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Our Trek Comics editor Patrick Hayes returns with a review of this month’s issue of New Visions, IDW Publishing’s Star Trek photobook comic series.
Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are looking under the saucer section of the Enterprise and discover an orb that bears a striking resemblance to the Borg sphere. With the story titled “Resistance” this could mean a lot of trouble for the Original Series crew.
This created cover by John Byrne has enough familiar images to spark recognition in fans and the addition of the out-of-place Borg technology is enough to get even a casual passerby to stop dead in their tracks.
The Enterprise is on its way to investigate the loss of communications from Omega-70. The world is located near the Delta Quadrant, and as Spock states, “The Delta Quadrant has long been a source of strange, unconfirmed signals and rumors…When dealing with the unknown on such a vast source, it is wise to heed rumors–until they are fully discounted.”
The last message from the planet is a vague warning of some unknown enemies’ will, evoking memories from “Balance of Terror.” Uhura determines that routine ground chatter should be heard, though it would be days old, but there’s only silence. That’s when the Enterprise arrives at an asteroid field, with Spock stating the rocky fragments are all that’s left of Omega-70. The science officer says its destruction suggests “some kind of forced core implosion. The effect would not be unlike squeezing a balloon until it burst.”
Such a weapon is beyond the capabilities of any species in the Alpha Quadrant and may signal the beginning of an attack. That’s when Uhura receives a message from Starfleet: seven other systems have gone silent in the past three days. The race is on for Starfleet’s finest to find the cause of the massive destruction and stop it.
Initially it appears writer John Byrne has written himself into a corner that would negate a lot of that dreaded “C” monster: Continuity. If the villains are the Borg — and I’m not saying they are — Byrne would have to avoid several things, like seeing individuals of the Collective, having direct communications with them, and having leftover tech that could alter the Federation’s natural progression of technological growth. We’re talking Prime Directive violations that would alter the future. Rest assured, Byrne easily bobs and weaves around possible continuity errors, if this is indeed the Borg.
Byrne throws in a few monkey wrenches in this unknown alien species, giving clues that this might be something other than the species that dominated two Star Trek series. The first is given on Page 5 in the first panel, which nicely puts Spock out of being any strategic help. The next pops up at the start of Page 20.
Kirk’s conclusion on the state of the ship’s inhabitants would be troublesome if they were cyborgs or unenhanced biological beings. And there’s an utterly fantastic kick in the plot’s pants from McCoy on 22 that addresses a concern never broached when encountering the possible familiar foes. The debate that this thorn sparks is completely in line with classic Star Trek moral dilemmas and I was delighted to see Byrne forge into this new territory.
The conclusion of the story concisely resolves all issues, as a normal length episode would, but nicely leaves a tread hanging with Uhura’s final words.
The majority of this story takes place aboard the Enterprise. Working like a director, John Byrne has pieced together images from different episodes to create this new adventure. It’s mind-boggling to consider the time involved in manipulating images to get something as a turned head to throw focus to another character.
Page 5 demonstrates this in the second panel with Chekov and Sulu turning to face their captain as Scotty enters the bridge in the background. Now seated in his chair, Kirk turns to his left to address his chief engineer. Seconds of film work requiring countless time by Byrne to create.
At the bottom of the same page, Byrne has created an original exterior scene of the Enterprise flying through the remains of Omega-70. The pieces of the planet do not resemble the flying chicken nuggets that double for asteroids in films, but are shattered fragments that recall the simile that Spock made to a balloon. This is a solid example of the imagery reinforcing storytelling.
The one trip to an alien world has a nice action scene that never occurred on the Original Series, but was a component of the Animated Series’ “Jihad.” I’m not thrilled when comic books use a blur effect using a computer to denote swift movement, but it works fine in this sequence, as it does when the Enterprise is under heavy fire.
Though it’s only for one page, the remains of the alien civilization on Pages 10 and 11 were good to see. I was fearful that the crew had beamed down to an infamous Doctor Who gravel pit of the 1970s, but there was more than enough evidence of structures to show this was not the case.