Star Trek Graphic Novel Collection, Volume 1: Review

Checker Book Publishing has shown that there is no school like the old school. They were smart enough to compile a very old Star Trek series of comics that were first printed in the late sixties, when the original television series was still on the air and at its peak. This is assuming that the original Star Trek series had a peak, because I believe the show didn't really develop its Trekkie following until it was in syndication.

The series was printed by a comic book company called Gold Key, which I remember from my youth as printing Tom and Jerry and other cartoon character comics. I can only assume that they went out of business, but Checker Book Publishing has somehow salvaged them for reprints. I'll bet you anything those issues are worth a bunch now with their photo covers and all.

The stories in this Star Trek collection are as dated at the original series, however, they have the advantage of more realistic special effects. As you may recall, the TV show's special effects weren't exactly Industrial Light and Magic, and I think the Enterprise was just a toy that was superimposed around a globe or something.

Of course, the late sixties special effects artists are excused, as no one knew anything about that back then. Fortunately, when you're in a comic book, the only limit is your imagination, and you can do anything you want. For example, the comic depicts Enterprise literally stopping two planets form colliding, and it looks as real as the artist could draw it, which isn't really realistic at all, unfortunately.

Not only are the "effects" fake, but the science is too. I mean, the Enterprise somehow stops two planets from colliding with some magnetic repulsion thing. Man, is all the science on Star Trek science fiction?

Not only do these old stories imitate the look of the old series, but the doctrines as well. For example, the first story features the crew landing on a planet inhabited by living plants, and Captain Kirk destroys them all! I couldn't help but think of what Captain Picard would do. He'd probably sit back in his ready room and tell Commander Riker: "Destroy the plants? What would we do that? They have done nothing wrong! If anything, we are villains who fail to water them and give them proper sunlight. No, number one, we must find a scientific way to help them."

Still, you have give these Star Trek comics points for originality. There are some pretty cool stories. For example, there is one where this race creates these machines that build cities, but then the machines rebel and can't stop building cities. So it's up to the crew of the Starship Enterprise to stop it!

Yeah, it's typical Star Trek plots, and it feels like something the original TV show could have done with a little more imagination and more special effects. If you loved the original show, you will love this graphic novel collection.