A two-part alternate Mirror universe tale concludes this week in issue #16 of the ongoing Star Trek series from IDW Publishing. Or is it part two of a Mirror alternate universe? You’ll have to decide for yourselves. Spoilers and other comics news after the break.
Star Trek #16
Written by Mike Johnson, art by Erfan Fajar, Hendri Prasetyo and Miralti Firmansyah of Stellar Labs, colors by Sakti Yuwono and Ifansyah Noor of Stellar Labs, letters by Neil Uyetake, based on the original teleplay of Mirror, Mirror by Jerome Bixby, creative consultant Roberto Orci, edited by Scott Dunbier
Story
Mirrored, Part 2: Kirk learns that Nero was waiting for the reappearance of the anomaly that appeared the day Kirk’s father died. Ignoring orders from Senator Pike, Kirk takes the Narada to the anomaly and snares a ship piloted by an elderly Spock, who muses that Kirk isn’t the man he remembers and on the terrible mistake he’s made. Kirk finds the red matter; Scotty discovers how it works; and Kirk decides to show Vulcan its proper place in the Terran Empire. Unfortunately for Kirk, he never really understood women.
Spock finds his place.
Review
Mike Johnson’s take on the Mirror universe concludes with an amusing twist that highlights Uhura, perhaps the most underutilized and underappreciated character of Star Trek. Kirk’s shortsightedness and the interplay between Spock Prime and alt-Mirror Spock is a seamless blend of all that we know about these characters. Johnson has done a terrific job. Art for this two-part story was handled by a team of artists from Stellar Labs in Jakarta, Indonesia, and according to a tweet from @STELLARLabs, they will be handling art duties for more comics in this series. The layouts and colors are outstanding. Occasionally, some of the character likenesses have a flat appearance, lacking the feature highlights seen in other panels, but I expect their work to improve over time. Bottom line? Mike Johnson knows his Trek so don’t miss out on the fun.
Cover: Art by Tim Bradstreet, color by Grant Goleash
Cover RI A: Art by Tim Bradstreet, Cover RI B: Photo cover
Preview of Star Trek #16
This week’s preview has a lower resolution than usual and is a little difficult to read, but you get the gist of the story.
Titan Magazines press release for Star Trek Magazine #44
GOLD KEY COMICS INSPIRED COVER FOR STAR TREK™ MAGAZINE!
Star Trek Magazine goes retro with a cover inspired by a classic Gold Key Comics Star Trek™ series. The design is based on issue 7, first published in March 1970. The issue featured comic strip adventure The Voodoo Planet, which saw Kirk and Spock beam down to an alien planet that looks exactly like Earth, even down to replica landmarks including the Eiffel Tower – all constructed from papier mache!
Star Trek Magazine issue #44 cover mirrors the original, quite literally, re-interpreting it as a Mirror Universe publication from the Terran Federation. What’s more, the regular newsstand edition runs a thoroughly modern take on the same design, this time featuring Kirk, Spock and McCoy from J.J.Abram’s new Star Trek timeline.
Issue #44 of The Official Star Trek Magazine takes a trip across dimensions and through a multiverse of alternate timelines, investigating the science behind temporal paradoxes and quantum theory along the way. We also speak to Denise Crosby; re-evaluate the Trek movies The Final Frontier and Insurrection; and in Star Trek Scrapbook, we discover that the real world can be far stranger than fiction. Featuring exclusive interviews, original fiction, the latest on the new Trek movie, plus all your favorite regular features, news, reviews, and competitions.
For more information on Star Trek Magazine visit: http://titanmagazines.com/startrek
Star Trek: The Official Magazine #44, newsstand and Diamond exclusive covers
Stalled Trek: Amutt Time
Animation by Mark R. Largent, music by Rich Douglas, additiuonal voices by Terri Jakubowski and Xanthy Sotiriades
Where no felt has gone before! The USS Secondprize’s Science Officer, Mr. Spott is a mutt! He’s half human and half Vulcanine. Compelled by icky-gross reasons, Captain Krok agrees to take Mr. Spott to his homeworld only to find himself and Mr. Spott in an epic combat to the death! Stalled Trek: Amutt Time is an animated puppet parody. Running time 16 minutes.
