Khan #1 Review

[Villordsutch]

Hello all please find below my review of Khan#1

"Shall we begin?"

A few of you may remember when this comic was first mentioned a few months back on Flickering Myth. Though the cynicism spewed from my mouth about rehashing of Khan’s history (as a Star Trek fan I’m more than aware that Paramount is looking for more ways to milk the cash from us) I was still interested in reading this comic. I rather enjoyed Star Trek Into Darkness and also Khan 2.0 - yes Ricardo Montalban with his few lines still wears the badge that reads, “I am THE Khan!”, however Benedict Cumberbatch is still a good Khan for me. When I buy this copy I may have to resort to asking the store owner to put it in a brown paper bag before I leave, just so I don’t get spat on by my fellow Trekkies.

Starting with Khan’s trial (I’m guessing before he was frozen and stored in a Big Yellow Storage lock up warehouse), the question is raised why Khan 2.0 looks different from the Khan 1.0, whi

Full review can be found here - http://www.flickeringmyth.com/2013/10/comic-book-review-star-trek-khan-1.html

 

[F. King Daniel]

So it looks like they're actually going the plastic surgery route to explain the recasting? Lame.

Up next, a three part epic explaining why Leonard Nimoy's Spock has earlobes when Zachary Quinto's doesn't.

 

[Paris]

So it looks like they're actually going the plastic surgery route to explain the recasting? Lame.

Up next, a three part epic explaining why Leonard Nimoy's Spock has earlobes when Zachary Quinto's doesn't.

QFT. I liked the IDW trek when it first started, but with what has come out lately, i've dropped them completely. First time in years I won't be getting their trek books. Hopefully the quality goes back up soon so i can come back..

 

[Therin of Andor]

So it looks like they're actually going the plastic surgery route to explain the recasting? Lame.

We've just had several months of fans demanding to know why the movie didn't attempt to explain the physical differences between the two Khans, and now someone tries to provide the answer (that many of us suggested), it's "lame"?

Kobayashi Maru.

 

[F. King Daniel]

So it looks like they're actually going the plastic surgery route to explain the recasting? Lame.

We've just had several months of fans demanding to know why the movie didn't attempt to explain the physical differences between the two Khans, and now someone tries to provide the answer (that many of us suggested), it's "lame"?

Kobayashi Maru.

I was never one of those. I thought it equally stupid when the post-ENT novels tried to explain why the prequel series looked "more advanced" than TOS by saying the technology really was downgraded.

I personally find Khan's original backstory so flawed that attempting to reconcile the new with it's broken assumptions to be a waste of time. Marla was clearly the worst historian in Starfleet - nobody with even the most basic knowledge of Sikhism would ever see the clean-shaven, waxed-chested Ricardo Montalban and think he was a Sikh. Furthermore, they retconned Khan's ethnicity in STII by dropping the skin darkening makeup used in Space Seed and turning all his followers into young Aryans.

And of course, made in a test tube, he can be any colour his designers intended.

 

[Hartzilla2007]

So it looks like they're actually going the plastic surgery route to explain the recasting? Lame.

We've just had several months of fans demanding to know why the movie didn't attempt to explain the physical differences between the two Khans, and now someone tries to provide the answer (that many of us suggested), it's "lame"?

Kobayashi Maru.

I was never one of those. I thought it equally stupid when the post-ENT novels tried to explain why the prequel series looked "more advanced" than TOS by saying the technology really was downgraded.

I personally find Khan's original backstory so flawed that attempting to reconcile the new with it's broken assumptions to be a waste of time. Marla was clearly the worst historian in Starfleet - nobody with even the most basic knowledge of Sikhism would ever see the clean-shaven, waxed-chested Ricardo Montalban and think he was a Sikh. Furthermore, they retconned Khan's ethnicity in STII by dropping the skin darkening makeup used in Space Seed and turning all his followers into young Aryans.

And of course, made in a test tube, he can be any colour his designers intended.

Not to mention the whole Klingon thing. Seriously why do waste time explaining this stuff just because of the anal Star Trek fans whine so much?

