Romulan questions

[DarkHorizon]

Just a quick note: there are two comics entitled Alien Spotlight: Romulans. One was released in the first volume of Alien Spotlight in 2008, and is by John Byrne. The other was released in the second volume in 2009, and is by Ian Edginton. Christopher is referring to the 2008 Spotlight, which details the events immediately prior to "Balance of Terror". Confusingly, the 2009 Spotlight takes place before the 2008 issue.

[Jbarney]

Ah, I see the disconnect....

I believe Alien Spotlight Romulans (2008) was being referenced by some other posters. I was speaking to Alien Spotlight:Romulans by Ian Edgington (2009).

This discussion makes me wish my local comic shop had a copy of the 2008 story. I'll pick it up as soon as I can.

[Christopher]

As DarkHorizon said, I was referring to John Byrne's "Romulans" tale from Volume 1 of Alien Spotlight. I forgot about the "Romulans" installment of Alien Spotlight Volume 2, which I have not read. They really shouldn't have given two stories the same title.

[JD]

Jbarney wrote:

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Ah, I see the disconnect....

I believe Alien Spotlight Romulans (2008) was being referenced by some other posters. I was speaking to Alien Spotlight:Romulans by Ian Edgington (2009).

This discussion makes me wish my local comic shop had a copy of the 2008 story. I'll pick it up as soon as I can.

It is included in the TBP for the Alien Spotlight series. Although the sequel duology, Romulans: The Hollow Crown has not yet been collected. MB does say that they are planning on releasing R:HC and, at least, the second sequel, Romulans: Schims in another TPB eventually.

[Christopher]

Schism is the 3-part conclusion to the sequence, bringing it to 6 parts which will be collected in the TPB Star Trek: Romulans in March 2010. (These stories really could do with more distinctive titles...)

[JD]

So it is the end then? The stuff on Memory Beta said several sequels, so I thought there might be more after Schims.

[ryan123450]

This has been a really interesting discussion for me. Thanks for everyone's info.

Now my next question is do the Romulan stories have any connections to the Year Four series? And do either of those have a connection to the Mission's End miniseries?

Thanks again so much.

[Christopher]

JD wrote:

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So it is the end then? The stuff on Memory Beta said several sequels, so I thought there might be more after Schims.

Memory Alpha calls Schism the conclusion. And since the usual trade paperback collection is 5-6 issues, I'd imagine that after the success of Byrne's first two Romulan stories, IDW probably commissioned Schism specifically in order to fill out the story enough to give it a full TPB of its own.

ryan123450 wrote:

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Now my next question is do the Romulan stories have any connections to the Year Four series? And do either of those have a connection to the Mission's End miniseries?

Generally each of IDW's miniseries has been self-contained. I'm not aware of any cross-connections.

[Jbarney]

Actually, this was a question I was wondering about while a couple of us were referencing different Alien Spotlight stories. Is the Romulan Praetor in Byrne's Alien Spotlight the same as the one in the 2009 version of the comic with the same name? For that matter, is it even remotely close to the Romulan leadership in "The Hollow Crown"? I took a look at the artwork in the Hollow Crown, and there seemed to be a difference.

[Christopher]

According to Memory Beta, the Volume 2 "Romulans" story is a prequel to the Volume 1 "Romulans" story, featuring the same Praetor. The artwork is different since they're illustrated (as well as written) by different people, but they're reportedly in continuity with one another. My point was that I was unaware of any cross-connections between IDW's Romulan sequence and its other titles; I was counting all the Romulan stuff as a single entity, in keeping with the form of the question I was answering.

[8of5]

Christopher wrote:

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Memory Alpha calls Schism the conclusion. And since the usual trade paperback collection is 5-6 issues, I'd imagine that after the success of Byrne's first two Romulan stories, IDW probably commissioned Schism specifically in order to fill out the story enough to give it a full TPB of its own.

This is the end so far as Byrne has mentioned. The whole Romulans saga basically takes the Romulan-Klingon Alliance from birth to death. The TPB will contain the Alien Spotlight, an exclusive Romulan point-of-view adaptation of Balance of Terror, The Hollow Crown and Schism.

Jbarney wrote:

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Actually, this was a question I was wondering about while a couple of us were referencing different Alien Spotlight stories. Is the Romulan Praetor in Byrne's Alien Spotlight the same as the one in the 2009 version of the comic with the same name? For that matter, is it even remotely close to the Romulan leadership in "The Hollow Crown"? I took a look at the artwork in the Hollow Crown, and there seemed to be a difference.

Hollow Crown shows the fall of the Praetor from the Alien Spotlights, but it's the same one to start with. The more recent Alien Spotlight is that same Praetor, Ian Edginton commented on it in a recent interview in the Star Trek magazine.

