IDW Star Trek Ongoing...

[WarsTrek1993]

Sto-Vo-Kory wrote:

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This is my first time trying the spoiler feature, so please forgive me if I mess it up:

The issue begins with Scotty and McCoy musing on the idea of multiple universes which cuts to the "nuMirror-verse" and the rest of the issue is devoted solely to the mirror nuTrek cast's adventure, a story very reminiscent of the ENT episode In A Mirror Darkly both in style (no nuTrek characters involved in the proceedings) and content (the theft of a ship from a different universe -- in this case, Nero's mining vessel). Definitely a "nu" take on the mirror universe with some nicely redesigned mirror-verse uniforms. Oh, and Gorkon drops by for an appearance. Can't wait to see where the story goes in part two!

Wow. I've never been a fan of these NuTrek comics, but that actually sounds epic!

[serenitytrek1]

Sto-Vo-Kory wrote:

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This is my first time trying the spoiler feature, so please forgive me if I mess it up:

The issue begins with Scotty and McCoy musing on the idea of multiple universes which cuts to the "nuMirror-verse" and the rest of the issue is devoted solely to the mirror nuTrek cast's adventure, a story very reminiscent of the ENT episode In A Mirror Darkly both in style (no nuTrek characters involved in the proceedings) and content (the theft of a ship from a different universe -- in this case, Nero's mining vessel). Definitely a "nu" take on the mirror universe with some nicely redesigned mirror-verse uniforms. Oh, and Gorkon drops by for an appearance. Can't wait to see where the story goes in part two!

okay cool, However I have a question,

I saw Kirk with a scar in one of the previews, it so funny and weird at the same time because it reminded me of Anakin Skywalker in Revenge of the Sith..

My question is how did it get it?

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

As far as the scar goes, the story gives no explanation.

Jerome Bixby gets credit on the title page as does Mirror, Mirror for the basis of the story but I think "adaptation" could only be used in the loosest sense. Maybe part two will see some crossover between the universes, but I'd bet that the crews remain separate for the remainder of the storyline with the regular Scotty and McCoy conversation serving as bookends to the mirror-verse tale. Just my guess.

[Christopher]

Some of these seem to be "adaptations" only in the loose sense of telling a different story built around the same idea as a TOS episode. I think there was an earlier issue involving tribbles that wasn't the same story as "The Trouble With Tribbles" -- and their first original story in issues 7-8 could be seen as a thematic parallel to "Balance of Terror" since it involved the first UFP/Romulan conflict since the war, and did involve a ship crossing the Neutral Zone with warlike intent, although it was in the other direction.

[Pauln6]

I thought the Keenser story was weak compared to the redshirt story. It felt like an incredibly childish fable. We have disability discrimination legislation in Europe where employers have to make reasonable adaptations to the workplace yet a high tech spaceship with a history of anti-grav units makes an employee climb on a box? Shoddy. I was surprised that he's a lieutenant though, given the way that he is treated. I don't know if this is intentional or if it's a symptom of the writers ongoing obsession with the officer classes without giving much thought to the logistics of being an officer.

The Mirror story was good fun though. It will be a shame if it's just a 2-part story but they might revisit it in later stories I guess. Let's see if they can make the Narada fun and fill in some of the silly gaps from the movie. I wonder if Mirror SpockPrime will make an appearance in a cave?

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

Christopher wrote:

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Some of these seem to be "adaptations" only in the loose sense of telling a different story built around the same idea as a TOS episode. I think there was an earlier issue involving tribbles that wasn't the same story as "The Trouble With Tribbles" -- and their first original story in issues 7-8 could be seen as a thematic parallel to "Balance of Terror" since it involved the first UFP/Romulan conflict since the war, and did involve a ship crossing the Neutral Zone with warlike intent, although it was in the other direction.

I like this approach to their "adaptations": they're familiar enough to cue up recognition in the long-time fans while having enough new elements or perspectives to make it interesting for those same long-time fans. It also helps the comic creators to side-step the differing timeframe issue of when the prime stories took place versus when the nuTrek stories are happening.

The comic series itself has been improving in large measures by avoiding the more straight adaptation stories of its beginning run of issues. The creators have been very successful with their recent standalone issues (the Keenser and red shirt stories) and I'm glad to see them experimenting more with the format in the solo-focusing issues that will lead up to the new movie.

All in all, the Star Trek ongoing is a fun read each month and I encourage anyone that didn't initially enjoy the book to give it another try. In particular, I recommend issues 13, 14 or the most recent issue, 15.

[Fer]

I can write off that the nu-Mirror-universe Enterprise looks like the 1701-A due to it being an alternate timeline. And I can easily disregard that the nu-1701 looks like it as an error.

But I have to admit, the ship is just plain drawn inconsistently. On page 19, the hull says NCC-1701-D on it, but the "D" is then gone on page 22. On page 15 the nacelle struts have extra angles to them and the nacelles themselves are rectangular but curved, but on page 22, they're all back to looking exactly like the 1701-A.

I'm totally cool with the nu-Mirror Enterprise being a unique design designated 1701-D... originally I simply figured this mirror universe went through their Enterprises a lot faster, which works for a warlike culture. But that last page pretty much throws all that out the window, and gives me the feeling that the artist was using the 1701-A as a reference but simply never drew it the same way twice.

But since the ship got blown up at the end, it doesn't really matter anymore anyway.