Back near the turn of the century, Mark Largent published Stalled Trek: Amutt Time as an e-comic in PDF format, but the medium tasked him. What he really wanted to do was animate his story. Last year he realized his dream with a successful Kickstarter project that allowed him to produce this DVD. The story mauls pays tribute to the original series episode Amok Time, by Theodore Sturgeon, telling the tale of a doomed union between Spott and his Vulcanine paramour, T’Pomeranian. The original comic is also on the DVD, but it’s difficult to read on a television. I found it easier to read on a computer display. You can order a copy of Stalled Trek: Amutt Time DVD at Largent’s store.
Stalled Trek: Amutt Time DVD cover art
Mark Martinez is an obsessive-compulsive Star Trek comics reader and collector. You can visit his website, the Star Trek Comics Checklist for more than you ever needed to know about Star Trek comics.
Love comics, kep them coming!!
Once again I think the whole comic #15 was set in an alternate reality. Because the shot of the ship at the beginning and end (where mccoy and scotty are having the discussion) is the refit E from TMP.
I loved this comic hahaha it was really fun
mirror Uhura is officially my favorite character in the reboot mirror verse.
I’m enjoying the comics based on Abrams’ Trek, but much of what the writers are doing makes no sense, such as Landru being completely different. The timeline diversion occurred three decades before TOS. So how could the entire history of Landru’s world be different? I’m still buying and enjoying the series, but I wish the writers would be more logical about what they change.
These are fun, put i would love an app for the PS3 so i could enjoy them on my big screen!
Better yet, BobOrici, any update on the Trek animated possibilities?
@2: Showing a different ship is something completely normal on Star Trek comics, mostly because of some artists being unaware of the difference between ships, or paying little attention to it. In several comics I remember seeing the Ent-B as the Excelsior (or the other way around), for example. One time, I think it was on “Captain’s Log: Sulu”, an original TOS Constitution class was shown to represent an Oberth class ship!
6 – you can hardly fault an Ent-B/Excelsior mixup, they were the same model albiet slight modified. How the movie Enterprise/A got into these would be a fun story to learn.
was it me or did Senator Pike’s uniform look similar to the ones starfleet wore in the original series movies?
Long Live the EMPIRE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Granted, I’ve not read this, but from the synopsis given here it sounds more like ENT: “In a Mirror, Darkly” than TOS: “Mirror, Mirror”…
loved the conclusion, although it was a month late. this series just gets better and better and i cant wait to see what’s next. the art is beautiful minus the whole enterprise screw up.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/50364077/ns/technology_and_science-space/
This guy wants to build 1st enterprise
#10. it did feel more like in a mirror, darkly.
The Landru thing is interesting… I wondered if
there’s some twist that will make it fit with the TOS timeline, some explanation, since Bob knows his Trek…
Speaking of twists, it’s killing me that Fringe isn’t on this week.
This last comic confused me slightly. Was the TOS mirror Kirk completely without redeeming qualities? I just remember lots of Shatnery screaming. Is the horribleness of this new mirror Kirk saying anything about Pine’s Kirk? Does Pine’s Kirk somehow have that crazy darkness and spite in him? Is this a case of Shinzony, if you’d lived my life you’d end up like me?
Just bought the “Archons/Tribble” stories (Vol. 3). Good stuff. The tribbles story is pretty much entirely new. It still has tribbles (of course), but no K-7, no quadro-triticale, none of it. And a nice convenient explanation for why the Delta Vega tribble didn’t breed. Overall, it was a nice surprise instead of a familiar rehash. Keep up the good work, guys!
The Return of the Archons story was a bit… confused. I thought the inhabitants of Beta 3 were indigenous to the planet; not descendants of the Archon survivors (the parallel worlds theory of TOS). It seemed a bit too removed in concept from the original story to fit with what we’d seen. RotA was never one of the stronger TOS episodes anyway. Not sure adapting it into the more exciting new ST universe was such a good idea…
And the new Mirror universe issue just sounds WAY too close to ENT’s “In A Mirror Darkly” for my comfort. The premise is exactly the same; in both, the captain steals a more advanced spaceship, gives himself unlimited power and actively hates admirals and Vulcans. Pretty much a rehash, really….
