the penciller’s drawings of the Klingons, whose prominent and instantly recognisable facial features look woefully misshapen and disfigured even when cleverly concealed in shadow by Moose Baumann's colours.

Writer: Marc Guggenheim, Art: Andrew Currie, and Colors: Moose Baumann