Star Trek: The Return!
{5/5} “I did not fear death the first time I died. I would imagine it only becomes less intimidating with subsequent experiences.” — Spock
Star Trek: The Return! by Peter David, published in 9 issues from Oct. 1989 to Jun 1990
After the visit to Sha Ka Ree, the Enterprise-A is repaired and ready to go out again. Captain James T. Kirk receives a distress signal and heads to investigate. A member of the Nasgul requests asylum — he’s beamed aboard while his ship is destroyed by other Nasgul. The Nasgul demand their prisoner back and when Kirk refuses they fire on the Enterprise — and when that doesn’t get them anywhere they try to ram her, destroying themselves in the process.
Whereas the previous iteration of comic books was often a bit silly, this is a more mature storyline. It has David’s trademark humour.
Some fine new characters are introduced, and Commander Klaa shows up. There’s a very nice scene between Uhura and Scotty, discussing what happened when Sybok was on the ship. Sulu has a romance, which is fun.
The artwork by James W. Fry and Arne Starr is great. When I saw that comic book artwork could be this good I was always a bit disappointed when it wasn’t.
This is the 2nd time I’ve read it. This is one of the 1st comic books I read, possibly even the 1st.
This set of comic books leads directly into the set known as “The Trial of James T. Kirk,” which is also collected in The Best of Star Trek.
I’ve read 28 novels, 3 graphic novels, and a bunch of comic books by David. I previously reviewed Star Trek: Who Killed Captain Kirk?