In looking at some of the Trek stories that John Byrne has written and drawn for IDW, I'm wondering if they're supposed to take place in their own continuity independent of later canon material, similar to Diane Duane's Rihannsu novels. For one thing, in the Romulans series, there is an Emperor of the Klingon Empire. This is set in the 23rd century, two hundred years after TNG "Rightful Heir" established the reign of the last Klingon emperor to have been (at least before Kahless II in the 24th century, that is). I don't think there's any mention of Kor being descended from the imperial family at all in the comic.
John Byrne's stories
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The two DC Comics runs depicted an Emperor Kahless IV as being the figurehead of the Klingon Empire during the TOS movie era, so it's not entirely out of left field as a concept. And there's some in-episode canon evidence to support this notion -- dialogue in "Sins of the Father"suggests that there was a Klingon Emperor at least as late as 2346.
In the episode, Kahlest insists to Capt. Picard that Mogh "was loyal to the Emperor" at the time of the Khitomer Massacre, although the novel The Art of the Impossible doesn't depict an Emperor in outright name ruling at that point.
Also, "Sins of the Father" was written and shot prior to Ronald D. Moore and Michael Piller formalizing many elements of Klingon ruling culture, including the dialogue-retcon about there not having been an Emperor "in 300 years."
In the episode, Kahlest insists to Capt. Picard that Mogh "was loyal to the Emperor" at the time of the Khitomer Massacre, although the novel The Art of the Impossible doesn't depict an Emperor in outright name ruling at that point.
Also, "Sins of the Father" was written and shot prior to Ronald D. Moore and Michael Piller formalizing many elements of Klingon ruling culture, including the dialogue-retcon about there not having been an Emperor "in 300 years."
Yeah, there are some discrepancies with post-TOS canon in the "Byrneverse." In addition to the Klingon emperor issue, Leonard McCoy: Frontier Doctor shows Admiral Kirk directly supervising the Enterprise refit, which conflicts with ST:TMP, in which Kirk was completely unfamiliar with the redesign which Decker had supervised. I think maybe because he's John Byrne, they're willing to cut him a bit more slack on these things.
But those comics were written before "Rightful Heir" established the lack of an emperor. So their interpretation was valid at the time, but was then overwritten by later canon, just like John M. Ford's Klingons or Diane Duane's Romulans or the events of the novel Federation. But Byrne's comics were written long after "Rightful Heir," so they were inconsistent with pre-existing canon.
Although canon does offer us a way out: Worf's line in "Unification" (IIRC) about Gowron rewriting Klingon history. That tells us that what Klingons believe about their past may not be entirely true. Maybe there was an emperor in the 23rd century, but 24th-century Klingon histories don't regard him as a legitimate emperor. Perhaps, say, a different dynasty took over the throne, claiming to be the true imperial lineage, and declared the other dynasty to be pretenders.
In all cases of a Klingon "emporer" I always just assume an error in translating the Klingon word for Chancellor.
Although, we know that Chancellor Kesh was in power from around the early 2280s until at least 2287 (there are conflicting sources as to which precise year Gorkon took power -- the 2287 coup d'etat, or just prior to The Undiscovered Country).
Kahless IV could have been a propped-up figurehead during those same years (much like the TNG/DS9-era Kahless was during Gowron's rule) -- the "emperor" role as established in "Rightful Heir" is extremely ceremonial in the 24th Century, but still with some nominal power. The Klingon Emperor was depicted as exercising a degree of independence in the DC Comics series, from what I recall, which isn't entirely inconsistent with this.
Kahless IV could have been a propped-up figurehead during those same years (much like the TNG/DS9-era Kahless was during Gowron's rule) -- the "emperor" role as established in "Rightful Heir" is extremely ceremonial in the 24th Century, but still with some nominal power. The Klingon Emperor was depicted as exercising a degree of independence in the DC Comics series, from what I recall, which isn't entirely inconsistent with this.
John Byrne has been very vocal that he is not a fan of much what came after TOS. Including the movies. He has mostly approached his comics as only what was seen in the show.
I doubt that, since as I recall in Rightful Heir, Worf was the one who finally thought of the "Constitutional Monarch" (i.e. Queen Elizabeth of Canada) solution, while all the other Klingons were bickering about whether or not Kahless should have any power.
It still tracks. The exact dialogue from the episode:
It probably wasn't the first time this had been done, Klingon politics being what they are -- the very nature of dynastic rulership has frequently resulted in many real-world examples of this. Worf's idea likely wasn't a brand-new one for his race by that point in time.
If we use Christopher's "fix" of Gowron using Soviet-style revisionism on Klingon history, it works even better -- that the 23rd Century Kahless that Kirk and crew dealt with was publicly marginalized in the empire's history for political reasons by some in Picard's era who had a vested interest in such suppression.
It probably wasn't the first time this had been done, Klingon politics being what they are -- the very nature of dynastic rulership has frequently resulted in many real-world examples of this. Worf's idea likely wasn't a brand-new one for his race by that point in time.
But he has Klingons with ridged foreheads, and they originated in the movies. And Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor has a number of references to TMP.
Also, one issue of his Romulans series has a Klingon utter the phrase "Today is a good day to die", which is from TNG/DS9.
Besides, whatever the author's personal preferences, CBS still expects us all to stay consistent with currently established canon. We don't have the freedom to deliberately contradict canon (though we can bend it considerably so long as our reinterpretations still fit the letter of what's onscreen). Sometimes, though, throwaway references like the emperor line can get overlooked by accident.
