Comics/Graphic Novel Recommendations?

[TJ Sinclair]

I've been collecting Trek comics almost all my life, since the early DC days, at any rate. One of the issues of Who Killed Captain Kirk? is probably the first Trek comic I remember seeing on the shelves, and begging my parents to buy it for me.

I've got a pretty good collection, but it was only during the late 90s Marvel era (and more recently the IDW stuff) that I was able to get the issues regularly. So while I have a lot of the DC issues, and a good bit of the Malibu DS9 and Wildstorm era material, there are some major gaps. I only just got The Return of the Worthy trade from Titan, and am looking forward to finally reading that story (I already had JMS' brilliant "Worldsinger" in issue).

I've gotten the last few GN releases from Eaglemoss because of the unreleased material they've included, and I've been impressed overall with the format and the quality of the reprints. So I'm looking to pick up some of their other volumes that I haven't previously read.

I'm looking at "Suspect," because I never had those issues (or the final 2 in the series). Same with TOS' "Star-Crossed." How are those stories? Worth getting, or skippable if I'm not interested in collecting every issue just for the sake of it?

Any other major recommendations? Apart from, say "The Trial of James T. Kirk" and "The Mirror Universe Saga," which I have, and "Time-Crime" which was one of my favorite arcs.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

The only one I've read in decades is the IDW mirror-Khan one-shot, Hell's Mirror. Interesting enough story.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

The only one I've read in decades is the IDW mirror-Khan one-shot, Hell's Mirror. Interesting enough story.

Well, I am mainly looking for recommendations for decades old comics. DC TNG and TOS stories I missed out on. Basically I want to know which issues or graphic novels I should track down if I want good stories (even if the details don't match with later established canon), versus mediocre ones that are skippable.

I never read the original TNG mini, or the first few arcs of the ongoing, for example. Is "Return to Raimon" a good TNG story, and worth picking up from Eaglemoss? That's the kind of stuff I'm asking about.

 

[JD]

If you're interested in pre-IDW comics, you're best bet is probably to track down the Complete Comics Collection DVD, which has almost every single Trek comic from Gold Key to Wildstorm.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

If you're interested in pre-IDW comics, you're best bet is probably to track down the Complete Comics Collection DVD, which has almost every single Trek comic from Gold Key to Wildstorm.

I prefer having hardcopies, but thanks.

 

[Stevil2001]

The Modala Imperative is fun, especially the TOS part.

Starfleet Academy and Early Voyages get cited a lot as the high points of Marvel, but I like a lot of the stories from their anthology series, Star Trek Unlimited.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

The Modala Imperative is fun, especially the TOS part.

Starfleet Academy and Early Voyages get cited a lot as the high points of Marvel, but I like a lot of the stories from their anthology series, Star Trek Unlimited.

I really enjoyed The Modala Imperative as a kid. The TOS miniseries, anyway. I didn't read the TNG side until years later, and yeah, it wasn't as good. Modala was the first thing I ever made sure to collect as it came out - had to talk my dad to driving me 45 minutes to the only comic shop around at that time every month, but it was worth it.

Early Voyages is probably my favorite Trek series -- not just in comics form -- of all time, and I loved Starfleet Academy, too. Unlimited absolutely had a lot of good stories, and I loved the Untold Voyages mini as well. I think the only serious missteps Marvel made were in the DS9 and Voyager ongoings - they just weren't good, though I think I've heard better of some of the Voyager minis they did. Not sure which ones would be worth trying, though.

 

[ryan123450]

The comics I’ve reread the most were John Byrne’s Romulan series, and the Debt of Honor graphic novel. I enjoyed the Starcrossed arc since its not just a mission of the week, but fills in some missing corners of the history.

The original TNG mini contains what I’ve been known to describe as the worst story (of any kind) I’ve ever read, in which the TNG crew literally meets Santa Claus. I’ve been slowly reading through the whole TNG DC run lately, and theyve been fine, though I can’t recall any that really stood out as noteworthy.

I love pretty much the whole DC TOS run, as the first volume is so interesting as a product of it’s time period, and how it weaves between the original films. And the second volume’s setting, the Enterprise-A is a favorite of mine. Again, though, I can’t recall specific issues.

 

[Jim Johnson]

The recent Year Five is pretty great. Bridges TOS with TMP and brings some surprises.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

The recent Year Five is pretty great. Bridges TOS with TMP and brings some surprises.

Here's hoping it might work out that Jackson and Jody could write for Star Trek Adventures someday.

 

[JD]

I prefer having hardcopies, but thanks.

No problem, I just like to make sure people are aware of it. I got it years ago, and I've read quite a few things off it.
Are you only interested in the pre-IDW stuff? Most of the Trek comics that I've read lately has been their stuff.

 

[TJ Sinclair]

No problem, I just like to make sure people are aware of it. I got it years ago, and I've read quite a few things off it.
Are you only interested in the pre-IDW stuff? Most of the Trek comics that I've read lately has been their stuff.

