Star Trek: Year Five #17 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: YEAR FIVE No. 17, November 2020

Promising “the super-secret origin of Gary Seven” in its solicitation blurb, Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly’s storyline for this “stand-alone spy thriller” probably pleased many of the comic’s readers during its opening half, thanks to the showrunners’ script filling in many of the background gaps left behind by the popular character’s sole appearance in the science fiction franchise’s 1968 televised episode “Assignment: Earth”. In fact, up until the time-travelling secret agent’s inexplicably bizarre agreement to destroy all life in the galaxy, Issue Seventeen of “Star Trek: Year Five” would arguably appear to be an essential purchase for any Trekkie fascinated as to how the eyes of Aegis turned upon Caleb Howell five days after the man’s thirty-fifth birthday.

For starters, this twenty-page periodical provides an intriguing insight into Supervisor 194’s blissful life before he left 408 Monroe Drive to take up his code name, and then subsequently depicts how he first met “your recruiter, your partner, and, if you’ll have me… your friend” Isis. The duo’s early missions are also particularly well-summarised, with Seven’s involvement in such notable historical events as the Sarajevo assassination, Genghis Khan’s Mongol invasion and First Contact with the Vulcans endowing this edition with some mouth-watering glimpses as to just how heavily Gary influenced the shaping of Mankind’s pathway to the stars.

Sadly however, this enthralling expose debatably rockets straight off of its rails following the Class One supervisor’s return from his aforementioned adventure with Captain James Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. Clearly impressed with the Federation Officer, Seven is suddenly floored to find out that his ever-present feline comrade-in-arms has been manipulating him the entire time they’ve been working together in order to ready him for his real mission – the total destruction of the entire human race and everything else, apart from the Tholians.

This nonsensical narrative comes completely out of the blue, and raises so many questions as to just why the super-powered operative was tasked to protect the Earth in the first place. To make matters worse though, having realised that his entire life has been one big lie, Gary instantly shrugs off these decades of deceit and whole-heartedly agrees to join Isis in her illogical plan to eradicate Kirk simply so the Klingons, Dominion and Borg never have a conflict with humanity.; “Eons of war… A death toll far greater than any that could be imagined. All because of those… tool-using apes.”

Writers: Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly, and Artist: J.K. Woodward

Star Trek: Year Five #16 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: YEAR FIVE No. 16, October 2020

On paper the prospect of publishing a twenty-page periodical featuring Gary Seven and Harcourt Fenton Mudd battling James Tiberius Kirk probably looked like a sound investment of creative talent, with both Sixties-based characters still proving incredibly popular with the science fiction franchise’s fanbase to this day. But disappointingly, Jody Houser’s decision to crowbar the pair into a narrative supposedly depicting just how scintillating an election season can be, isn’t arguably the place for either of the ‘antagonists’ to demonstrate just why they still hold a place within a Trekkies’ heart some six decades after they originally appeared on the small screen.

For starters, the thought of Harry rising to the top of the Federation Presidential polls is utterly “ridiculous”, especially when such a notorious conman’s extensive criminal past is well-known to both his Andorian sponsors and the electorate. Arguably, this premise alone ruins any sense of credibility to a narrative which already heavily relies upon its readers’ willingness to suspend disbelief, and is made all the more unbelievable when the Originalist movement reveal that they were so desperate to identify a so-called “suitable candidate” before the election’s imminent deadline that they just exonerated the swindler for all his past dark deeds.

Disappointingly, Mister Seven’s involvement in this particular storyline isn’t much more convincing either with the mysterious “laddybuck” disconcertingly wanting Mudd to win the galaxy-wide election in order to help him somehow bring Starfleet to a violent end. Sadly, the writer’s room for “Star Trek: Year Five” seem intent on transforming Supervisor 194 into some sort of omnipotent busybody, who suddenly appears to be more a sworn foe of the U.S.S. Enterprise’s captain than the likes of Khan Noonien Singh ever was, and as a result Kirk’s former friend frustratingly jars in every panel in which he appears; “Let’s just say that there are… pieces in motion far larger than either you or I. It’s my job to ensure that they stay in motion. Distractions, chaos… these will serve my masters’ purposes.”

Ultimately however, this comic’s biggest anti-climax is in how Scotty thwarts Harcourt’s real plan to steal as much sensitive technological data as he can from the Andorians by simply sweet-talking the smuggler’s female robot companion into telling him the truth. Such a lack-lustre finale beggars belief and comes across as being as contrived a conclusion as Spock inexplicably appearing from inside Mudd’s small space shuttle just in the nick of time to pinch the rogue on the neck before he can depart the moon with a hostage.

