Art in Star Trek Comics

[Allyn Gibson]

Can anyone include an image that shows an example of what they mean?

I was trying to embed an image from my website, but TrekBBS won't let me. Anyhoo... a few years ago I did a deep-dive into the USS Surak, Spock's command from DC Comics' first series, which might or might not be an Oberth, as she changed from issue to issue, sometimes from panel to panel! (Personally, I think @JSnaith's McCaffrey-class is what the Surak would have looked like in "real life.")

It wasn't just ships. Tom Sutton's version of Spacedock is similar but completely different to what we saw in Star Trek III.

As @Avro Arrow said above, the art "had a certain charm." It made sense to me, the way Vonda McIntyre's The Entropy Effect or Diane Duane's 80s novels made sense to me as Star Trek, even if they weren't quite the universe the way it appeared on television.

 

[Therin of Andor]

As @Avro Arrow said above, the art "had a certain charm." It made sense to me, the way Vonda McIntyre's The Entropy Effect or Diane Duane's 80s novels made sense to me as Star Trek, even if they weren't quite the universe the way it appeared on television.

I thought it was amusing when it was revealed in the comic that Kruge's vessel from ST III was being stored in the Excelsior's shuttlebay, ready for some emergency cloaked action before ST IV commenced. IIRC.

 

[Christopher]

I thought it was amusing when it was revealed in the comic that Kruge's vessel from ST III was being stored in the Excelsior's shuttlebay, ready for some emergency cloaked action before ST IV commenced. IIRC.

I just found it annoying, because the BoP is way too big to fit in a shuttlebay.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I thought it was amusing when it was revealed in the comic that Kruge's vessel from ST III was being stored in the Excelsior's shuttlebay, ready for some emergency cloaked action before ST IV commenced. IIRC.

That was Gray Morrow. Previously, it had been clamped to the underside of the Excelsior's secondary hull. Even when the Excelsior returns to Spacedock in issue #16, the Bird-of-Prey is docked underneath. It's not colored green, but it appears to be there in Tom Sutton's art.

But that raises the question of why didn't Starfleet Intelligence seize the Bird-of-Prey at that point? Even if she were in the shuttlebay, it doesn't make sense that Grand Admiral Turner would let Kirk run off with the vessel. I'm sure they fished it out of San Francisco Bay after Star Trek IV, but they could have had their hands on it months earlier...

I just found it annoying, because the BoP is way too big to fit in a shuttlebay.

I can buy it, based solely on how massive Sutton and Morrow drew the Excelsior. In the films, the ship obviously is not that massive. In the comics, however, it's a monster.

 

[Christopher]

I can buy it, based solely on how massive Sutton and Morrow drew the Excelsior. In the films, the ship obviously is not that massive. In the comics, however, it's a monster.

But as you say, Sutton and Villagran correctly drew the BoP as large enough to have to be moored in the Excelsior's undercut during the Mirror Universe Saga. A work of fiction needs to be consistent within itself, even if it differs from other works.

 

[F. King Daniel]

The DC comics art never bothered me, it was just stylized. The wonky Excelsior was a feature, like the Hungry Enterprise from the old Book and Record comics.

What did and does always annoy me is when they use the wrong ship. DC with the Surak, and IDW with... well...

They trace fan art and pass it off as their own. Worse still, it's always the WRONG Enterprise or some unique fan interpretation of the Enterprise they do it on. I recall one extremely obvious example of this back in Star Trek Ongoing. These would also often swap the Kelvinverse Enterprise for the classic movie iteration or in once instance, Gabe Koerner's old BSG-syle reimagined version.

The Strange New Worlds' comics frequently use the incorrect Enterprise as well, usually the TOS version crops up.

I once saw an IDW TOS comics where the bridge was covered in TNG LCARS graphics and it... hurt.

 

[Tosk]

One thing Ongoing used to do that bugged me was that one of the artists would use very obvious photo reference for the characters, but without any mind to continuity. You'd see Kirk switch back and forth between his '09 and Into Darkness haircuts from panel to panel. I guess they never even noticed they were different.

The Strange New Worlds' comics frequently use the incorrect Enterprise as well, usually the TOS version crops up.

 

[Stevil2001]

In the frame story to the Kelvinverse mirror universe story, the Enterprise is very obviously the TMP refit.

One thing Ongoing used to do that bugged me was that one of the artists would use very obvious photo reference for the characters, but without any mind to continuity. You'd see Kirk switch back and forth between his '09 and Into Darkness haircuts from panel to panel. I guess they never even noticed they were different.


View attachment 52023View attachment 52024

Ouch.

 

[DarrenTR1970]

The first Strange New Worlds miniseries from IDW, the artist used a photo of the Seattle skyline, with a few tweaks, to represent an alien city.
The Space Needle and the observation deck were dead giveaways.

 

[JD]

They trace fan art and pass it off as their own. Worse still, it's always the WRONG Enterprise or some unique fan interpretation of the Enterprise they do it on. I recall one extremely obvious example of this back in Star Trek Ongoing. These would also often swap the Kelvinverse Enterprise for the classic movie iteration or in once instance, Gabe Koerner's old BSG-syle reimagined version.

The Strange New Worlds' comics frequently use the incorrect Enterprise as well, usually the TOS version crops up.

I once saw an IDW TOS comics where the bridge was covered in TNG LCARS graphics and it... hurt.

I'm a little surprised the editors would miss this, I think this would be exactly the kind of thing they're looking out for. Or could they be catching this stuff, but are just on such a tight schedule that there isn't time for them to have the artist go back and fix it?

 

[Avro Arrow]

like the Hungry Enterprise from the old Book and Record comics

OK, now this I want to see an image of!

 

[Stevil2001]

In sort of the opposite flow, multiple artists for Titan's Doctor Who comic have swiped from Star Trek: Voyager for ship interiors. In one you can even see the Intrepid-class MSD!

 

[Christopher]

Ahh, for the good old days when comic book artists only swiped each other's character poses and action panels. Or traced female characters' poses from adult magazines.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Or traced female characters' poses from adult magazines.

C'mon, Greg Land has built a long and successful career swiping from porn!

 

[Christopher]

C'mon, Greg Land has built a long and successful career swiping from porn!

He probably wasn't the first, just the most obvious.