Star Trek the Manga  Recommended
Publisher
Tokyopop
Writer
Shinsei Shinsei
Artist
Shinsei Shinsei
Country of origin
Japan
Year
2006
Star Trek the Manga
By David Rasmussen
24th Sep 06  Space, the Final Frontier.
These are the MANGA voyages of the starship Enterprise
It’s five chapter mission… to explore strange new social issues (like gender conflict or the ills of using cute “pets” as peace offerings), to seek out new stories using an artstyle that kind of is either “Japanese style” or just mimicking the Animated Series look with a manga flair (which sometimes works and sometimes make Kirk look like a little blonde punk for starters), to boldly go where no manga has gone before… and if it has why the hell haven’t we seen it yet! WHOOOSSH!! (Trek opening credit theme cranks up as the Enterprise flies past) STAR TREK the MANGA WHOOOSSH!! (Enterprise flyby) NOT Starring William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk (but sometimes it looks like young Shatner) WHOOOSSH!! (Enterprise flyby) LEONARD NIMOY as Mr. Spock (maybe) WHOOOSSH!! (Enterprise flyby) And DEFOREST KELLY AS Dr.Leonard McCoy (we miss you… now if only the artists could actually draw you correctly! Damn you for not drawing DeForest Kelly correctly!! Damn you!!) Lah-lah-lah… (blackness, Enterprise comes into view) Captain’s Log… Stardate 092006... Star Trek is now -- 40 years old. That means it’s -- time to celebrate.
Not quite -- aaaaaa Golden Anniversary material of 50, and yet -- we shouldn’t wait to throw aaaa major party since --- we are run-ning out of classic Trek alumni to --- celebrate with… now if I can only stop talking… in Dramatic Shatner-nese. PS we miss you DeForest Kelly, James Doohan, Roger C. Carmel (Harry Mudd), Mark Lenard and so forth! So since it looks like DC Comics and MARVEL are not spinning out the umpteenth Star Trek series in print or holding their own celebrations (odd considering that they played pass the Trek from the 80’s to the start of the 21st Century when Star Trek comics finally stopped coming out) it looks like TOKYOPOP has to carry the torch of Trekdom into the 21st Century with Star Trek the Manga.
Just, you know, don’t get all attached to this as it is a One Shot only. This isn’t the start of a new generation of Star Trek in print or anything. Sure, to be honest as a Trekker I would love to see TOKYOPOP expand on this and come out with the Manga of Star Trek TNG (which was supposed to have been the basis for an ongoing Star Trek Manga that TOKYOPOP never came out with), Star Trek DS9 (heaven forbid), and Star Trek Voyager but more Classic Trek is on my plate if I really want to see TOKYOPOP do more. What, didn’t Paramount ever give any Japanese creators permission for Star Trek in Japan (manga style)? And, come to think of it, didn’t they ever thought about using ACTUAL AMERIMANGA TALENT in doing a so-called Manga Trek? Of all the writers for this manga, however, If one name seems familiar in the form of a certain Mike W. Barr, it should be. If you are an alumni of America’s Trek comics then you notice that he’s the same writer who helped launched DC Comics first Star Trek comic series way back in 1984-1985 or so which included two vital moments of the series : that being the way the series launched out of the starting gates post Star Trek II : The Wrath of Khan, and how the comic series recovered it’s status quo after the events of Star Trek III : The Search for Spock (not even a full year after the series launches did this problem come rolling through the doors of DC Comics).
The other names don’t leap out at me, though I’m sure they also have some history with Trek either in comic or novel form (maybe even episode form). And that, by the way, is a failing of this book. For a book that is Trek Manga I expected to see the best of the AmeriManga community come forth and give us a fresh Trek into the franchise… or at least recognizable names I could peg as AmeriManga talents. I don’t know the Artists personally or their works so… well… (shrugs)… who can say. Anyone knows these talents?
