A collection of stories set in the original series complete with Captain Kirk, Bones, Spock, Scotty and the rest of the gang. Fans of the original series will especially enjoy this title with its great emulation of the wooden acting, stilted dialogue, and less than exciting artwork. The myriad of stories, each written and drawn by different individuals, are sadly sub par with plots we’ve seen hundreds of times before in the franchise. One story describes the Enterprise transporting an extinct creature to another planet as a peace offering. Another tale highlights an ancient gender war moving onto the vessel. Batting .400 there are two noteworthy stories. The first provides a back story to a famous alien race and the second details Kirk’s message of non-violence to a ragtag group of mercenaries. Artist EJ Su brought gigantic robot looking ships to life in the same vein as Macross in “Orphans.” It’s a shame that not all the other artists were as evocative. This title will find its niche with trekkies and sci-fi enthusiasts. If it is an attempt to emulate classic Trek it succeeded admirably. Unfortunately, I think that wasn’t the intent. All things considered it is merely adequate.
Star Trek: The Manga, vol. 1
By Chris Dows, Joshua Ortega, Jim Alexander, Mike W. Barr, Rob Tokar, Makoto Nakatsuka, Gregory Giovanni Johnson, Michael Shelfer, Jeong Mo Yang, EJ Su
ISBN: 9781598167443
Tokyopop, 2006
