Star Trek: New Visions #1: "The Mirror, Cracked"

[superboyprime]

'There are still people out there who don't GET it!! Who dismiss the issues as "just" Photoshopping images from the show. To them, I can only say one thing: Try it. See how well you do. Sigh.' - John Byrne

Comments

[halloweenjack]

To them, I can only say one thing: Try it. See how well you do.

Tumblr, and it's not that bad, actually.

[bruinsfan]

Is it wrong of me to hope that some 13-year-old girl will come along and redo this comic using her own screencaps with more dynamic layouts and effects?

[halloweenjack]

If it is, I don't wanna be right.

[drtechnobabel]

I would love to see a side-by-side comparison myself.

[mrstatham]

This. I see plenty of amazing gif sets and blended images and photoshopped works and fan stuff using existing images that work far better than this, just just looks awkward and like the prototype for something Alex Ross would use for reference.

[drtechnobabel]

I was going to mention Darths and Droids, but your example works better.

[tcampbell1000]

The fight scene was frankly pretty confusing, but I like the twist ending, which feels more Ellison than Roddenberry.

[donnblake]

Mr. Byrne, just because something requires effort doesn't mean it's worthwhile. A shame, because I actually like the story here.

[scelestus]

I do miss the Original Series rat-like Klingons. After several seasons of TNG and DS9, blaring about honor and duty wears on a person.

[starwolf_oakley]

There's also the question to what degree the TNG/DS9 Klingons *believed* stuff about honor and duty. Worf did, but others seemed to do what they want and say it was honorable.

[icon_uk]

Agreed, I never warmed to the Klingons post TOS, too much shouty waffle about how wonderful they were.

And why, if it was an "Empire" did we never once see even ONE other species which was a member of that Empire?

I think it was Peter David, in one of his Trek novels who noted that in Kirk's time, the Klingons were generally untrustworthy opportunists , and the Romulans prized honour, but when TNG came along, it was if their entire attitudes had been reversed.

[donnblake]

I dunno, plenty of human empires that didn't include other species. Maybe the Chancellor (or the Emperors, back when they still had them) were invested with authority that translated to Imperium.

[icon_uk]

I dunno, plenty of human empires that didn't include other species.

Since we're stuck on Earth, we've never had a human empire that has had the potential to include non human species.

The UP Federation has many species represented in it, likewise we've seen plenty of worlds populated by alien species in the Gamma Quadrant's Dominon, but never once (AFAIK) have we seen a world, or even a crewmember, from either the Klingon or Romulan Empire's who was not Klingon or Romulan. what are all the non-Klingon's DOING in the Empire?

[donnblake]

Well, there were the Remans in Star Trek: Nemesis, and a couple episodes where we saw subject races rebelling against the Klingons (TNG: The Mind's Eye, and maybe one back during Enterprise) but by and large you're correct. Best guess is that Klingon subject races aren't expected/allowed to participate in the Klingon military or government.

But my point is that 'empire' doesn't come from a term for 'polity including not-us people' but from one of the various titles given to the Roman rulers after the fall of the republic (specifically Imperator) and it would be entirely reasonable for the Klingons to be called an Empire even if they only ever colonized uninhabited worlds.

[icon_uk]

Interesting, and valid, points, though I can't see an aggressive, conquering-oriented bunch like the Klingons only colonizing inhabited worlds.

[laughing_tree]

I've wondered if the Star Trek writers and producers felt it would clash with the franchise's optimistic, utopian bent to explicitly bring up that there are these major interstellar rival powers out there who've subjugated countless species (which would have to be the case if these powers are big enough to be dangerous rivals to the Federation, as they're so often portrayed to be), so that they just decided to avoid the topic entirely. I mean, it's a pretty depressing and grim status quo if you think about it; if it was humans and not alien species as one of these subject races, the series would unequivocally be considered dystopian.