 

[Mad Jack Wolfe]

So they were genetically engineering their street orphans in 1971 New Delhi? Sounds like something out of a sci-fi mashup with Charles Dickens. Oliver Double-Helix, anyone?

 

[Therin of Andor]

Not to mention the whole Klingon thing. Seriously why do waste time explaining this stuff just because of the anal Star Trek fans whine so much?

Generally, writers write the stories they wish they could read.

When writers choose not to try "explaining this stuff", other anal Star Trek fans whine. So the writers may as well keep writing what they want to read. And hope that it sells.

I personally find Khan's original backstory so flawed that attempting to reconcile the new with it's broken assumptions to be a waste of time.

So stop buying them.

Are you saying that IDW should just ignore "Into Darkness" altogether? Not even try to put out comics that tie-in to Khan?

Of course IDW is putting out "Into Darkness"-related mini-series. The "Nero" series did well for them after the 2009 series, AFAIK, better than many of their other IDW mini-series.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I'm not buying them, at least not until the TPB is cheap. And I'm not saying they should ignore ID at all, just that they should stick with the new version of the character and and work backwards from there, and not pander to the fans who probably don't even know what a Sikh is while complaining furiously that Cumberbatch's Khan isn't one.

 

[Christopher]

^How is it "pandering?" It's always been the intention of these creators that the new timeline is an offshoot of the original, so what was true about Khan in TOS should still be true about him here. That's the premise they've been working from all along, so they're just being consistent within their own body of work.

 

[Therin of Andor]

and not pander to the fans...

For every fan who says that Paramount/Bad Robot/CBS/Pocket/IDW shouldn't "pander to the fans", there's another who complains they "don't listen to the fans".

 

[drumvan]

and not pander to the fans...

For every fan who says that Paramount/Bad Robot/CBS/Pocket/IDW shouldn't "pander to the fans", there's another who complains they "don't listen to the fans".

preach it.

 

[CaptPapa]

^How is it "pandering?" It's always been the intention of these creators that the new timeline is an offshoot of the original, so what was true about Khan in TOS should still be true about him here. That's the premise they've been working from all along, so they're just being consistent within their own body of work.

This begins to address a question I've had, or better yet, I haven't understood. I'm not a fan of the alternate timeline, so I'm ignorant of the 'reality' of it. I thought that since the timeline separated, this new timeline could do whatever it wanted to with events and people, irrespective of established 'history'. Which is why (among other things) I didn't understand the necessity to explain the differences between the Khan appearing in Space Seed/Wrath of Khan, and the Khan appearing in STID.

 

[Christopher]

This begins to address a question I've had, or better yet, I haven't understood. I'm not a fan of the alternate timeline, so I'm ignorant of the 'reality' of it. I thought that since the timeline separated, this new timeline could do whatever it wanted to with events and people, irrespective of established 'history'. Which is why (among other things) I didn't understand the necessity to explain the differences between the Khan appearing in Space Seed/Wrath of Khan, and the Khan appearing in STID.

The altered timeline was created by Nero's ship, the Narada, traveling back to March 2233 and attacking the USS Kelvin. That began a new, altered sequence of events, so a new timeline branched off from the original at that moment. Anything that comes afterward is subject to change. But that didn't alter anything that happened before March 2233. Everything prior to that date is supposed to be the same.

Here's IDW's own chart showing how the one timeline branches into two:

http://www.idwpublishing.com/startrek/timelines.php

Basically it's a Y shape, a fork in the road. Go back before 2233 and there's only the one timeline (well, there are plenty of other parallel ones, but they're not relevant for our purposes).

 

[CaptPapa]

^ Okay, that's pretty clear, thanks.

Keeping in mind I've only watched ST09 a couple of times, and STID not at all; how is nuSpock's emotionalism explained? Vulcan's emotional control obviously extents back before 2233; or is that one of the things that was changed after the new timeline was created? If so, I missed the explanation.

