TrekInk: Review – Alien Spotlight: Tribbles

Tribbles. Warmhands. Rufflefurs. Grainseed. Warmhands. This week IDW kicked off their second volume of "Alien Spotlight, with the first spotlight on those cute furry little Tribbles, told from the Tribble perspective! Should warmhands read it? Grainseed! Read our review below.

 

 

REVIEW: STAR TREK – ALIEN SPOTLIGHT II – #1 TRIBBLES

Stuart Moore, a proflific editor and writer, was given the chance to play with Tribbles for the opening volume of IDW’s second Alien Spotlight series. In this one, he takes the opportunity to share the initial discovery of the Tribbles and why Rufflefurs… er… Klingons dislike them so very much… and vice versa. Especially vice versa.

Moore attacks this story with an amusing conceit… telling it from the point of view of the Tribbles rather than the Humans or Klingons. I have to admit. I was quite tempted to try and write this review from that point of view, but it would really be quite short unfortunately. And very simple sentences. The Tribbles are simple creatures, but appear to share some type of communal brain. They also have a long term memory.

We begin on the outer galactic rim on a planet named Serjilla IV. The stardate is 1422.3. The life form? Tribbles. Whatever was once there has been completely overrun by the furry little beasts. They are everywhere. Every panel shows hundreds, if not thousands of them. The creatures are hungry. Warmhands have left. But something has changed the windflow above, and warmhands may be returning. In fact, a large vessel has some type of crash landing.


Simple language. Effective. Hungry. Lunchtime? (click to enlarge)

A group of Humans comes charging off of the ship, chased by a small group of Klingons. It seems that the Klingons are trying to hijack the grain shipment carried by the Humans. And that they’ve all ended up on this planet of fur. Somehow. In short… the story really isn’t that complex, but then again, the original Tribble story was really quite simple on its own.

Moore takes what we saw in the three episodes that brought Tribbles to life on screen and brings them to the comic book page in style. The artwork from Mike Hawthorne doesn’t match some of the other books we’ve seen from IDW, but works for this issue. The backgrounds are simple, the Tribbles simpler, and the Humans discernable from the Klingons. Some of the facial expressions are a little odd, and don’t have the elegance of artists such as John Byrne or David Messina. Regardless, the art suits the story quite well.


Isn’t that just the cutest name for that big scary Klingon? (click to enlarge)

The first time I read this story, I was in stitches. It was absolutely hysterical. The second time? It was quite funny still. The third time took me about a minute to read. It’s a rather simple story. There are a lot of words, but the story can almost be told with pictures (and Tribble comments) alone. In fact, that might have made a rather amusing alternate take on this issue. Either way, I really enjoyed the book, which is now available at comic stores with two covers. The dealer incentive photo shows Kirk from "Trouble withTribbles," which is really unrelated to the comic book story. I much prefer seeing either just the one cover or multiple covers of artwork.


Regular and dealer incentive cover for "Alien Spotlight: Tribbles"
(click to enlarge)

Alien Spotlight: Tribbles is now available at comic stores now and can be purchased at TFAW.com.

There will be a total of six issues in the second volume of Alien Spotlight. The second, written by Keith R.A. DeCandido, will focus on Klingons, and the third, written by Ian Edginton, will focus on Romulans. No word yet on the final three

The first three issues of Alien Spotlight can be ordered or pre-ordered from TFAW.com.

#1
Tribbles

#2
Klingons

#3
Romulans

#4
??

#5
??

#6
??

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$3.59
(avail. now)

$3.19
(April)

$3.19
(May)


(June)


(July)


(Aug.)


MORE TREK COMICS COVERAGE COMING SOON
Also released this week are the final issue (#5) of The Last Generation and the first issue of Mission’s End. Look for TrekMovie reviews of those two books soon. Next week the final issue of Countdown comes out and TrekMovie will have an exclusive preview of that and an early review.

Pre-order this and next week’s comics from TFAW.com.

Last Generation
#5

Missions End
#1

Countdown
#4

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(April 1)

 

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Tribblespeak! Wonder why the universal translators don’t pick it up? :)

I’ve got to get the Tribble comic/ That looks like fun and I could use a laugh.

All hail the Tribble nation!
sounds like a fun idea for a comic .

Tribbles are so sweet ^^

I loved the first volume of Alien Spotlight. I’m really looking forward to the second.

The Great Tribble Hunt. lol

Sweet… I’d love to read this story! I might have to pick this one up.

