Kirk-Mitchell Crew and TNG Comics

[Desert Kris]

I have a couple of random question; and I've done a little bit of searching and research on my own without much success before posting.

I have recently been watching through TOS in production order, and I always very much enjoy the second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before. My enthusiasm for the episode, and desire for other adventures with the one-off crew in that episode led me to get the My Brother's Keeper trilogy of novels. I'm aware that Strangers From the Sky also gives this crew another voyage, I'll read it as part of my read through of the 80's TOS novels. Yet, this crew seems to not have inspired nearly as many adventures as, say, Captain Pike's crew. I have a bunch of the novels featuring Pike's crew, there's quite a respectable amount; I think a fan could assemble the comics and novels into something of a season's worth of stories. Not so with Kirk's earlier command crew. Anyone know why there's less interest in the second pilot's crew? Anyone know of novels I might have missed?

For my other question, I'm curious about the long TNG comic series that DC published. I've been reading through DC's TOS comic series; volume 1, after which I will follow up with volume 2. The TOS series does some really fun stuff with where it places it's stories, and the situations it puts the crew in (I'm thinking specifically of having most of the Enterprise crew running Excelsior with Saavik as their Vulcan representative, while Spock is elsewhere commanding an entirely different ship, the Surak). I'm curious about how the TNG comics follow it's parent series in parallel. Does it keep up with each new season of TNG, and how do those transitions manifest? Does it have characters original to it's series that reoccur and have developing character arc (either crewmembers, or non-starfleet characters who keep returning). What is the pattern of story across issues, mostly 1-parters, 2-parters, or 3-parters; what was the longest story they did? I know about Richard Arnold's editorial policy and how that might have impacted the series; I'm just curious about how the TNG comic relates to it's parent show.

 

[ryan123450]

I'm reading the first handful of the DC TNG comics currently, so I can't say much about them other than that there were a few individual stories from Season 1 and now I've started in on Season 2.

But with regard to TOS comics, if you keep reading DC V2 you get a few issues from Kirk's early days toward the end of the line.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

I'm curious about how the TNG comics follow it's parent series in parallel. Does it keep up with each new season of TNG, and how do those transitions manifest? Does it have characters original to it's series that reoccur and have developing character arc (either crewmembers, or non-starfleet characters who keep returning). What is the pattern of story across issues, mostly 1-parters, 2-parters, or 3-parters; what was the longest story they did? I know about Richard Arnold's editorial policy and how that might have impacted the series; I'm just curious about how the TNG comic relates to it's parent show.

You can sort of group the TNG comic into six issue chunks. Mike Friedman would use those "chunks" to tell two or three stories (usually three, as Friedman liked telling 2-parters) that happened in succession alongside the television series, and the next "chunk" would move forward about six months, again telling stories alongside the series. Eventually, with issue #71, he surpassed the series and it became, essentially, "Star Trek: The Next Generation Season Eight" until the series stopped.

I'd have to go back and look to be certain, but I think the longest storyline was "The Star Lost" from issues #20 to #24 at five issues.

 

[Leto_II]

I have recently been watching through TOS in production order, and I always very much enjoy the second pilot, Where No Man Has Gone Before. My enthusiasm for the episode, and desire for other adventures with the one-off crew in that episode led me to get the My Brother's Keeper trilogy of novels. I'm aware that Strangers From the Sky also gives this crew another voyage, I'll read it as part of my read through of the 80's TOS novels. Yet, this crew seems to not have inspired nearly as many adventures as, say, Captain Pike's crew. I have a bunch of the novels featuring Pike's crew, there's quite a respectable amount; I think a fan could assemble the comics and novels into something of a season's worth of stories. Not so with Kirk's earlier command crew. Anyone know why there's less interest in the second pilot's crew? Anyone know of novels I might have missed?

Also check out Dayton & Kevin's Mere Anarchy novella, Things Fall Apart, set in 2265 prior to "Where No Man...", and which is another Gary Mitchell-era adventure for that crew.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

To add to what I wrote about the TNG comics...

There weren't any continuing original characters, but in the "chunks" you'd see recurring guest star characters to give the main cast other people to play off of. There's a six issue bloc that has Okona, for instance, and I seem to recall Sonya Gomez turned up for a time.

The series didn't really acknowledge the seasons.

And, on second thought, I'm pretty sure the "Season Eight" Tholian story was the longest. I think it was six issues long.

 

[Christopher]

There weren't any continuing original characters, but in the "chunks" you'd see recurring guest star characters to give the main cast other people to play off of. There's a six issue bloc that has Okona, for instance, and I seem to recall Sonya Gomez turned up for a time.

I checked the ST Comics Checklist and the DVD-ROM... the Okona arc was only 4 issues, although it was really a 3-parter followed by Okona sticking around in the background for one more issue.

The only 6-part storyline was issues 39-44, a story where the saucer and engineering sections got separated for a while and had their own parallel adventures. I tend to get it confused with the earlier 5-parter collected as The Star Lost, which involves a shuttle crew being lost.

And, on second thought, I'm pretty sure the "Season Eight" Tholian story was the longest. I think it was six issues long.

No, only five. Most of the arcs were 2-4 issues long.

 

[Desert Kris]

I'm reading the first handful of the DC TNG comics currently, so I can't say much about them other than that there were a few individual stories from Season 1 and now I've started in on Season 2.

But with regard to TOS comics, if you keep reading DC V2 you get a few issues from Kirk's early days toward the end of the line.

Yep, my plan is to follow up on V1 with V2 as a kind of sequel series, and I know that V2 ditches the movie era to jump back to Kirk's early career. Something to look forward to.