I'm mainly asking about the older DC and Malibu series (which again, I grew up with, but inconsistently) because I have, or have read, most of the IDW stuff. Their earliest material, like The Space Between, just wasn't good IMO, but they've improved greatly over time.

The main IDW stuff I don't have is:

TNG: Ghosts
TOS: Blood WIll Tell
DS9: Fool's Gold
TOS: The Burden of Knowledge
TNG: Hive
The Planet of the Apes or Green Lantern crossovers
the TNG Mirror Universe books

I've heard many people say they really liked Ghosts, so I'm going to give that a shot. The rest of that list, I'm honestly not sure about. So much of what IDW's put out that I should like has disappointed me, so I've been a little afraid to try some things. Year Four was mediocre, for example, but I did enjoy The Enterprise Experiment. Most of the Alien Spotlight and Captain's Log one shots were either decent or great. Picard: Countdown was also solid. The Legion of Super-Heroes, Doctor Who, Transformers crossovers were all fun, and successful in varying degrees (I think the DW crossover could've been better).

And then there's John Byrne's stuff. By all rights, I should love it -- Romulans, Gary Seven, Number One? All very near and dear to my Trekkie heart. But Byrne's minis have been really hit or miss for me at best. I normally love anything Romulan you can throw at me, but I hated his take on them. New Visions is a great concept for a special series, but only a few stories actually landed for me. I'm always down for more Gary Seven, but likewise, his Assignment: Earth mini series left me cold, and as much as I love Number One and the Pike era, Crew was a massive disappointment. So I never bothered with his McCoy series, as much as it should have been up my alley. Most of his Trek stories, to me, come off extremely simplistic, ill-conceived and juvenile, which is extremely disappointing because I know he would've been capable of better twenty or thirty years ago.

The Kelvin timeline ongoing was rough early on, but I did enjoy some of the stories. Countdown to Darkness was really solid, but the Into Darkness film itself burned me so bad on the reboot that I stopped getting the ongoing after that. I got Legacy of Spock and Spock: Reflections in trade a while back, and enjoyed them. And I just got the Boldly Go and Starfleet Academy collections from Eaglemoss, and will dive into those soon.

Surprisingly, it was IDW's Discovery stories that made me actually consider giving the line another chance. The Stamets annual and Captain Saru were so good, I got Aftermath as it came out and went back and got The Light of Kahless. Haven't been disappointed yet, but don't know if the Mirror mini Succession is going to be for me or not.

With Year Five, I really appreciate Jackson and Jody's writing, even if their interpretations of things are pretty different from mine. I'm not a fan of

Spoiler

turning Isis and the Aegis into villains,

though. That leaves a sour taste in my mouth and I don't know if I want to keep going.

I have the trades for The Q Conflict and Too Long a Sacrifice, but haven't had time to read them yet. And I've got the trade for the recent Seven of Nine mini pre-ordered.

So for me, when IDW is on, it's surprisingly good, but when they're off, it's really bad for me. Some of the biggest disappointments in printed Trek for me have been when I should have loved an IDW series but didn't.

 

[dupersuper]

The main IDW stuff I don't have is:

TNG: Hive

You dodged a bullet there...

 

[TJ Sinclair]

You dodged a bullet there...

Yeah, from all indications, I'm glad I didn't try that one. Brannon Braga's name attached was enough to make me give it a pass.

 

[Dayton Ward]

If you don't yet have it, there's a hardcopy reprint edition of DC's Debt of Honor coming this summer. They released it digitally last year, but the pandemic derailed the magazine itself, so this is a bit of catchup.

 

[JD]

I'm mainly asking about the older DC and Malibu series (which again, I grew up with, but inconsistently) because I have, or have read, most of the IDW stuff. Their earliest material, like The Space Between, just wasn't good IMO, but they've improved greatly over time.

The main IDW stuff I don't have is:

TNG: Ghosts
TOS: Blood WIll Tell
DS9: Fool's Gold
TOS: The Burden of Knowledge
TNG: Hive
The Planet of the Apes or Green Lantern crossovers
the TNG Mirror Universe books

I enjoyed all of those that I read, Burden of Knowledge, Ghosts, Fools Gold, The Planet of The Apes crossover and the TNG Mirror Universe stuff.

You dodged a bullet there...

I really enjoyed Hive.

 

[dupersuper]

I really enjoyed Hive.

I guess I'm glad some one did. Even before Picard over-wrote it I had it with my out of continuity books with Star Trek/Green Lantern, Star trek/Doctor Who, Star trek/Planet of the Apes and the like. It was such a miserable end to 7s story, and just a mess.

 

[Therin of Andor]

the Debt of Honor graphic novel

IDW is reprinting this as a facsimile edition!

Ah, already mentioned by [B]@Dayton Ward[/B].