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Review: Star Trek - Assignment Earth TPB
Star Trek: Assignment Earth TPB
Written and Drawn by John Byrne
Published by IDW Publishing. $19.99 USD
This came out in 2008 but I only picked it up last week because I honestly just felt like reading some John Byrne comics. I'm a fan of Star Trek, the original series, but not a fan, if you know what I'm saying. I'm not familiar with the Assignment Earth episode that was supposed to spin off into a series starring Robert Lansing and Teri Garr, but didn't, as Star Trek couldn't sustain itself much less generate spin-offs. That changed later, of course.
John Byrne is a big Star Trek fan, so one might expect this to be a perfect match, a passion project from a great comics creator who can still do fine work when engaged. So why isn't it quite a success? I'm fine with admitting I don't know; too often critics invent theories of creators phoning it in, or editors screwing with the product, or any other reason good intentions don't result in good comics.
Things don't start badly, if one ignores the dreadful chapter break pages in a dour color scheme with heavily pixilated Byrne art. The first issue/chapter briefly recaps Assignment Earth and then jumps forward three months, with Supervisor 194 Gary Seven and partner Roberta Lincoln on their next mission, to stop someone (likely a renegade scientist) from sabotaging an atomic test. That was the premise of the proposed TV series, that these two would intercede to stop mankind from destroying itself before it evolves into a peaceful society. A sweet, very '60s, very Gene Roddenberry idea, and who knows, maybe that's part of the problem, in that Byrne hasn't ventured in waters this earnest for years, maybe not since his Superman run. This first chapter is actually quite good, though, with terrific artwork and a nice turn where Seven ends up falling for the female scientist who ends up being the villain. It's a good start, as we know that despite the many devices at Seven's disposal (time travel, a talking supercomputer, a pet cat who can turn into a woman--useful, that--and a pen-sized tool that makes people complacent and forgetful), he's not foolproof and he can be wounded, at least emotionally.
The second chapter is also enjoyable, with Seven and Roberta boarding the U.S.S. Enterprise which has somehow appeared again on mid-60s Earth. Having teleported the pilot from the jet about to crash into them, Kirk and the crew (their faces never shown in this issue for some reason) are endangering Earth's timeline the more the pilot is on board this future ship unless Seven fixes things. Self-contained and enjoyable, but without a similar character moment as in the first chapter.
The third issue had a couple interesting moments, this time for Roberta, as it's the late '60s and she falls in love with an African-American peace protester, while Seven eventually uncovers the threat on campus, a crazed General developing clone soldiers. That wasn't particularly compelling, but the epilogue is good, with an older Roberta at the Vietnam Wall, mourning her long-gone love Curtis, who died in that conflict. It's too bad there isn't a little more of this. Undoubtedly, Byrne wanted to do more stories than the five here, and is probably setting up future subplots, but one wishes the character moments received a little more space that what's here.
Chapter Four's alien invasion would appear to be a little outside the premise of mankind threatening its own survival--this is an outside threat, but it's okay. Although perhaps set in a time when Vietnam was still going on and Roberta's love Curtis was still alive, it's still a little weird to see her going ga-ga over another man, or at least the handsome human imitation of one of the "nice" aliens. It's at this point I had my doubts whether Byrne had really thought through how he wanted to handle her character or making it up as he went along.
The final chapter involves Seven and Roberta in China trying to prevent a joint Russian/Chinese plot to replace President Nixon with a surgically altered double agent, and now I was wondering just how wacky Byrne was willing to get to keep this thing going for another five issues if given the chance. It's not the worst plot at all, actually kind of amusing, but the execution is just a little too pat. True, the series is based on a kitsch classic TV show, but in 2009 these stories come off as a bit too safe and lightweight. For such a lofty assignment--saving the world, over and over--it never feels like it's very challenging or difficult, and aside from a couple glimpses we're never let into these characters. It's nicely drawn and nothing to be ashamed of, but there are hundreds of other John Byrne comics I'd read again before this one.