You can sort of group the TNG comic into six issue chunks. Mike Friedman would use those "chunks" to tell two or three stories (usually three, as Friedman liked telling 2-parters) that happened in succession alongside the television series, and the next "chunk" would move forward about six months, again telling stories alongside the series. Eventually, with issue #71, he surpassed the series and it became, essentially, "Star Trek: The Next Generation Season Eight" until the series stopped.

I'd have to go back and look to be certain, but I think the longest storyline was "The Star Lost" from issues #20 to #24 at five issues.

Very informative, thank you! I'll probably label #71 and beyond as an informal season 8 in my head when I get to it, and that'll be fun. I wonder if the nature of TNG made it somewhat easy to tell stories side-by-side with the ongoing show. It's episodic, with the characters somewhat static. There are a few minor changes between seasons, such as Crusher to Pulaski to Crusher again. Then there's the presence or absence of Tasha Yar or Wesley, but the rest of the cast is always there.

Also check out Dayton & Kevin's Mere Anarchy novella, Things Fall Apart, set in 2265 prior to "Where No Man...", and which is another Gary Mitchell-era adventure for that crew.

I've seen that whole collection recommended for a number of reasons. I'm glad that they've been collected in a paperback omnibus, so maybe I'll target that for one of my next aquisitions.

To add to what I wrote about the TNG comics...

There weren't any continuing original characters, but in the "chunks" you'd see recurring guest star characters to give the main cast other people to play off of. There's a six issue bloc that has Okona, for instance, and I seem to recall Sonya Gomez turned up for a time.

The series didn't really acknowledge the seasons.

And, on second thought, I'm pretty sure the "Season Eight" Tholian story was the longest. I think it was six issues long.

Okona comes back! Sonya Gomez was such a sweetheart, it's too bad she didn't appear in more than 2 episodes, if I'm recalling that correctly.

I almost think I understand what you mean when you say the comics don't acknowledge the seasons, could you rephrase and elaborate on that? I really do appreciate your overview of the structure of the comic series, BTW, thank you!

I checked the ST Comics Checklist and the DVD-ROM... the Okona arc was only 4 issues, although it was really a 3-parter followed by Okona sticking around in the background for one more issue.

I love having having that ST comics DVD ROM, it's amazing! Yet, there are some series that I really wanted to have in my hand. I wish TOS volume 1 could be reprinted, in collected form. I'm debating about the TNG series in print format.

The only 6-part storyline was issues 39-44, a story where the saucer and engineering sections got separated for a while and had their own parallel adventures. I tend to get it confused with the earlier 5-parter collected as The Star Lost, which involves a shuttle crew being lost.
.

That sounds like an exciting storyline! Farscape got a lot of storytelling mileage out of something like that in it's third season. I'm glad the comics thought to try that out, too bad the show would never have gone for something like that (but that's the nature of TNG). I look forward to that.

 

[Trek Survivor]

By the time of the ongoing TNG series, Paramount had renegotiated the licence and had Richard Arnold inspecting the quality of the material being produced by the likes of DC, Pocket Books etc. The edict then was the comics were not allowed ongoing characters, change the status quo etc. So the DC TOS vol 1 comics had much more 'freedom', in a sense, to try different things.

I LOVE the TNG run (I have every issue!)); there are some great stories in there. The series didn't really acknowledge the change in seasons, though there were timelines published in the letter pages of certain issues which placed the comics (and the novels) in the context of the television seasons and episodes. Some things (like Picard's brother in "The Gift") struggle to fit in with what we find out in later episodes, but everything more or less works.

The comic series was a great mix of single issue stories through to 4-6 issue 'epics'. Don't forget there were also annuals, specials and mini-series thrown into the mix as well. I think Friedman is still my favourite Trek writer.

 

[Christopher]

Yep, my plan is to follow up on V1 with V2 as a kind of sequel series, and I know that V2 ditches the movie era to jump back to Kirk's early career. Something to look forward to.

It only does that late in the game, though. Most of V2 is between ST V & VI, initially by Peter David but mostly by Howard Weinstein, and it's the largest existing source of stories set in that time frame. I kind of regretted it when it jumped back to the 5YM once Kevin Ryan took over as writer. Movie-era TOS stories have always been comparatively sparse in the novels, so I appreciated it that the DC comics defaulted to that era for most of their run.

I wonder if the nature of TNG made it somewhat easy to tell stories side-by-side with the ongoing show. It's episodic, with the characters somewhat static. There are a few minor changes between seasons, such as Crusher to Pulaski to Crusher again. Then there's the presence or absence of Tasha Yar or Wesley, but the rest of the cast is always there.

Well, most shows at the time were like that, other than the soaps. And it was pretty standard for TV or movie-series tie-in comics to try to keep pace with the current or recent continuity, to update things and acknowledge the latest cast or storyline changes as soon as they could get to it (though that could be delayed both by production time and by the need to wrap up any ongoing storylines first). That's why the DC TOS comics were in the movie era -- which made things tricky when they needed to incorporate the events of the movies into their ongoing storyline and gloss over the inconsistencies. It was probably easier for TNG to do it because it wasn't telling a continuous, serialized narrative like most modern comics, and thus could easily just jump forward several months.

I almost think I understand what you mean when you say the comics don't acknowledge the seasons, could you rephrase and elaborate on that?

I think that just means they didn't specifically call attention to the change in seasons or do transitional stories or whatever -- after all, the show did that. They'd just jump forward and start a new story with the changed status quo already in place. Much like how the novels published during the series did it.