Too bad.
Overall, the IDW remakes of TOS episodes have been largely hit and miss. I still think the “Where No Man…” adaptation was the best so far, but that’s just my opinion.
Just read the issue. It’s a little over-the-top, but if the Mirror Universe isn’t a creative carte blanche, then what is? I just think Kirk’s raid on Vulcan is overly symmetrical. Are we to believe that Red Matter is the only thing keeping Mirror Kirk from destroying Vulcan? The mirror should reflect the universe and the characters in equal measure. I think it’s too convenient that Nero fails and that this Mirror Kirk is also genocidal.
Anthony, we need a breakdown of plot elements from the comics (anti-Kirk Starfleet intrigue, recruiting Sulu, reckless grieving Spock, reckless grieving Sarek, Archon conspiracy, etc) that may be clues to STID.
There are a number of suspicious plot elements that are worth cataloging based on Orci’s conspiracy fetish. Like:
Where were Earth, American and Californian civil defenses when the Narada mounted the San Francisco Bay? Likewise with Vulcan.
If Narada technology is available to the Klingons and the black market (per Vulcan’s Revenge) then what of the Federation and Starfleet? The post-Kelvin Enterprise and militarized uniforms in STID both suggest acceleration, so what did Starfleet learn?
In the comic, Nero reviews Kirk’s file on the Narada, so does that mean that the Klingons and the black market know the entire alt-history of the future?
Why are the writers willing to give the Romulans the red matter in the post ST09 comics? Will the destruction of Vulcan create a de facto reunification between the Vulcan Exodus and the descendants of the Romulan Exodus? What is in Starfleet’s interest?
What was happening in the Laurentian System that tied up the primary fleet?
I’m more interested in listing questions than reading guesses.
Just read the issue, and it was exactly as I thought it would be, a rehash of “In A Mirror Darkly”. This was the 1st miss of the reboot OS episode retellings IMO. I hope we get some details about the lingering plots from the comics, like Sulu being recruited by my guess Section 31, Spock’s emotional experiences, etc.
I had pointed up the refit nacelles on Enterprise when issue 15 came out and was wondering what was up, since Bob Orci and others from Bad Robot have input into the comic.
I haven’t seen any clear images of the nacelles in the new movie, but I will be interested to see how they are presented in the prequel comix lead up to the movie and if any plot elements lead to forcing the ship to be redesigned a tad bit…
*eyeroll* at the face scars and eye patches.
Ok, so Pines Kirk in the movies in not yet the man that Kirk was in the original series but on a journey to be so.
So why are the comics portraying stories that happened in the original series if Kirk is not that man yet?
@21
Have you actually read the comics? They’re not carbon copies of the TOS stories at ALL.
Not crazy about a foreign studio doing the art–it looks rushed and doesn’t seem to be done with the usual care. How about more Joe Corroney or Gordon Purcell–they know how to draw Trek with the love it deserves!
22
I think the point is, Kirk in TOS “wasn’t the man” either, but was on a journey. That journey was found in those stories, too. It’s what made him. The comics are not carbon-copies, exactly, because this Kirk IS NOT going to be the Kirk of the TOS. The journey is different, so the end is different. He can’t be the same one. The thing is, some seem to try to have it both ways. I say stop with that and just admit it, he isn’t the Kirk of the TOS, but an inferior what-IF Kirk.
This doesn’t mean there is no interest in a different Kirk, of what he could have become due to the change of circumstances. Just he won’t be the best Kirk of them all.
@22, right on. Particularly, in WNMHGB retelling – we see a very unsure Kirk who recruited his Academy buddies to be by his side. Clearly, his friendship with Spock isn’t quite there and he trusted Mitchell and Kelso more than he did Spock (in spite of what Spock-Prime told both of them in ST09).
