An ongoing discussion of how the comics provide prequels, sequels, and tie-ins to the Star Trek episodes and films, soon to be a book from BearManor Media. Click here to view an archive of this article series.
49: Malibu Comics, 1995
December 1995 saw the end of Malibu’s short-lived foray into the final frontier. The company lost the license to publish Deep Space Nine comics due to Marvel’s return, and so it scrambled to release its remaining material. As such, Malibu’s DS9 Ultimate Annual and Worf Special hit stands right around the same time as the final four monthly issues, providing fans with a bounty of new stories—and then nothing more. This week, our examination of Malibu concludes with a discussion of how issues #29–32 provided prequels, sequels, and tie-ins to onscreen lore.
It’s fitting that this final batch offered several direct sequels. A pair of two-part tales spanned issues #29 and 30, with half of each story presented in both issues. The first, “Sole Asylum,” was written by Malibu editor Mark Paniccia, with art by Rod Whigham and Terry Pallot. Featuring handsome covers drawn by Mark Brill, it offered closure for Thomas Riker, the transporter clone of William Riker—who, following his debut in The Next Generation‘s “Second Chances,” had betrayed his oath by joining the Maquis in Deep Space Nine‘s “Defiant.”
The duplicate Riker is captured by Cardassians and subjected to experiments so the military can replicate the accident that spawned him and create an army of duplicate soldiers. However, a scientist takes pity on Riker and lies to her superiors that he’s not a transporter clone but merely an alternate-reality doppelgänger, so that her government will stop torturing him. With his importance to the Union nullified (apparently, the Cardassians scoff at dime-a-dozen alternate-reality doppelgängers), Thomas is sent to a labor camp to serve out a sentence for his Maquis activities.
This use of Thomas Riker neatly sidestepped a licensing restriction necessitated by DC holding the rights to The Next Generation and The Original Series. Since Malibu was limited to developing tales based on Deep Space Nine (aside from a Next Generation crossover with DC), this prevented the company from bringing back characters from prior shows, revealing the major drawback of having the license split between publishers. But Thomas had appeared on Deep Space Nine, which made him fair game. There’s a meaningful exchange between Riker and Sisko, in which the latter, having failed to negotiate the clone’s release, gifts him with a Starfleet comm badge (sans internal electronics), symbolizing Ben’s hope that the fallen officer might someday return home.
The other two-part story was “Enemies and Allies.” Cowritten by Paniccia and Star Trek: Voyager star Tim “Tuvok” Russ, it was illustrated by Rob Davis and Aubrey Bradford. Malibu’s attempts to launch a Voyager comic had faltered, but that didn’t stop the publisher from featuring appearances by characters like Tuvok who had not originated on the other shows. Plus, since this wasn’t the actual Tuvok from Voyager, but rather his mirror double from Deep Space Nine, his inclusion in Malibu’s comic avoided potential licensing problems on the Voyager end.
In this sequel to the “mirror universe” episodes “Crossover” and “Through the Looking Glass,” the rebel counterparts of Julian Bashir and Tuvok plot to sabotage a Klingon fleet. Arranging for their own ship to be captured, the duo endure torture so the Alliance will discover a data chip in Tuvok’s wrist. It’s all a ruse, and after the Alliance brutally cuts out the chip and unlock its files, a signal from the device shuts down the fleet, enabling Tuvok and Bashir to escape.
“Enemies and Allies” is the type of story that would never have aired on television during the Deep Space Nine and Voyager days, though it might work as an episode of Short Treks, given its small-scale storytelling and its focus on only two main characters. Much like fellow actors Walter Koenig, George Takei, John De Lancie, Aron Eisenberg, Mark Lenard, and William Shatner before him, Russ centered his contribution around his own character—or, rather, the mirror version of his character, briefly featured in “Through the Looking Glass.”
The end result is uneven, for while it’s entertaining to revisit the mirror duplicates, there’s admittedly not much to this tale—and what little story there is does not jibe with onscreen Trek. Terrans and Vulcans here are allies, whereas on TV, the Vulcans seemed to be Earth’s slaves. The problem does not rest solely on Malibu’s or Russ’s shoulders, for as beautifully written as televised Deep Space Nine was, it’s gimmicky mirror-universe arcs were not among the show’s best entries. It’s no surprise, then, that the same would be true of Malibu’s mirror tie-in.
