Customer Reviews

Star Trek Archives Volume 1: Best of Peter David

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This was an "impulse buy" at the library, found while browsing the comic books (which always appear to be shelved in the "teen" section, unless they're black-and-white indie titles--but that's another topic).

I think I actually own most of the original issues collected here, but this was much more convenient than digging through my parents' garage. The first story is the best; it's commonly known within Trek fandom as "Scotty's Story," and it is an unabashed tearjerker. Some say that Trek is best when it's not being Trek--i.e., when it's not telling a straight science fiction story, but simply using the setting as a backdrop and mining the well-established characters and relationships for drama--and this is a perfect example.

The other two stories in this collection are okay, but not great. The "Worthy" three-parter, co-written by Bill Mumy, strains credibility and falls pretty flat if you don't pick up on all the Lost in Space references. "Once a Hero" does a decent job of dramatizing the plight of the redshirt, but the TNG episode "Lower Decks" did it much better.

Although I enjoyed original Trek and (most of) the movies, the comic book versions that Gold Key and later Marvel did were a big disappointment to me.

So it was only by accident that I picked up DC's Star Trek issue #19, "Once a Hero!" For a long time, fans had noticed the "expendable redshirts," nameless and forgettable characters who existed only for villains to demonstrate their EE-vil by injuring or killing. But don't worry, another nameless redshirt will be there next week for another villain to take advantage of. Scripter Peter David took the cliche and crafted a moving story in which Captain Kirk strives to write an adequate tribute to a young redshirt, one of his security personnel who sacrificed himself to save Kirk. The problem is, no one had gotten to know the brave young man, not Chekov, his supervisor, not his co-workers, not even Spock, who felt him die. As Kirk himself puts it, "I wouldn't even know his first name if it wasn't in the computer records."

Even more moving, in my opinion, is the story that opens this collection: "Retrospect" or "Scotty's Story" as it's more commonly known. Here Mr. David tells the story of the death and life of Glynnis Campbell, Scotty's wife. Oh, you didn't KNOW Scotty had a wife? There's a reason for that which is explained here. And when I said "death and life" I meant it. Beginning with Glynnis' death and proceeding backwards to her first meeting with Mr. Scott, this is a tale of a remarkable and unforgettable woman, made more poignant by Peter David's storytelling technique. This story features the artwork of the legendary Curt Swan.

There's also a three-part tale of "the Worthy", who, if you squint a little, you will recognize as the Robinson family from "Lost in Space." This story, which originally appeared in Star Trek (2nd series) #13 - 15, was co-written by Bill Mumy, one of the original stars from that TV show. Both this tale and "Once a Hero" feature terrific art by Gordon Purcell and Arne Starr. The images produced by these two gentlemen are exciting, easy to understand and a good likeness of the characters we all know.

You may or may not be a fan of ST or the type of in-jokey writing that would cross-over two television series, but "Once a Hero" and "Scotty's Story" are two of the finest stories you will ever read. I don't mean "the finest comic book stories" or even "the finest science fiction stories," but the finest stories period.

I am relatively new to comics, but I found this book to be very well done and thoroughly enjoyable! One of the best I've read, so far.

Highly recommended!

This is excellent! Comics with a story about Scotty, one about an unknown crewmember and three about a race long-thought extinct. Really exciting and really good.