@21 – Kirk is nowhere near the point where Shatner’s Kirk was during TOS-Prime. The writing and direction they’re taking this series is to-the-point perfection in every way, showing that while things looked hunky-dory at the end of ST09, there are still scars lingering among the crew. The friendship dynamic of Spock-Kirk-McCoy is virtually nonexistent. Spock and McCoy enjoy a true open relationship that is similar to TOS (but not quite), where as Spock-Kirk are not even close to being considered friends in the slightest. Kirk-McCoy are still the best of friends, exactly where Krik-Prime and Spock-Prime are in their relationships. There are more, but I won’t get into it too much – you absolutely have to read this story for yourself.
@23 – I totally and completely agree! It’s also too-anime-like. I like Japanese art and manga, but I’m not a fan of how forced it looked in 15/16.
@Everyone who’s saying it’s a “rehash of ENT: IAMD:” None of you could be more right on that point! That’s exactly what I got from it, all the way through! The so-called “twist” I saw a quadrant away! While 15/16 is a good read, you can skip this and go to 17 when it comes out.
I was also annoyed that the TMP/1701-A Refit was used as a stand-in for the JJ-Prise. The design of the JJ-Prise has grown on me, and I’m quite fond of it actually. Hated it at first, but I was sorely disappointed we didn’t see it in these issues.
Loved McCoy’s lines and how they drew his explanation. Did anyone catch that we had (from left to right) DeForrest Kelly, Karl Urban, and Colm Meany all as Bones in that explanation? I got a real kick out of that!
They are not carbon copies but that is due to being in a different universe.
Yet those stories still took place when Kirk was a more mature and older man. So exact or not the timeframe is wrong.
Yep, “sounds awfully similar to ‘In a Mirror Darkly'” was also my thought!
By the way, did the events of said episode also happen in this alternate Mirror universe? (Perhaps with the Defiant being an Abramsverse Constitution class??) Perhaps we’ll know more when they some day come around to tell the Abramsverse version of “The Tholian Web”…
Stalled Trek: Amutt Time is outstanding! I participated in the Kickstart campaign and haven’t regretted the cash spent for a minute. Really funny stuff; Mark Largent’s love for the source material is obvious and plays to the fun of it all.
I can forgive many mistakes/oversights when it comes to the portrayal of the Enterprise in this comic series. It’s true, many artists don’t know the history, and so when they draw the Enterprise, they’re not aware of the importance of minor iterations in design between the ships and when those iterations took place.
In any case, none of them have made the sort of sinfully bad mistakes found in some comics of Star Trek past. For example, in the Peter Pan series, Uhura was portrayed as a white woman with blond hair and blue eyes, while Sulu was made to look African American.
I can also recall a few where the Caitian communications officer, Lt. M’Ress, did not appear at all catlike, but instead looked like a blue Andorian sans antennae.
Now THOSE are mistakes worth getting up one’s dander about.
http://www.comicbookmovie.com/fansites/JoshWildingNewsAndReviews/news/?a=72182
So sad. .
@17. Jefferies Tuber,
“I’m more interested in listing questions than reading guesses”
I agree. Too much guessing and browbeating, and not enough real investigating going on based on the clues that are being given.
I was particularly interested in Kirk’s taunting of Pike about “another Klingon terrorist attack”. Though this is the mirror universe, it seems telling that such attacks would be occurring regualary on Earth. Makes me wonder how that might be applied to the film.
#30
Thanks for sharing. Man… so very sad.
Amazing last words, though.
Damn.
I think that a new 4-Season Star Trek TV Series should be made. 3 or 4 seasons, either a regular TV series or an animated series, would be another cost-effective way of attracting more old fans as well as new fans to Star Trek. I also that this new show should be called Star Trek Final Frontier. It should involve starship crews from the 24th, 25th and 26th centuries AND include characters such as Daniels, Nero, Chakotay, Annika Hensen, Kathryn Janeway, Picard, Riker, Tuvok, Worf, Neelix, Annorax, Tom Paris,etc. The theme of this show should be preventing the creation of the Alternate Reality seen in Star Trek 11, Star Trek 12, etc and a second Romulan War that would cut both the UFP and the RSE away from each other possibly forever.
This development could also see 2 more titles such as Dogs Of War and Romulan been added to the Star Trek Fan Collective series.
#34: No.
Looks like NHL hockey will be back after all
Star Trek – meet the back burner.