And, if this is covered (probably) in detail elsewhere, I can pass on the subject. I don't care for nuTrek; my only real interest being Leonard Nimoy's participation. This particular discussion is just curiosity - if it's a problem or going to far off track we can pass.

 

[Christopher]

^ Okay, that's pretty clear, thanks.

Keeping in mind I've only watched ST09 a couple of times, and STID not at all; how is nuSpock's emotionalism explained? Vulcan's emotional control obviously extents back before 2233; or is that one of the things that was changed after the new timeline was created? If so, I missed the explanation.

First off: Look at "The Cage," which is set about four years before the 2009 movie (albeit in a different timeline). In that pilot episode, Spock smiles openly. In many of the early episodes, he's more overtly emotional than he later became. Maybe the younger Spock was just less controlled than he became later in life. A lot of people seem to overlook that these movies are depicting younger versions of the characters than the ones we saw in TOS. The time frame of the Abrams movies is about halfway between "The Cage" and "Where No Man Has Gone Before." ("The Cage" was 2254, WNM was 2265, and the movies have taken place mainly in 2258-60.)

Second: Spock saw his mother and his whole planet die right in front of him. It should be self-evident why he would be, in his elder self's words, "emotionally compromised" after such a horrific tragedy.

 

[DarKush]

I enjoyed this first issue. I thought the artwork was good for the most part and I liked the story. I'm fine with the plastic surgery route. I'm glad they did address the differences in appearance between old and new Khan. I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the miniseries.

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

This begins to address a question I've had, or better yet, I haven't understood. I'm not a fan of the alternate timeline, so I'm ignorant of the 'reality' of it. I thought that since the timeline separated, this new timeline could do whatever it wanted to with events and people, irrespective of established 'history'. Which is why (among other things) I didn't understand the necessity to explain the differences between the Khan appearing in Space Seed/Wrath of Khan, and the Khan appearing in STID.

The altered timeline was created by Nero's ship, the Narada, traveling back to March 2233 and attacking the USS Kelvin. That began a new, altered sequence of events, so a new timeline branched off from the original at that moment. Anything that comes afterward is subject to change. But that didn't alter anything that happened before March 2233. Everything prior to that date is supposed to be the same.

Here's IDW's own chart showing how the one timeline branches into two:

http://www.idwpublishing.com/startrek/timelines.php

Basically it's a Y shape, a fork in the road. Go back before 2233 and there's only the one timeline (well, there are plenty of other parallel ones, but they're not relevant for our purposes).

But one (admittedly fannish) thing I started wondering about since nuTrek premiered has been this:

The Narada is the branching point. So everything thereafter will be different. But consider the series Enterprise that would be a common history for both timelines. Important events in Enterprise spin out from the "Temporal Cold War", where the mysterious players are from further into the future than the TOS / TNG eras. How could those events in Enterprise be the same if the Temporal Cold War futures of Prime Trek and nuTrek are different?

Not being argumentative or anything; I'm just throwing out a thought for discussion.

 

[Christopher]

The Narada is the branching point. So everything thereafter will be different. But consider the series Enterprise that would be a common history for both timelines. Important events in Enterprise spin out from the "Temporal Cold War", where the mysterious players are from further into the future than the TOS / TNG eras. How could those events in Enterprise be the same if the Temporal Cold War futures of Prime Trek and nuTrek are different?

Not being argumentative or anything; I'm just throwing out a thought for discussion.

It was never conclusively established that Daniels's future was the same one we saw in TOS through VGR. It had a lot in common with it, but we never really got proof. Heck, we know that the timeline created by the events of ENT was different from Daniels's original timeline. Yet the intention of ENT's producers was to show the events that led to the creation of the Prime history we know, as season 4 in particular makes rather clear. So Daniels may have come from a very similar timeline to the one we know, but not the exact same one.

And really, it stands to reason that a temporal war would involve factions not only from different times, but from different timelines. After all, it's not like there are only the two. Different factions could've been fighting for the survival or dominance of their own timelines at the expense of others.

 

[Julio Angel Ortiz]

^ Works for me.