Written and Drawn by John Byrne
Published by IDW Publishing. $19.99 USD
This came out in 2008 but I only picked it up last week because I honestly just felt like reading some John Byrne comics. I'm a fan of Star Trek, the original series, but not a fan, if you know what I'm saying. I'm not familiar with the Assignment Earth episode that was supposed to spin off into a series starring Robert Lansing and Teri Garr, but didn't, as Star Trek couldn't sustain itself much less generate spin-offs. That changed later, of course.
John Byrne is a big Star Trek fan, so one might expect this to be a perfect match, a passion project from a great comics creator who can still do fine work when engaged. So why isn't it quite a success? I'm fine with admitting I don't know; too often critics invent theories of creators phoning it in, or editors screwing with the product, or any other reason good intentions don't result in good comics.
Things don't start badly, if one ignores the dreadful chapter break pages in a dour color scheme with heavily pixilated Byrne art. The first issue/chapter briefly recaps Assignment Earth and then jumps forward three months, with Supervisor 194 Gary Seven and partner Roberta Lincoln on their next mission, to stop someone (likely a renegade scientist) from sabotaging an atomic test. That was the premise of the proposed TV series, that these two would intercede to stop mankind from destroying itself before it evolves into a peaceful society. A sweet, very '60s, very Gene Roddenberry idea, and who knows, maybe that's part of the problem, in that Byrne hasn't ventured in waters this earnest for years, maybe not since his Superman run. This first chapter is actually quite good, though, with terrific artwork and a nice turn where Seven ends up falling for the female scientist who ends up being the villain. It's a good start, as we know that despite the many devices at Seven's disposal (time travel, a talking supercomputer, a pet cat who can turn into a woman--useful, that--and a pen-sized tool that makes people complacent and forgetful), he's not foolproof and he can be wounded, at least emotionally.
The second chapter is also enjoyable, with Seven and Roberta boarding the U.S.S. Enterprise which has somehow appeared again on mid-60s Earth. Having teleported the pilot from the jet about to crash into them, Kirk and the crew (their faces never shown in this issue for some reason) are endangering Earth's timeline the more the pilot is on board this future ship unless Seven fixes things. Self-contained and enjoyable, but without a similar character moment as in the first chapter.
The third issue had a couple interesting moments, this time for Roberta, as it's the late '60s and she falls in love with an African-American peace protester, while Seven eventually uncovers the threat on campus, a crazed General developing clone soldiers. That wasn't particularly compelling, but the epilogue is good, with an older Roberta at the Vietnam Wall, mourning her long-gone love Curtis, who died in that conflict. It's too bad there isn't a little more of this. Undoubtedly, Byrne wanted to do more stories than the five here, and is probably setting up future subplots, but one wishes the character moments received a little more space that what's here.
Chapter Four's alien invasion would appear to be a little outside the premise of mankind threatening its own survival--this is an outside threat, but it's okay. Although perhaps set in a time when Vietnam was still going on and Roberta's love Curtis was still alive, it's still a little weird to see her going ga-ga over another man, or at least the handsome human imitation of one of the "nice" aliens. It's at this point I had my doubts whether Byrne had really thought through how he wanted to handle her character or making it up as he went along.
The final chapter involves Seven and Roberta in China trying to prevent a joint Russian/Chinese plot to replace President Nixon with a surgically altered double agent, and now I was wondering just how wacky Byrne was willing to get to keep this thing going for another five issues if given the chance. It's not the worst plot at all, actually kind of amusing, but the execution is just a little too pat. True, the series is based on a kitsch classic TV show, but in 2009 these stories come off as a bit too safe and lightweight. For such a lofty assignment--saving the world, over and over--it never feels like it's very challenging or difficult, and aside from a couple glimpses we're never let into these characters. It's nicely drawn and nothing to be ashamed of, but there are hundreds of other John Byrne comics I'd read again before this one.
Posted by ChristopherAllen at 11:21 PM [Link to this post]
1 Comments:
I'm guessing Byrne didn't show any Enterprise crew faces in #2 because, it's the spinoff, man. They had access to the set, but Shatner and Nimoy were off that day. Maybe they shot it on Sunday.
Verisimilitude.
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