Oct 3rd Comic Round Up

posted by JediSheltie @ 7:00 PM

Star Trek Year Four - 3

I really should just give up. Never thought of myself as a masochist, but expecting this comic to improve when the problems are so fundamental now seems a bit like going back to the fridge 5 minutes later and hoping there's something new in there. Damn... I do that too.

Here, I'll just explain what happens in this issue and I think everyone will probably get the core problem with Tischman's plotting.

We have a fairly standard "crew is taken over" story. I've got no problem with reusing a basic sci-fi standby plot. In fact, taking the familiar and building something interesting on it gives the author a challenge. Tischman again fails to rise to this challenge. He does provide a "twist", so to speak, but we'll get to that.

The Enterprise investigates the loss of communications with a colony on the outer reaches of space. Everyone is dead when they arrive, giving McCoy an excuse for a classic proclamation on the loss of vitality itself. The deaths appear to be caused by some kind of viral infection. They discover the colonists demise occurred shortly after they unearthed an alien escape pod. Deftly assuming these events could be connected, Spock investigates the data tapes from the colony.

Soon after the crew starts to act strange. Soon people are disobeying Kirk's orders and sending the ship off to some unknown destination. Kirk, rightly, doesn't appreciate this fact, but is soon accused of being infected himself. McCoy helpfully straps Kirk down to 'cure' him, but not before he pleads with Nurse Chapel for escape. Then, the chase is on. The thrills! The drama! Can Kirk save his ship and crew from whatever dastardly fate this infection has for them!?

No, apparently not.

Tischman chooses as his "twist" that everyone gets infected and the ship happily zooms off to its hijacked destination. In the final page epilogue, Kirk logs that the infection was actually an alien consciousness that just wanted to go home. Once the ship arrived to the alien homeworld and they beamed down, it left them. And that's the end, folks. Again, the crew of the Enterprise is literally just along for the ride, helpless to do anything to effect the outcome of a Tischman plot.

I thought the fact that Kirk and McCoy were sitting by helpless in a cell while the resolution of the first issue took place off page was bad enough. Now we simply have a story where Kirk fails to save his ship. Sure, its "okay" because the alien just wanted to go home. Those first colonists were just an unfortunate bit of collateral damage, presumably. Somehow, I think Picard might have rolled over for this, but not Kirk. Sorry, just not Kirk.

Action Comics 856

Me love Bizaro. Me want more Bizaro comics. Read lots Bizaro speak make head feel good. Care deeply for everything that happen this arc. Hate see new non-Bizaro stories start 2 months from now.

[There, I wrote a Bizaro speak review of a Bizaro story. Truly inspired, totally original decision on my part, I know. Especially since I don't have to write anything else, as Bizaro's are creatures of few words, unlike me, who's now rambling just a bit, admittedly.]