TOS Comics....
- Thread starter Warped9
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Pawns of War, the trade collection of Byrne's Romulan work, is definitely worthwhile. He takes a very Roman viewpoint to the Romulans, there's a lot of politics, skullduggery, and the like. I enjoyed it a great deal.
Mission's End I read, but I remember absolutely nothing about. Which may tell you something right there. *shrug*
Crew is my favorite of IDW's Trek projects. It's a retro kind of take on the classic Trek era, using the character of Number One.
Mission's End I read, but I remember absolutely nothing about. Which may tell you something right there. *shrug*
Crew is my favorite of IDW's Trek projects. It's a retro kind of take on the classic Trek era, using the character of Number One.
I've enjoyed the bits of the Romulans work, and plan on getting the TPB. I have the other two. Crew is amazing and, as said, retro in a cool way.
Mission's End is beautifully draw, really a marvel to look at. I also found the story quite forgettable, particularly as a "final mission of the original 5YM" story. There have been better versions of that story.
Mission's End is beautifully draw, really a marvel to look at. I also found the story quite forgettable, particularly as a "final mission of the original 5YM" story. There have been better versions of that story.
Assignment: Earth, Crew and Romulans are nothing short of excellent. Damn... I think I want John Byrne to make the next Trek movie!
I read Mission's End, and I basically agree with the above comments. I will add that, as far as the apparent purpose of a little fan service with the end of mission stuff (the different paths that the Big Three end up taking), it seemed to be that those elements were pretty much just stuffed into the last five pages or so. I thought all of their decision came off pretty hasty, and I felt the justifications were weak. I liked the DC Annual better, even though it did have its share of problems and hastiness.
Good picks, the both of 'em. 
A friend recommended them both saying that pretty much anything by John Byrne was worth picking up. He says Byrne's treatment of the TOS universe and Trek in general pretty much parallels how my friend and I see it. Even if we can quibble on details he says the overall feel and sensibility is right.
I think Crew is the better of the two sets of stories in that regard, but I still dig what he did with the Romulans. I've been buying the comics as single issues so far (gotta support my local comic shops!), but I did go for the Romulans trade simply for the extra 12-page "Balance of Terror" adaptation.
^^^
This.
Byrne clearly groks TOS as well as, if not better than anyone doing comics ever has. IMO, YMMV.
Very much looking forward to his upcoming McCoy books.
Could you elaborate? I've been out of circulation comics wise for almost two years.
And what has Byrne done Trek wise, if anything?
He did some very nice pieces for DC's Who's Who in Star Trek back in the 80s.
More recently, he's done the Romulan storyline (now collected in trade paperback, detailing the hidden history of the Klingon-Romulan alliance), Crew (A 5-issue mini-series following the career path of Number One from The Cage), and an Assignment: Earth mini-series tracing the adventures of Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln (the least of the three, IMO -- just not a huge Gary Seven fan).
Still upcoming is the mini-series Leonard McCoy: Frontier Doctor (detailing Bones' medical career between TOS & TMP).
From what I know of your tastes, Warped9, I can definitely see you liking both the Romulans storyline and Crew. Byrne is definitely a TOS fan first & foremost and doesn't care for much the movies & series produced past it. I'd recommend both mini-series to you.
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Link to a review of the Romulan trade:
http://trekmovie.com/2010/02/28/trekink-review-of-john-byrnes-romulans-pawns-of-war/
If you a search on "John Byrne" at trekmovie.com, you can find several 5-page previews of the various series.
http://trekmovie.com/2010/02/28/trekink-review-of-john-byrnes-romulans-pawns-of-war/
If you a search on "John Byrne" at trekmovie.com, you can find several 5-page previews of the various series.
I've just recently gotten into IDW's Trek comics as well, and apart from the current DS9 mini series, about all I've read are the TOS comics.
- Crew
- Pawns of War
- Final Mission
- Enterprise Experiment
Crew is really good, even if I do find some fault with it here and there. I'd gladly read any number of stories like it. The same with Pawns of War. John Byrne seems to have a knack for filling in some of the "unfinished" areas of the TOS era. It's quality Star Trek, in my opinion.
I really enjoyed Enterprise Experiment, but I think I liked Mission's End even more. I'd agree that the path that led to Kirk, Spock and McCoy's decisions could have been emphasized a little more over the course of the story, but the reasons are there. And the art is really strong.
I don't think you'll go wrong with any of these.
- Crew
- Pawns of War
- Final Mission
- Enterprise Experiment
Crew is really good, even if I do find some fault with it here and there. I'd gladly read any number of stories like it. The same with Pawns of War. John Byrne seems to have a knack for filling in some of the "unfinished" areas of the TOS era. It's quality Star Trek, in my opinion.
I really enjoyed Enterprise Experiment, but I think I liked Mission's End even more. I'd agree that the path that led to Kirk, Spock and McCoy's decisions could have been emphasized a little more over the course of the story, but the reasons are there. And the art is really strong.
I don't think you'll go wrong with any of these.
The only TOS comics I have presently are the Gold Key collection trades and Marvel's Star Trek: Early Voyages single issues. I might pick up the trade of Early Voyages even though I don't think the latter issues are as good as the beginning. For me it started to go south when Yeoman Colt goes forward in time to the movie era with Pike still alive and in command of the refit E. Not long after the art started to get crappy too.
But there was a feel to the early stories that I liked even if I could quibble with some continuity details.
But there was a feel to the early stories that I liked even if I could quibble with some continuity details.
I liked The Early Voyages series quite a bit. Never got the last couple of issues, though. As you said, the art went REALLY south, and I knew the series ended on a cliffhanger, so I figured, why torture myself?
There was a recent DVD release that contained every single Trek comic ever produced (Gold Key / Marvel /DC /Wildstorm) up until the current IDW license.
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