I find it interesting that a bunch of the Star Trek novels don't side-step this issue, explicitly going into the subject of and depicting the Klingons going around conquering other species. "Interesting" because at the same time, they still follow the shows' lead in depicting the Klingons as Federation allies and guys like Martok as pretty cool cats. There's an uneasy disjunction there because you find yourself wondering why the hell people like Worf, Sisko, or Dax are so chummy with these guys if they're really going around subjugating other planets.

[ozaline]

In TNG you had those three Klingons who had basically gone stir-crazy, because the Empire was at peace and not expanding. And by DS9 there are plenty of common enemies of the Federation, and Klingon Empire to to fight over. And it's not like democracies in the real world haven't been chummy with repressive regimes when it suited them economic, and security concerns.

[ozaline]

Presumably most of the aliens on that prison moon in Star Trek 6 would have been subjects of the Empire.

As for the honour thing I think one of the novels also explained that not every Klingon believed in the teachings of Kalis but it went though a big revival starting in Kirk's time, up to the time of Picard.

What interests me here is the idea that the Organian's were still preventing the Klingons from using their weapons this long after the signing of the accord... They definitely could use them against Starfleet in the movies.

[icon_uk]

Fair point on the prinson moon, though it's a sad reflection on things if the only non-Klingon subjects we ever saw were jailbirds.

I think the Organians were one of those plot ideas that just... didn't work. If you're going to come up with a reason as to why the Klingons and Federation DON'T go to war, you need something more impressive than "Some big space aliens won't let us"...

[ozaline]

In the Star Trek MMO you can play as several other alien races, and be in the Klingon fleet... but you're right that you never much see it in canon, except with Jadzia's Klingon ties (both through Worf, and her friendship with the three TOS Klingions), or Quark's.

But then the vast majority of Star Fleet personnel you see are human, even though you would think that even if humans were the most numerous single race, they'd still be quite outnumbered just by the sheer collection of races that make up the Alpha Quadrant. It might just have been easier to show Klingons, when no one's written a story that required a non-Klingon.

And yeah, the whole point of the Organians was to see Kor, and Kirk throw a temper tantrum, when they weren't allowed to fight... which works in the context of a single story, but doesn't really work much if you want to continue to use the Klingons past that point.

[icon_uk]

Star Trek the Animated Series, for all it animation flaws, did give us two non-human bridge officers other than Spock, the felinoid Caitian M'Ress and the tripedal, tridextrous Edosian Arex. :)

I think that one of the Trek series mentioned that whilst there is a freeflow of alien races within ships, they do tend to have a "majority species" on board each ship just because it works better that way since the cultures used are more likely to be familiar, so the Enterprise is human-heavy, but there are majority Vulcan ships, probably majority Bolian ships etc... Might be misremembering though.

[ozaline]

I suppose that makes sense, I don't recall it ever being mentioned, but there was say that one Vulcan ship captain with the all-Vulcan crew that Sisko had his baseball rivalry with.

Perhaps then it's similar but more severe with the Klingons... non Klingon's are allowed to serve, but only if the Captain accepts them, or if they are members of a Klingon household. We saw it was no easy feat for Jadzia to join a Klingon household.

Perhaps there's a certain barrier to entry, that makes it not impossible, but difficult for a non-Klingon to fight.

[icon_uk]

Though one has to wonder why Jadzia thought a House with that toxic a leader was worth the joining.

My biggest disappointment about that scenario was that the Sirella/Dax clash ended with Dax more or less grovelling to Sirella, when it would have seemed far more appropriate for Dax to make use of the fact she is far older, cannier, and vastly smarter and beat Sirella at her own game...

Since family honour and snobbishness were what Sirella obsessed over, then have Dax mention how she'd managed to locate a long-lost scroll which suggested that Sirella's great great grandfather might not have been she shining paragon of Klingonness he claimed to be, and should the wedding be called off, she'd broadcast the contents of that scroll to ever other House on Qo'nos since she'd have nothing to lose.