Colm Meany!?! Wasn’t that supposed to be Doohan as Scotty? LOL!
Loving the comics though.
J-R!
Sorry. Meaney,not Meany,lol.
J-R!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7DNYocXvR0
Off topic, but on a slow news day, have you seen the fun new commercial from GE about machines/robots? Wait until the end for a surprising appearance from a familar face.
My biggest gripe about the new timeline is that Kirk / Spock / McCoy dynamic has been replaced by Kirk / Spock / Uhura. The bond between these three characters served as the foundation for some of the best moments in Star Trek. McCoy is being relegated to supporting character status.
ST: TMP
McCoy: Spock, you haven’t changed a bit. You’re just as warm and sociable as ever.
SPOCK: Nor have you, doctor, as your continued predilection for irrelevancy demonstrates.
– – – – – –
ST: TWOK
SPOCK: Really, Dr. McCoy. You must learn to govern your passions; they will be your undoing. Logic suggests…
McCOY: Logic? My God, the man’s talking about logic; we’re talking about universal Armageddon! You green-blooded, inhuman…
– – – – – – – – – –
ST: TSFS
McCOY: I’m gonna tell you something that I never thought I’d ever hear myself say. But it seems I’ve… missed you. And I don’t know if I could stand to lose you again.
– – – – – – – – – – –
ST: TVH
McCoy : Guess, Spock. Your best guess.
Spock: Guessing is not in my nature, Doctor.
McCoy: Well…nobody’s perfect. (smirks)
ST: TFF
SPOCK: Were we having fun?
McCoy: I liked him better before he died!
ST: TUC
Spock: Doctor, would you care to assist me in performing surgery on a photon torpedo?
McCoy: Fascinating!
As for the Enterprise refit used in this story, it’s still my favorite of them all.
49. Although, we saw a little of that in Star Trek 09 (the Kentucky derby speech). It was a start, because they’d just met each other hours before.
I think the role of the triumvirate gets exaggerated a bit.
37 – I’m looking at the page now… if that’s supposed to be James Doohan, it looks horrible – it looks more like a progression between De Kelly to Colm Meaney. Then again, Karl Urban doesn’t look all that great in the frame either so it could be… who knows…
I have often wondered in things are different BEFORE Nero showed up because he’s not really dead. The Ship went into a black hole created by red matter at the end of the movie. That’s what got him into the JJverse, who’s to say he didn’t go further back in time and change everything… Maybe that’s why we don’t know about Khan in 1996, Nero made it so there was never a Khan and now we have different stories and the time line is healing itself with John Harrison.
I finally got all caught up on these comics and I noticed a few things that seem relevant to the upcoming movie:
1) In at least 2 issues, Spock and Uhura are seen having problems in their relationship, the gist of it being that Uhura feels Spock needlessly places his life on the line. I think they’re headed for a breakup.
2) In at least 2 issues, Spock Prime is referred to as being out of the picture, refusing to interfere with the new timeline, no matter what. Seems to me they’re reinforcing the fact that he won’t appear in future movies.
3) In one issue, Chekov is referred to as “Lieutenant” by Kirk.
They have a fight or disagreement about that and they’re going to call it quits just because things are getting a little difficult??? … Sigh… writers and fans (single ones) that know nothing about relationships and how they really work…
In the sequel, the bond between them is still there. JJ Abrams says “This movie takes place six months later and they are still a couple,”
He also says
“I love movies that are big and unabashedly a huge fan of big pop mass appeal movies. I do love that. I love being in a theater packed with people and everyone gasping at the same time and having that communal experience. I don’t like going to the movies to feel bad. I don’t like going to the movies to feel depressed and feel diminished. The reason you go to the movies is to feel bigger and stronger and happier. So this is a movie that they certainly go ‘Into Darkness,’ but I would be the wrong director if it was about characters staying there. This is very much a movie about hope, about love, about romance, and about facing something that is truly terrifying and finding a way through the connection of your family and surviving and being stronger afterwards.”
Would have preferred the new cast dealing with old series ships. The mirror universe shouldn’t have to be regulated by the new movies, that would make it fun.