I did enjoy the story itself, and I'm glad it's not a straight-up adaptation of "Mirror, Mirror." It feels a little similar to the "Mirror Images" mini-series IDW back in 2008, but that's kind of inevitable given the nature of the characters. All in all i enjoyed it, although perhaps not as much as the previous six issues or so.

[WarsTrek1993]

Fer wrote:

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I can write off that the nu-Mirror-universe Enterprise looks like the 1701-A due to it being an alternate timeline. And I can easily disregard that the nu-1701 looks like it as an error.

It would make sense if the ENT mirror design is different-looking. If I remember right, the ENT-D from TNG: Dark Mirror was actually supposed to resemble a Sovereign-class. (Albeit a LOT bigger!)

[Therin of Andor]

You can get these at most comic shops, although you won't always find lots of IDW comics as back issues on shelves because shops tend to under-order these days. (You can also buy digital versions from IDW's online facility, IIRC.)

I pre-order each issue to guarantee getting them each month.

The full list of "ST Ongoing" is here, although a bit confusing with all the multiple covers getting coverage. Keep scrolling!
http://www.startrekcomics.info/idwstongoing.html

After the current "Mirror, Mirror"-inspired two-parter, they move to solo-focused origin stories. First McCoy, then Uhura.

Sto-Vo-Kory wrote:

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The comic series itself has been improving in large measures by avoiding the more straight adaptation stories of its beginning run of issues. The creators have been very successful with their recent standalone issues (the Keenser and red shirt stories)

IIRC, this was always the plan. I recall an early interview with Bob Orci saying that the first few stories would be very similar to TOS stories, but then they would slowly move to being less-direct retellings, plus original stories.

[Christopher]

WarsTrek1993 wrote:

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If I remember right, the ENT-D from TNG: Dark Mirror was actually supposed to resemble a Sovereign-class. (Albeit a LOT bigger!)

That's sort of a misleading way of putting it, because the book was written before there was a Sovereign class. Probably more apt to say that it was described in a way that, in retrospect, is reminiscent of a bigger Sovvie.

[King Daniel]

WarsTrek1993 wrote:

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It would make sense if the ENT mirror design is different-looking. If I remember right, the ENT-D from TNG: Dark Mirror was actually supposed to resemble a Sovereign-class. (Albeit a LOT bigger!)

Not a Sovereign-class, because Dark Mirror pre-dates Star Trek: First Contact by two years. But I was always fascinted by the Diane Duane's vivid description of the Mirror-1701-D (p. 61/62):

It was the Enterprise. But not his Enterprise. It had a dark grey, even enlarged, a gunmetal color, cool and unfriendly. The design was overtly the same - the great sloped disc of the primary hull, the nacelles, the secondary hull all where they were supposed to be. But the secondary hull seemed larger; the nacelles were raked farther forward, and lower. The primary hull's curve was deeper and now had a frowning look about it. If ships had expressions, this one had it's eyes narrowed. It was a cruel look, and intimidating.

Sent chills up my spine when I first read it.

[Christopher]

^Yeah, that doesn't really sound like a giant Sovereign to me. Just a distorted Galaxy. Don't the Sovvie's nacelles rake further back, not forward?

[WarsTrek1993]

KingDaniel wrote:

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Not a Sovereign-class, because Dark Mirror pre-dates Star Trek: First Contact by two years. But I was always fascinted by the Diane Duane's vivid description of the Mirror-1701-D (p. 61/62):

It was the Enterprise. But not his Enterprise. It had a dark grey, even enlarged, a gunmetal color, cool and unfriendly. The design was overtly the same - the great sloped disc of the primary hull, the nacelles, the secondary hull all where they were supposed to be. But the secondary hull seemed larger; the nacelles were raked farther forward, and lower. The primary hull's curve was deeper and now had a frowning look about it. If ships had expressions, this one had it's eyes narrowed. It was a cruel look, and intimidating.

Sent chills up my spine when I first read it.

I stand corrected, though it might at least have some elements of a Sov.

By the way, that description of the mirror ISS-D is beyond epic.

[The Wormhole]

Part 1 of the Mirror Universe story was pretty good, even if it feels like a retread of Enterprise's MU two-parter. I'ma bit annoyed at how Nero's presence is just glossed over. This should be huge. Where did he come from? Is he from the traditional MU, and is there a chance that MU Nimoy Spock could show up?

Artwork goofs, however:
-The aforementioned TMP-TUC Constitution design being on page 1, which is set in the main Abramsverse.
-Page 3 which features a drawing of Scotty Prime has him wearing an Abramsverse uniform.
-The Enterprise's registry number is NCC-1701-D.
-The Enterprise's bridge stations have 24th century LCARS display. Oddly enough, they did this in the Tribble story too.

[King Daniel]

The Wormhole wrote:

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-The Enterprise's bridge stations have 24th century LCARS display. Oddly enough, they did this in the Tribble story too.

IDW do this a lot. In one of their TOS comics from years ago, the entire desktop control surfaces on the Original Series Enterprise bridge were covered in Next Generation-style computer displays. It looked quite bizarre.

I'm guessing they Google or use whatever's available. Countdown, for example, used graphics from the Starfleet Command videogames on the Enterprise-E, which worked well. And Nero's maps of Federation space in his Rura Penthe cell were from the 1980 Star Trek Maps (I absolutely loved seeing them! They even had correct locations for an escape from Klingon space and a trip to Vulcan)

I guess it's about how much of a Trekkie the artist is as to how well it works for us die-hards.