And then have Sirella genuinely respect that sheer Klingon-like ruthlessness more than she would grovelling from an alien.

[junipepper]

Ah, the TOS universe where female officers wear trousers! I knew there had to be one.

[yvonmukluk]

Too bad it's apparently the universe of the Straw Feminists.

[kamino_neko]

If he's going to insist that this be a photocomic, he should really stick to the writing and hire an artist who's actually experienced with photo compositing. Because this is on par with a moderately talented beginner. So many issues... Specific examples (of 3 separate issues!) - compare the lighting of Spock and Marlene on page 16 when they're threatening Kirk; when Kirk is meeting Rizzo and Hansen on page 42, the focus is all wrong - he's as blurry as the background, but they're in sharp(ish) focus, despite apparently being about arm's length away from Kirk; you can see the background through Kirk's neck and shoulder in the panel where he's being put into the Agony Booth on page 19. (That last is the only one I will say, unequivocally, that I could do better. I have no idea how he managed to cut Kirk so cleanly out of his original background, and yet mess up cutting the straight lines to match the Booth's framework.)

(Also, as interesting as this story is, IIRC, it directly contradicts canon as to what happened with the ISS Enterprise and her crew after Mirror Mirror.)

[ozaline]

Every time I come back to comment on this comic, I notice something new that's wrong with it... multiple people on page 16 have missing legs! They're just kinda torsos floating around... It's scary.

[kamino_neko]

! So they are. And he (badly) drew in Marlena's belt...why he didn't put her legs back at the same time is a mystery... (Best case I can think of...he did, but he forgot to include that layer when he sent it off. Somehow.)

[cyberghostface]

IDK why people go "I'd like to see you do better" or "I'd like to see you try". You don't have to be a chef to critique the cooking.

[drtechnobabel]

I think it's more or less a knee-jerk reaction in order to save face. After all, if you can dismiss your critics as just 'not getting it' or 'not appreciating your hard work', you don't have to listen to them tell you what's wrong, or see if they actually have a point.

Of course, there's always the chance when you use this argument that it can backfire spectacularly by motivating one of the critics to take it as a challenge, and they actually DO end up making something better than what you did on their first try.

[laughing_tree]

There was one time John Byrne posted a commission on his forum and a poster commented that the pose looked "awkward" or "off" or some equally mild criticism along those lines. In response, Byrne found some fan art this guy had done online, posted it to the same thread, and tore into it, describing everything weak or flawed with the fan's drawing.

So, yeah, no surprise this would be the man's reaction.

[drtechnobabel]

He did that? Man, and just when I thought he couldn't surprise me with his dick moves. Seriously, how insecure do you have to be to respond to criticism that way?

[fredneil.livejournal.com]

It's not a good response to "that isn't very good," but it's appropriate as a response to "Anyone could do that." If you get four competent musicians together, they would probably be technically able to play everything on the first Ramones album, but it's even more likely that what they produced wouldn't be as good as the first Ramones album, and there's a good chance that if they did come up with something worthwhile, it would be a result of trying to sound like The Ramones. The people who say "anyone could do that" usually are saying so because they can't tell the difference between good and bad examples of the genre.

[starwolf_oakley]

One of Arthur Miller's lesser-known plays is "The Creation of the World and Other Business." The characters include God, Lucifer, Adam and Eve.

Lucifer: But I can't...I can't make anything!
God: Really? But you're such a superb critic.

When I posted that five (!) years ago, skalja.insanejournal.com pointed out: Criticism is making something. THERE IS A PULITZER PRIZE FOR CRITICISM.

[thanekos]

Good to know something like The Enemy Within happened in the mirrorverse; bit hard to imagine it ending the same way, though.

(Also, hey, John Colicos! Now I want a similar thing with old Battlestar Galactica, just to see reuse of Baltar slowly turning around in his basestar chair.. and the five or six Cylon raider shots they kept reusing.)