One thing though, even if they’re AmeriManga, and the artwork looks alright, it’s NOT consistent. Sometimes they look good, and Mr. Spock & Uhura (at least) is consistent throughout character design wise, followed by Dr. McCoy who at least manages to hold it together lookwise better than Kirk for instance, who sometimes looks like a punk blondie (the last two stories he really doesn’t look good) and Scotty who seem to fall in and out of ideal character appearance. Chekov and Sulu I had neutral reactions to in consideration to both. This doesn’t give the manga a flawed look but why is it Kirk looks like he’s a teenager (or at least 20) in the last two stories while he looks more like his age in the first three? Otherwise the artwork works well enough but I felt that I’ve seen this look before which really didn’t excite me all that much.
It works, but it wasn’t going to shake up the universe all the same.
Storywise let’s browse the Trek and see what’s up. Side Effects
Story by Chris Downs
Artwork by Makoto Nakatsuka
I can’t tell you anything about this because, well, it’s going to be so obvious the first couple of pages should tell you what this is about. In short this is a Classic Trek story that tries to form an origin point (in Dark Cloud 2 speak) for a cornerstone of a different Trek franchise… no, it won’t link to Enterprise the series thank you very much. Anything But Alone
Story by Joshua Ortega
Artworky by Gregory Giovanni Johnson
Remember that one story from ST-TNG about that lonely alien disguised as a human who lost his friends and wife (who were all human) when their colony was attacked by vicious aliens and he went out of his mind and killed the entire species that killed his colony? Well, same thing only without the vicious aliens and nobody for lonely dude (who is not an alien) to blame for his misery. But while he does not have alien power he does have something else that may make him as godlike as that alien from ST-TNG… and this time there’s no damn Picard to spare the rod and spoil the alien… but then again there should be no whammy since the guy isn’t a species killer like that other alien.
Anyway let’s see how Captain Kirk handles this problem which kind of mixes that ST-TNG episode premise with abit of a classic Trek episode (the one with the seemingly ageless “Flint“ and his robotic “daughter“ slash love interest). ‘Til Death
Writer - Mike W. Barr
Artist - Jeong Mo Yang
Star Trek the Comic Series alumni writer Mike W. Barr answers the Starfleet Call of Duty by penning a new story. But this time out it isn’t war between the Federation and Klingons (triggered by the Excalibans) or a romp into the Mirror Mirror Universe to avert a war between the two universes (as well as fix the problems made by the ending of Star Trek III : The Search for Spock). No, this time out it’s war between men and women (and there was such a happy wedding onboard ship as well) as this bitter bitter couple from a race that was bitchslapping each other during a failed gender war (like that little spoken of PC turn based strategy game years ago of the same bloody violent topic) comes onboard the Enterprise and sets men against women to the point they… let’s just say you’ve seen this done before in Star Trek TNG… only you were pretty sure this was impossible to do in Star Trek (unless you’ve read Mike W. Barr’s Mirror Mirror storyline then you’ve seen him do this trick before, only done differently). Anyway the couple in question is destined to end their relationship badly… if only they had a holodeck during Classic Trek then they could have locked these two in with holographic Dr. Phil! Oban
Writer - Jim Alexander
Artist - Michael Shelfer
How many episodes did the crew take time off for shore leave? Not many? Well as this story starts the crew wishes they were near the Shore Leave planet, or that planet Scotty was almost put to death for the murders of women caused by the ageless malevolent entity known as Piglet… I mean Redjac… you know, the one which has that place across town where the women are… that place! Anyway the crew is about to explode, and the situation of being caught between two reptilian like races trading the most awkward peace offerings via the Enterprise has totally bummed Kirk out. Maybe the gifts they’re transporting. One of these things is called “The Weave”, which is microscopic creatures which create these visual “tapestries” of colors and patterns according to the mood of the person observing them… ooh, Spock makes them go to sleep! The other peace offering is a cuddly Harvest Moon meets Poke’mon reptile pet called the Oban, who loves to be rubbed under his chin, can mellow out the crew… and enjoys long moonless walks through long airshafts randomly killing crewmembers as it goes all homicidal once it’s exposed to the other gift (The Weave) which, ironically, was made by the race that the Grumpy Giganto Oban was supposed to put the whammy on.
