A couple of weeks ago, we were chatting about Star Trek comic books. As noted earlier, I am awfully fond of certain DC and Marvel journeys through the Trek universe. It occurred to me that I had not read any of the more recent IDW stuff. To correct that glaring oversight, I picked up IDW’s trade paperback Star Trek: The Next Generation – The Space Between.
This TPB collects all six issues of the The Space Between miniseries.
When evaluating Trek comics, I look for three primary elements to guide me:
Art
There are two aspects I consider in regards to the artwork in Star Trek comics. First, are the characters recognizable? While I am not looking for portrait quality representations of Picard and Worf, I do want to see that the characters in the book match up to what is seen in the TV show. I should be able to identify them; I should be able to pick them out in a line up. Artist Casey Maloney does a remarkable job of both capturing the feel of these characters so well known to us, yet also making them organic to the medium. Movement and expression is fluid.
Second, do the starships look cool? Many artists are skilled at character illustration, few though seem to have the chops to sketch out an exciting splash page of starship combat.
Brief aside… I drew a comic back when I was in high school that contained numerous original characters, but from time-to-time characters from other works would appear. Spock frequently made guest appearances. I was always happy with my character work, less so with my starship rendering. This is when I would enlist the help of my buddy Phil, who drew spectacular starships. I would leave panels blank and have him populate them with the needed spacecraft. He did beautiful work penciling out majestic Starfleet cruisers. It is amusing to note that while Phil was a gifted starship illustrator, he lacked an eye for continuity. Within the same story and absent narrative to indicate such, his U.S.S. Enterprise would change from original series ship to original crew movie Enterprise, sometimes within the same page!
Casey Maloney is the whole meal deal. He artfully renders the Enterprise, faithful to the craft of the show. His Enterprise is graceful, imposing. Pretty pages are found within this book.
Character
Do the characters sound right? Are they true to the source material? For the most part, the answer here is yes. We learn nothing new about the crew of the Enterprise in these pages, nor are we provided any insights demonstrating additional depth. Instead, we are provided with solid examples of what we might see in a rather forgettable series episode.
Story
Within the confines of story I look for several things. Is the premise clever? Is it well-told? Does the story fit within established continuity? Is the setting appropriately used to best effect? Is it authentic to canon Trek? Not one of these stories written by David Tischman grabbed me. Each was predictable and, really, they’re stories seen before, told better elsewhere. I lost faith in Tischman about midway in.
The Enterprise is taking a pounding from an enemy vessel when Riker reports: “That last shot took out the left nacelle…!”
Um… left nacelle?
It’s a naval vessel. That’s the port nacelle, my friend.
I know that seems nit-pickish of me, but it’s the kind of error that sent me right out of the experience. It was jarring.
Since the stories never took any chances, continuity was never really at issue.
All-in-all, I’m glad I read it. The pictures alone made it worthwhile. Other than that, I cannot recommend The Space Between.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:12 am
Is that pre-beard Riker I see? Bah. I never liked the show in that time. It was still trying to find its legs, and there was not enough risk or pizzazz. Sounds like the comic fell into the same trap.
September 29th, 2008 at 11:46 am
I’m not a sailor, so the only thing I know about port is wine. Is port nacelle a good wine?
But I get the point about a moment taking you right out of a story. One of the Lethal Weapon movies has a windshield being completely kicked out whole. It just doesn’t work that way. Them suckers are glued in place.
September 29th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
I don’t seem to recall them ever saying port, aft, etc on ST:TNG. So, if they would have said left nacelle on the show, no amount of naval knowledge should have pulled you out of the story. Well, it at least shouldn’t be a criticism of a book that is sticking to the source material.
September 29th, 2008 at 2:53 pm
If you like trek comics, I’d highly recommend STAR TREK YEAR FOUR: THE ENTERPRISE EXPERIMENT from IDW. It’s well written by original TV series writer DC Fontana and has excellent art by Gordon Purcell that’s both dynamic and really looks like the actors and the ships. It’s the Kirk crew against Klingons and Romulans and has lots of touch stones from the original and animated series. IDW has a good handle on TREK these days!
September 29th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
Aron, I’m glad to hear someone else who’s a big Trek fan also disliked The Space Between. I got all excited for the new Trek launch at IDW and was sadly disappointed. I stuck with the miniseries until the end, and I found myself just not caring when I got to the end.
It doesn’t help that, as much as I liked TNG, the characters were often bland. But most of the characters grew more interesting over time. Here, they were ALL as flat as the pages the books were printed on. Reading each issue left me with a “Huh… That’s it??” feeling afterward. I can remember reading the first two issue and wondering what these two seemingly disparate stories had to do with one another. As the series went on, the books did nothing to convince me that it was worth my time or my $3 per issue.
I don’t know if the Trek books at IDW have improved since then or not. I did the Klingons mini-series (which was better, but not spectacular… All it really did was show past Trek events from the Klingon POV) and stayed away from IDW’s line ever since.
Another strike against The Space Between: The art was as bland as the characters and their dialogue (what little dialogue IDW’s Trek books have actually had, that is). And spot the drawing of “Riker” in part one that actually looks Dr. McCoy instead!
I’ve been wanting to IDW to some DS9 (my favorite Trek) stuff, perhaps stories set in the post-TV “Relaunch” novel timeline, but if what I’ve seen is any indication I’d just as soon not have IDW churn out a bunch lousy books with my favorite crew.
September 29th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
They ALWAYS used naval terminology like port, starboard etc. on all Trek series, whether Kevin recalls it or not. They never would have said “left” nacelle, and it is definitely a matter of a valid criticism of not paying close enough attention to the source material. Definitely a mistake that someone who has familiarized himself with the show (by re-watching or whatever) sufficient to be writing a spin off should not have made.
September 30th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
I have to agree with Ed… I haven’t actually seen a TNG episode in awhile (the only place to see it currently is on Sci-Fi and I haven’t figured out yet what timeslot the show has been moved to), but they definitely referred to port, starboard, aft, etc. on the show. On ALL of the Trek shows.
@ Nate: Thanks for the recommendation! While I disagree with you about how IDW’s doing Trek, I’m always willing to give Dorothy Fontana a shot. Hopefully, she gives the story more depth (and dialogue) than the other IDW writers have done thus far. Perhaps I’ll check it out when the trade hits.