The old comic books are online

[Christopher]

Interesting, Uhura is probably a European with an African name; or a bi-racial Euro-African with very prominant Caucasian features...or a woman who hailed from Africa and had an African name passed down from generation to generation...i.e. a different version of Charlize Theron.

Actually "Uhura" isn't a real African surname, but a coinage created by adding a Latin feminine suffix to the Swahili word uhuru. So it's not pinned to a particular ethnicity, and indeed it smacks of European influence. It could've been that this rather Nordic-looking woman's ancestors simply chose to change their family name to something inspired by a Swahili word. (Or she married into a family that did.)

....And 'Sulu' is now an Afro-Asian....

You don't even need the Asian part. Sulu is actually a valid Nigerian personal name. At least, there's an Emir of Nigeria named Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari. (And as far as I can tell, it isn't a valid Asian personal name. It's the name of a sea and a province in the Philippines, but I can't find any indication of its use as a personal name there. And it sure as hell isn't a Japanese name.)

 

[Joel_Kirk]

Interesting, Uhura is probably a European with an African name; or a bi-racial Euro-African with very prominant Caucasian features...or a woman who hailed from Africa and had an African name passed down from generation to generation...i.e. a different version of Charlize Theron.

Actually "Uhura" isn't a real African surname, but a coinage created by adding a Latin feminine suffix to the Swahili word uhuru. So it's not pinned to a particular ethnicity, and indeed it smacks of European influence. It could've been that this rather Nordic-looking woman's ancestors simply chose to change their family name to something inspired by a Swahili word. (Or she married into a family that did.)

....And 'Sulu' is now an Afro-Asian....

You don't even need the Asian part. Sulu is actually a valid Nigerian personal name. At least, there's an Emir of Nigeria named Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari. (And as far as I can tell, it isn't a valid Asian personal name. It's the name of a sea and a province in the Philippines, but I can't find any indication of its use as a personal name there. And it sure as hell isn't a Japanese name.)

Interesting opinions...

...but I don't mind if there was a Caucasian woman with an African name, who also had African roots; and I also don't mind if there is an Afro-Asian....

Both of which I have yet to see in Trek.

Unfortunately we can't name them differently, since these are supposed to be alternates of the characters Uhura and Sulu, which are respectively: African and Asian/Japanese characters...

 

[Christopher]

I'm not saying I mind the existence of an Afro-Asian; the main character in the first story I ever sold fit that description. I wasn't expressing any sort of opinion or judgment, merely pointing out that it wasn't essential to assume the Power Records' black Sulu had any Asian heritage, or that their blonde Uhura had any African heritage, because neither of their names actually exist in the cultures they supposedly come from. Plus I found it an interesting coincidence that Sulu actually could be a legitimate African name, so I thought it would be interesting to comment on. That's all.

And of course there are plenty of light-skinned people from Africa; it's the most ethnically diverse continent on Earth, far more so than most Americans have any inkling of. Although I think natural blondes would be pretty scarce. But there's always dye.

 

[Joel_Kirk]

I'm not saying I mind the existence of an Afro-Asian; the main character in the first story I ever sold fit that description. I wasn't expressing any sort of opinion or judgment, merely pointing out that it wasn't essential to assume the Power Records' black Sulu had any Asian heritage, or that their blonde Uhura had any African heritage, because neither of their names actually exist in the cultures they supposedly come from. Plus I found it an interesting coincidence that Sulu actually could be a legitimate African name, so I thought it would be interesting to comment on. That's all.

Fair enough...

And of course there are plenty of light-skinned people from Africa; it's the most ethnically diverse continent on Earth, far more so than most Americans have any inkling of. Although I think natural blondes would be pretty scarce. But there's always dye.

Indeed.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Here's one from the old Peter Pan Records days:

To paraphrase Guy from Galaxy Quest; Did any these artists actually watch the show?

IIRC, and I could be wrong, but wasn't the artist on some of these books Neal Adams (one of DC's great artist -- Superman, Batman, Green Lantern/Green Arrow). I loved these when I was four because it looked so much like the show except for the secondary characters. It may have been a rights issue and the company may have had the rights only to Shatner, Nimoy and Kelly's likeness and had to fudge the rest. In one comic, they had a green M'Ress and a blond-human Arex.

That ain't Neal Adams. Not sure who drew it, but it sure as hell ain't Neal Adams.

The above image is from "A Passage to Mouav", I believe. According to the Star Trek Comic Checklist, Russ Heath, Dick Giordano, and Neal Adams were the artist on that book, with a cover by Adams. Of course, Adams may have provided the inks or Heath, or none at all. Giordano may have done the pencils, or Adams or Heath. On books with several artist, the work is usually broken down. So I can't say with certainty.

So yes, that image may "sure as hell ain't Neal Adams." However, there are certain artistic strokes that have similarities to Adams other comic work in the 70s/80s, particularly in the stances and proportions of the people in the panel. There is also a strong Giordano artistic imprint in the face of "Sulu".

In any case, Neal Adams did work on several Power Record/Peter Pan albums, mainly covers. Moreover, according to nealadams.com, he did do the inks for "A Mission For Futility."

 

[Captain Robert April]

Looks more like Giordano's inks over that Heath guy. Adams probably did the cover.

 

[JoeD80]

You don't even need the Asian part. Sulu is actually a valid Nigerian personal name. At least, there's an Emir of Nigeria named Ibrahim Sulu-Gambari. (And as far as I can tell, it isn't a valid Asian personal name. It's the name of a sea and a province in the Philippines, but I can't find any indication of its use as a personal name there. And it sure as hell isn't a Japanese name.)

The name Sulu came about as a variation on the name Solow; named for Herbert F. Solow who worked on the show.

 

[Christopher]

^Yes, I know. Herbert F. Solow was specifically the Desilu executive who bought the show and developed it with Roddenberry. So it's not so much that he "worked on the show" as that the people who worked on the show worked for him.

 

[JoeD80]

Would that not still count as working on the show if the other people working on the show worked for him? I would consider my supervisor to be involved with my projects even though he's a supervisor and I'm the one doing the work. If I'm on writing staff and I'm reporting to someone else, that someone else is working on the show from my perspective. As I understand it, the major decisions (script approval, casting, EFX companies, etc.) had to go through Solow.

 

[Christopher]

^Well, out of context, the phrase "working on the show" implies someone down in the trenches. I just wanted to clarify Solow's position for readers of this thread who might have been misled by that description.

 

[Captain Robert April]

I think the quibble is the either/or proposition we keep getting when it comes to Sulu's name. I think it's a mixture of both. I have no doubt that Roddenberry got the idea from the Sulu Sea, possibly having the name filed away in the back of his mind from his time flying B-17's in the South Pacific during WWII. Solow sees the name, thinks it's a reference to him, Roddenberry figures, "Okay, Herb, if that makes you happy, fine, he's named after you" and doesn't make any real effort to correct him.