Remember, next time say peace offering with an FTD Galactic Florist gift basket. Less trouble that way. Orphans
Writer - Rob Tokar
Artist - EJ Su
Let’s see… train children much like how they were training clones kiddies of Jango Fett in Star Wars Episode II and then give them Gundam knockoff things to fight in… oh, then totally collapse in on yourself and leave a ton of little kid soldiers without a country (or planet) to fight for and things are going to get messy. It’s Roddenberry vs. Tomino’s vision of the future as the Enterprise gets mech-d’.
Also Kirk tries to convert the second command of these Gundam wannabe pilots after one ends up as a “guest” on the Enterprise after his mech is incapacitated during a vicious confrontation. Finally there’s the preview of “Constellations”, called “First, Do No Harm” by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dillmore, which I’ll leave for you to discover. Ok, otherwise that’s it so let’s breakdown. (clench fists, muscles aggitated, scream) “KIRRROOOKK…” (uh) “I mean… BREAKDOWWNN!!”
What’s Trek?
We’ve been suffering for abit from a lack of Trek in print haven’t we? I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a Star Trek comic out, so finally getting one after such a dryspell is a welcome thing indeed.
It’s only five chapters and there’s no follow through but at least it’s something. Maybe TOKYOPOP can be compelled to do more if sales are good enough. What’s Not Trek?
However for a one shot I felt as it was… passable. It was not excellent, but it didn’t suck either. As it stands Star Trek the Manga was… well it fills a need for Trek in print and that’s about it. No breakthrough crowd pleasers like some of the best of the TV Series (and some of the best of past print exposes), but it is fair enough all the same. Also non of Trek’s rogue gallery pops in (except for the obvious connection in the first story) which is a shame. No famous Klingons we all know and grumble at, no Romulans or Tholians (one of the least used races of Trek). And no famous personalities of Trek like a certain well known rascal of the Star Trek Universe, one Mr. Harcourt Fenton Mudd which no anniversary can go without. It would not be so remiss to ask that we see some concentrated effort to gauge whether or not there’s a market these days (post the success of G4’s Star Trek 2.0 and Star Trek’s expansion onto TVLand) for a new Star Trek series in print (anthology or straight up Trek of a certain series). Trek to Remember?
It’s the crew of the classic ship back again. Can’t get much better than that. Trek to Forget?
However it is not all Trek rememberances as sometimes the manga misses a few points here and there. Uhura, Sulu and Chekov could have been used a wee bit better, Scotty could have had abit more time to show off his marvelous engineering skills (or his quirky attitude). And while Spock and McCoy did dust it off a little they didn’t go into their usual classic banter enough for my taste, while there was at least some of the Three Amigos comradery between Kirk, Spock and McCoy to offset the not so vibrant bickering between Spock and McCoy. Also no Yeoman Rand? Come on! Don’t tell me you forgot her already!! Nurse Chapel (Majel Barrett) is here, so why is she either not here or has no impact on readers that you easily miss her if she is in here (if I missed her I am so sorry to Grace Lee Whitney (Yeoman Rand if I remember right, apologies again if I don‘t)! Overall?
I’m going to give it my best, but not perfect because it isn’t perfect.
It has it’s flaws, it missed some beats, and for us long term fans I wished it had abit more of that Trek magic that I love so about the series. But it’s the only Trek in town if you are looking for a visual fix of the series so it’s not like you have the liberty to be picky (because you don’t). This, sadly, may be the only game in town short of DC/MARVEL rolling out the archives and bringing us 40th Anniversary Edition reprints of the best of classic Trek comics of all series. A Silver Recommendation Star because you know you’re getting this if you are one with the Trek.
Resistance is futile… so suck it up and enjoy, because even if it is abit flawed it is Trek and it is the only print tribute to the series that is presently available so… well… you have to take what you’re given.
HOWEVER, that being said, I do want to remind everyone at TOKYOPOP to SERIOUSLY see if Trek has enough legs left to hold onto a sustained new series because SOMEBODY should! Honestly! When was the last time somebody put out an ongoing Trek series in print anyway!
Nuff said… oh, and Live Long and Prosper. (Ending credits roll and ending theme music plays).
-- David Rasmussen 24th Sep 06
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