Writer: Jody Houser, Artist: Silvia Califano, and Colorist: Charlie Kirchoff

Star Trek: Year Five #12 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: YEAR FIVE No. 12, March 2020

Disconcertingly described by “IDW Publishing” as “a perfect jumping-on point before the second year of the series begins”, Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly’s writing for Issue Twelve of “Star Trek: Year Five” must surely have made little sense to even this ongoing series’ most ardent fans with its publication-long punch-up between Gary Seven and James Tiberius Kirk. True, the former friends’ bout of fisticuffs certainly provides plenty of entertainment as the two combatants exchange all manner of blows and eye-winching injuries upon one another, but neither character is arguably even slightly recognisable as their televised counterparts on the small screen.

Supervisor 194 is especially devoid of any of the charisma which made him such a popular protagonist in the 1968 broadcast story “Assignment: Earth", and instead disappointingly appears to have simply been modelled upon the emotionless cyborg assassin which features so prominently within James Cameron’s “The Terminator” franchise. Indeed, Mister Seven appears so utterly indestructible that he even shrugs off being savagely stabbed right through the left eye by Kirk simply because “I was bred and trained for a singular purpose” so rather fortunately no longer feels any pain.

Debatably somewhat less at variance with the science fiction franchise’s source material, is the showrunners’ depiction of the U.S.S. Enterprise’s captain, at least during this twenty-page periodical’s opening when the Starfleet Officer desperately tries to reason with his assailant that there has to be an alternative solution to the madman’s mission to destroy the Constitution-class vessel. However, once it becomes clear that this incarnation of Gary Seven is a far cry from that so wonderfully portrayed by actor Robert Lansing, Kirk also undergoes a major personality change and meekly submits to the Class One Supervisor’s demands of piloting his beloved Federation starship straight into the very planet upon which the captain has already stranded his entire crew: “If someone’s going to destroy this Enterprise and all her hands. It should be her captain!”

Adding to this almost unrecognisable concoction of amateurish ‘fan fiction’ are no less than three separate artists, whose somewhat roughly-hewn illustrations and irregularly-angled figures regrettably deprive many of this comic’s more tensely penned action-sequences with any semblance of tension whatsoever. Stephen Thompson’s single page, directly lifted from this title’s first instalment, is excellently drawn, yet sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb when it appears mid-way through the comic and is surrounded by Kieran McKeown and Silvia Califano’s less prodigious pencilling.

Writers: Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly, and Artists: Kieran McKeown, Silvia Califano & Stephen Thompson

Star Trek: Year Five #11 - IDW Publishing

STAR TREK: YEAR FIVE No. 11, February 2020

It’s hard to imagine anyone being able to take the popular character of Gary Seven from the 1968 transmitted episode “Assignment: Earth" and turn him into an utterly dislikeable, cold-blooded killer within the space of a single twenty-page periodical. But incredibly, Jackson Lanzig and Collin Kelly do an admirable job of achieving just that with their narrative for Issue Eleven of “Star Trek: Year Five”.

Admittedly, actor Robert Lansing’s slightly emotionless, thoughtfully detached portrayal of Supervisor 194 could easily be misinterpreted as someone who, when working for the greater galactic good, simply doesn’t care about the everyday lives their actions are impacting upon. But such a viewpoint arguably doesn’t withstand the scrutiny of even a single screening of director Marc Daniels’ potential pilot piece, nor the numerous spin-off novels and comic books featuring Roberta Lincoln's mysterious partner-in-crime, including the much-lauded “Star Trek: Assignment: Earth” mini-series by John Byrne.

Infuriatingly however, none of this fifty-year ‘development’ appears to have influenced either Lanzig or Kelly, with the comic’s collaborative team instead presenting to the reader an incarnation of the Assigner’s Class One Supervisor who quite mercilessly unleashes a deadly Andorian Nerve Agent into a highly populated U.S.S. Enterprise’s Engine Room and then angrily blames the Constitution-class starship’s security team for subsequently forcing him to shoot them when they try to apprehend him; “I didn’t want to do this. This is your fault… At least it will be painless.” To make matters worse though, the collaborative duo even have Seven crossly denounce the version of himself so familiar to this franchise’s television audience, by having him indignantly rebuke Ensign Pavel Chekov for challenging the remarkable change in his behaviour, with the explanation that “The last time I saw you I was new. Now? That’s hardly the case.”

Fortuitously, one thing this comic doesn’t suffer with is poor pencilling, courtesy of Stephen Thompson’s awesome interior artwork, and Charlie Kirchoff’s colours. Despite the shift in seriousness of Seven’s demeanour, it is still enjoyably easy to imagine all the subtle mannerisms of Lansing’s on-screen interpretation taking place within the mind's eye, and even a debatably dreary, word-heavy command review of Mister Spock’s debacle on the water-world of I’Qosa, ably demonstrates Captain Kirk as a man animated by his admiration for his Vulcan friend.

The regular cover art of "STAR TREK: YEAR FIVE" No. 11 by Stephen Thompson & Charlie Kirchoff