Ok, totally off topic but this is driving me nuts, in TNG “Sarek”, Picard says that he first met Sarek at his sons wedding…

What’s that about?? It’s something that bothers me when I remember it but then forget to look anything about it up!!!!

Like, it couldn’t be Sybok so it’s gotta be Spock…so who in the living daylights did he marry and its a bit strange to just lob that in yeah?

Its not like making reference to, say, Spock having a haircut…his marriage is a bit interesting to just be glossed over……

haha this sounds awesome… i agree with eight with that bit about spock’s wedding. he was married… unless he has another brother we don’t know about?!?!? sarek… and perrin?! shudder.

Ha ha, see, I’m not going mad.

Come on People, thinking caps on…

Either that or we find the writer of the episode, tie him up and demand to know what’s going on……

Come on Anthony et al…you all have contacts-help us out here please!!

I hope it ends with The Great Tribble Hunt and the extermination of every last ball of fur! Worthless yIH.

#8/10 I always suspected it’s one of those time travel stories they never got around to telling. Imagine if Picard somehow went back in time to Spock’s cermeony with T’Pring…. that would have been a Trials and Tribbleations opportunity. Or Q’s involved.

But assuming Spock married someone when Picard was a young officer makes more sense. A much older Saavik, perhaps?

Or, Sarek adopted someone….

Most fen I’ve known assume this is a Spock/Saavik marriage.

#11 Qapla’ ! yIH Hol Dajatlh’a’?

#4 Tribbles are sweet, and delicious with carrots. Wonder if that’s how they’ll appear in Star Trek: The Future Begins?

8- IIRC, at the time the ep came out the writer was asked if that was Spock’s wedding, he said something like “well, it’s been 80 yrs since Sarek was last heard from, who’s to say he didn’t have another son during that time”

Hahaaaa, Tribbles. x3

#12 “.. Qapla’ ! yIH Hol Dajatlh’a’? …”

Uh… ¿Yo habla Ingles y Español? No entiendo «Klingon». ^__^;;
(The day I do, though, I’ll be so happy.)

#11 :: BUT THEY’RE SO CUTE AND FLUFFY!! D:

Oh, and on the “marriage” inference… Well, there has been a book or two where it’s mentioned a Spock x Saavik relationship. Never been too crazy about that idea, but it’s possible.

And there was also the possibility that Sarek and Perrin had a..nother son. -shrug-

@ # 13 uhg, bullshit of him.

I was underimpressed.

#12: rumor has it they taste like chicken…

#18: and for the vegetarians out there, there’s always the plant life native to their homeworld…

It’s one of those “1,000 Places to See Before you Die.”

Mongo think tribbles OK. Not say much though.

“You got anything from the Tribble’s point of view?” – Otto the Bus Driver

I want a tribble. A neutered tribble, that is.

I picked up Missions End today. Got the A cover which is different than the one shown above.

Good read…very much a “first mission” of the Enterprise crew under Kirk. Artwork was very good and the use of the WNMHGB uniforms was well represented.

tribble story: seems a bit like some1 was smokin weed when they came up with that idea for a comic xD

sidenote: imagine this alternate take on the trouble with tribbles: what if the quadrotriticale in the storage tanks had been piles and piles of weed xDDDDDDDDDDDDD

The truth is that Tribbles Do taste like chicken when deep fried.

#12 ghaytanHa’ jay’

Star Trek:12 The Tribble War

Hmm…breed and eat…

In my next life, I wanna be a tribble.

A really big, scary, monstrous tribble.

With thumbs. And a vocabulary.

AHA!

It just hit me – Klingons are allergic to Tribbles!

So much so that it causes an anaphylactic reaction, much like a bee sting in a human who’s allergic to bees. They swell up, have trouble breathing, and in short can die.

To a Klingon, dying in any way other than in glorious battle is a huge dishonor. That’s why they’re afraid of Tribbles.

Damn, I’m brilliant.

Mmmmmm…. nothing beats the flavor of KFT (Kentucky fried tribbles)

I read this- it was neat. I read Mission’s End which actually picks up at the beginning (you know, the story I thought the new movie would be) and it was excellent.

As for Spock’s marriage: read Vulcan’s Heart, explains the whole thing and includes the marriage. It’s a fairly good book. As to what happened to the marriage and Saavik later on. I have no idea.

Spock married Saavik, and that’s okay. Who else was there (besides me, and I’m already married to a Vulcan)? He couldn’t marry Valeris. She is a traitor. As long as it was the Robin Curtis Saavik, and not the Kirstie Alley Saavik, I’m cool with it. Why didn’t they point her eyebrows? WHY???