In the same article he suggested his Alien Spotlight takes place four or five years before The Hollow Crown. However there aren't any date references in the comic and Memory Beta's chronology takes into account the recent appointment of the praetor following his father as suggest in the earlier Alien Spotlight (and working with the idea the praetor in Vanguard is the father praetor) so places it relatively close to Byrne’s Alien Spotlight.

Christopher wrote:

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These stories really could do with more distinctive titles...

Yes! With the exception of the first Romulan Alien Spotlight the Byrne comics are of the minority IDW Trek that actually get individual issue titles!

ryan123450 wrote:

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Now my next question is do the Romulan stories have any connections to the Year Four series? And do either of those have a connection to the Mission's End miniseries?

The first Year Four series was entirely stand-alone stories, the second, The Enterprise Experiment, does have a plot with the Romulans, however if anything it seems to contradict the Byrne Romulans stories. The Enterprise Experiment suggests the Klingons had previously sold a few ships to the Romulans but that their Alliance proper wasn't started until the Year Four period, while Byrne's Romulans shows the Alliance forming before even Balance of Terror.

[8of5]

If this helps at all, a little timeline (I've not read Vanguard yet so taking the Vrax info as described by others):

• 2265:Vrax is Praetor per Vanguard
• unseen: Vrax is killed by his son "Smirky" who takes the Praetorship
• late-2265/early-2266: Edginton Alien Spotlight, featuring tests of "ghost ships" in Romulan space
• 2266: Byrne's Alien Spotlight, ghost ship development appears to be complete, leading straight into Balance of Terror
• Balance of Terror
• 2266-2268: The Hollow Crown. Starting shortly after Balance of Terror, then skipping ahead to The Deadly Years, then skipping ahead several more months. In this time the Klingons manipulate the Romulan Commander's family and the Praetor so that the Commander's son ends up inheriting the praetorship (with a built in hatred for the Federation so the Klingons can use the Romulans as a weapon and get round the Organian Peace Treaty)
• Schism will continue on from there showing the end of the alliance.

[EmperorKalan]

Christopher wrote:

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Memory Alpha calls Schism the conclusion. And since the usual trade paperback collection is 5-6 issues, I'd imagine that after the success of Byrne's first two Romulan stories, IDW probably commissioned Schism specifically in order to fill out the story enough to give it a full TPB of its own.

According to Byrne on his blog:

Once SCHISM has been published, the whole Romulan Saga that began in ALIEN SPOTLIGHT will be collected into a trade paperback. There's one "chapter" missing, of course, and that's the original "Balance of Terror" episode. So, for the trade, I am doing a Romulan's side "adaptation" of that episode.

A sample page of the Romulan Commander speaking with Kirk follows that announcement, and can be seen at:
http://www.byrnerobotics.com/forum/f...557&PN=1&TPN=1

[Jbarney]

8of5 wrote:

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If this helps at all, a little timeline (I've not read Vanguard yet so taking the Vrax info as described by others):

• 2265:Vrax is Praetor per Vanguard
• unseen: Vrax is killed by his son "Smirky" who takes the Praetorship
• late-2265/early-2266: Edginton Alien Spotlight, featuring tests of "ghost ships" in Romulan space
• 2266: Byrne's Alien Spotlight, ghost ship development appears to be complete, leading straight into Balance of Terror
• Balance of Terror
• 2266-2268: The Hollow Crown. Starting shortly after Balance of Terror, then skipping ahead to The Deadly Years, then skipping ahead several more months. In this time the Klingons manipulate the Romulan Commander's family and the Praetor so that the Commander's son ends up inheriting the praetorship (with a built in hatred for the Federation so the Klingons can use the Romulans as a weapon and get round the Organian Peace Treaty)
• Schism will continue on from there showing the end of the alliance.

I read the 2 issue Hollow Crown last night before bed. It was a timeliner's delight!!! What you have here works, but one of the problems with the first issue is the flow of events as depicted. The story is fine, but a number of months seems to flow by just moving from one panel to the next a couple of different times. The 2nd issue was within a more constrained time period.

For what its worth, Koloth's depiction as being a captain directly after "Balance of Terror" is not compatiable with Kevin Ryan's Errand of Vengeance Trilogy. In that story Koloth doesn't rise to the rank of captain until weeks after "Balance of Terror".

[Therin of Andor]

DarkHorizon wrote:

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The other was released in the second volume in 2009, and is by Ian Edginton.

"Was" in Volume 2?

That reprint omnibus hasn't even been published yet, as "Alien Spotlight: Cardassians" isn't due out as an individual issue until September.