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"The Newspaper Strips Vol. 1" hardcover book (oct.2012)

Judging from the preview images, and having never read any of these comics, it appears that they are based on the era of Star Trek: The Motion Picture--so, what I'm asking is this: is it kind of like reading a comic version of the aborted Phase II series? I mean, it seems that Ilia is there--is Decker?

I'm not exactly expecting total literary genius out of a newspaper comic (although it happens from time to time), but can anyone tell me what this strip is like?
 
Minuet said:
Judging from the preview images, and having never read any of these comics, it appears that they are based on the era of Star Trek: The Motion Picture--so, what I'm asking is this: is it kind of like reading a comic version of the aborted Phase II series? I mean, it seems that Ilia is there--is Decker?

I'm not exactly expecting total literary genius out of a newspaper comic (although it happens from time to time), but can anyone tell me what this strip is like?
Click to expand...

Ilia is only there because at the time the strip was being put together, no one told them that Ilia wasn't going to survive the movie. They stopped showing her fairly quickly when they realized. Decker doesn't appear at all, IIRC.

The art and stories are both very well done, especially in the first few years (which are the ones collected in this volume) when it was written and drawn by Thomas Warkentin. The art has a lot of attention to detail-- far more than was done in the Marvel comics of the time period, imho. There are also quite a few nods to the TV series, most notably the frequent use of the phaser rifle from "Where No Man Has Gone Before." And the stories are well written, with a good balance of exploring and action.

The quality of the writing and art starts to drop when Warkentin left, but they're still enjoyable reading. Volume 1 collects all of Warkentin's stories, so it's definitely the volume to get.

And I have to agree with Allyn Gibson, this book is a beauty. My copy arrived yesterday as well, and it was very much worth the wait!
 
Fer said:
no one told them that Ilia wasn't going to survive the movie. They stopped showing her fairly quickly when they realized. Decker doesn't appear at all, IIRC.
Click to expand...

In the script of "In Thy Image" sold by Lincoln Enterprises in the 80s, the Ilia Probe reverts to a small, burnt-out, inert piece of gadgetry when Decker transcends our universe with V'ger. Then the real Ilia materialises. Thomas Warkentin would have assumed this ending was being used for TMP. (Had the telemovie been followed by regular episodes of "Phase II", which ever script was chosen to be episode #2 would have had a revised opening, with Decker finding a way back to the ship. )

My copy arrived yesterday as well, and it was very much worth the wait!
Click to expand...
Sigh. Kings Comics' shipment was divided up by Australian Customs - and guess which box was retained by them for a fine-tooth pre-Christmas search?

Minuet said:
but can anyone tell me what this strip is like?
Click to expand...

I loved it! Caught up with many strips in 1984 thanks to the "Nostalgiaworld" reprints.

An interesting old review:

http://strippersguide.blogspot.com.au/2011/05/obscurity-of-day-star-trek.html
 
This edition's quite a beauty. Excited to get into now that my grading is done and I have some free time.

I was quite impressed by the art, too. For newspaper strips of that era they have a fairly high quality threshold.
 
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