Order New Visions #10

Red shirted Pavel Chekov sits in the center of the new issue’s cover, surrounded by looks of concern from Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, and Kirk. Each of these officers is in a triangle that’s the same color as their shirt. However, these pieces don’t make the image complete: separating the four men, and enclosing Chekov, is a black, white, and gray streak/swirl that looks smooth in some places and pointy in others.

This mysterious mass must be key in this month’s story “Mister Chekov.” Having Chekov in a red shirt is enough to peak my interest. John Byrne again teases much without giving any details away, just as fans want their covers.

Chekov asks Scotty, who’s in a Jefferies tube, if he can practice his navigation skills with Sulu. Mr. Scott emerges to tell the young ensign, “Ooh, laddie, did no one tell y’how it works? Y’re the new mule in the team. Everybody else’ll be snug in their bunks before your day is done!” The Chief Engineer takes Chekov into engineering so that they can recalibrate the intercoolers.

On the bridge, Kirk leaves to take his break of eight hours, as well as a nightcap prescribed by Dr. McCoy naturally, so Spock assumes command. Down in engineering, Scotty tells Pavel that he’ll learn to read the Enterprise’s many moods, such as why something seems slightly off at the moment. Meanwhile, McCoy takes the captain for task for not knowing a lieutenant’s name, though Kirk does have an idea as to what she does on board.

As he leaves the doctor, the scene moves back to engineering, where Mr. Scott says the bridge should be notified: there’s been a six percent rise in the power levels.

In the best tradition of Star Trek stories, things start small and lead up to dire situations. John Byrne has the Enterprise encounter something new, which is its mission, but soon they have to get away from “it.”

While the bridge tries to define what they’ve come upon, Chekov, who’s only been on the ship for ten days, makes his way through corridors and locations that have been hinted at but never shown as he works as an engineer. The story focuses on Chekov, but the action on the bridge gets its fair share of pages, with Lt. Palmer and Lt. DePaul making appearances and contributing to the progression and tension of the story.

It was neat to see this early version of Chekov, trying to fit in to his surroundings, being eager to please his commanders, and, ultimately, doing something that will change his life. Kirk does takes his crew’s advice to save his ship at every step, but things escalate and decisions must be made quickly to avoid destruction. The final page was the perfect coda to this story, and had me beaming with pride at the final reveal.

Using cut and paste techniques and a considerable amount of creation of new environments and characters, John Byrne continues to make New Visions seem like lost adventures. Seeing Chekov walk about the Enterprise in a red shirt will give readers pause as to what they’re witnessing, but his slight costume change smoothly sets this tale in the show’s unseen past.

Palmer and DePaul aren’t the only two familiar faces of the crew, with someone on Page 4 who’s image will have long time fans screaming at this character’s appearance. Chekov, rightly, gets the most face time in this issue, with him emoting well with the dialogue, such as in the fifth panel on Page 8, excellent intensity at the top of 38, and his sadness in the fourth panel on 40. I also like the looks of concern that Kirk had, Pages 31 and 38.

The visual elements that will have fans pouring over Byrne’s work are his creations for the new settings within the Enterprise: Pages 8 – 9, 11 – 12, 14 – 15, 17, 19 – 20, and 24 – 25. These locations fit seamlessly into all the locations seen on the original series. In fact, there were times where I had to question whether these places were shown before, but I can’t identify them if they were. My favorite setting is introduced on Page 19, and what this is referred to by some of the crew was perfect, as was how one individual feels about such a nickname.

The exteriors of the ship are also good, considering it’s facing peril from outside. The danger it encounters starts slowly on Page 7, but within three pages becomes much more threatening. I often think there’s nothing new under the sun for the Enterprise to encounter that would look visually interesting, but Byrne has created an effect that looks dangerous and, again, fits with the style of the show.

The action taken on 17 is the strongest action I’ve seen the ship take, and the lighting Byrne uses makes this clear for the reader. My favorite image of the book is on 22, which includes damage done with a sparkler effect that the show often employed. It might seem like a little thing, but it’s visuals like this that keep this book firmly in Star Trek territory.

Dialogue, opening title and credits, the captain’s log, sounds, yells, an overwhelming number of speaking voices (Page 26: sensational!), and the concluding two words are also crafted by creator John Byrne.

I’m glad that the captain’s log is slightly differentiated from the character’s dialogue, and the sounds are spectacularly grandiose, such as the SKRAKK on 24 which is my favorite.