Leonard Kirk penned and illustrated “Remembrance,” the first story in issue #31, which sported one of Malibu’s most striking covers, courtesy of artist Rob Prior. Kor (from The Original Series‘ “Errand of Mercy” and The Animated Series‘ “The Time Trap”) and Dax attend a ceremony to honor fallen comrades Kang (“Day of the Dove”) and Koloth (“The Trouble With Tribbles” and “More Tribbles, More Troubles”). Given his intricate mining of Star Trek history, it’s clear that Kirk knows the franchise’s rich history as well as he draws its characters, so it’s a shame he hasn’t done more Trek writing… and not just because of his very Star Trek-y name.
Chernoth, the granddaughter of their nemesis the Albino (The Next Generation‘s “Blood Oath,” in which the two died) poisons Kor to avenge her slain kin, but the jovial Dahar Master survives. Toral (“Redemption” and “The Sword of Kahless”) then helps Chernoth try again by attempting to assassinate Gowron and Kahless, but Kor and Dax expose their plans. This leaves Toral yet again powerless and humiliated—which seems to be a common condition for all members of House Duras. You’d think they would find a new shtick, because devious scheming isn’t really working out for them.
When last seen on television, the clone of Kahless the Unforgettable had been made the Empire’s ceremonial ruler as a symbol of greatness, with Gowron running the High Council and serving as the true head of government. The character never returned on TV, though he was name-checked in a few episode of Deep Space Nine, indicating Kahless continued in his figurehead role following “Rightful Heir.” At present, he’s the Big Bad of IDW’s current Day of Blood crossover event, which we’ll get to in a few months.
This story is among a tiny handful of comic appearances for the Kahless clone, and one of the very few times a writer has revisited the mysterious, melanin-deficient Klingon known as the Albino. He remains nameless here, just as he was on TV, though Excelsior: Forged in Fire, by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels, dubbed him Qagh, a Klingonese word meaning “mistake.” That aligns with how Voq was treated by other Klingons on Star Trek: Discovery, indicating a streak of rampant anti-albinism in the Empire. (When Voq debuted on Discovery, I’d initially theorized he’d be revealed to be the Albino, until it became obvious he was actually Ash Tyler.)
Toral targets both Kahless and Gowron, knowing that were only one to die, the other would retain control—a concept the TV writers largely abandoned. Kahless’s inclusion in his plot makes sense, and it shines a light on how the clone was oddly absent throughout Deep Space Nine‘s lengthy Klingon arc. While few would call “Rightful Heir” one of The Next Generation‘s best episodes, Kahless’s resurrection presented a surprising callback to “The Savage Curtain,” and this comic illustrates that the clone could have been utilized effectively had the TV writers chosen to do so.
The second story in issue #31, “Rules of Behavior,” was penned by Jason Levine and illustrated by Scott Sava. Though it isn’t a sequel to any particular episode, it does tie in with The Next Generation‘s “The Icarus Factor,” since Dax attends a scientific conference on Starbase Montgomery, the same facility at which the Enterprise-D had picked up Kyle Riker. After an explosion nearly kills Jadzia, her Trill ex-fiancé Gwyn (from issue #18) warns her that a xenophobic cult bent on eliminating all joined Trills has targeted her for termination because they view the sharing of souls in a single being as an abomination—an intriguing idea that regrettably receives little development.
Finally, Malibu ended its two-year Star Trek journey with issue #32, featuring cover art by Leonard Kirk. The story, from writers Chris Dows and Colin Clayton and artists Rob Davis, Craig Gilmore, and Terry Pallot, begins in 2368, a year before Deep Space Nine‘s first season, with Cardassian death-row inmates at a Bajoran maximum-security prison staging a revolt. Prisoner Gul Shyak escapes, but his brother dies during the breakout.
Three years later, Shyak tries to murder Kira (his assigned executioner) and Dukat (for surrendering Bajor and Terok Nor), and he attempts to destroy the wormhole and the station using a protomatter bomb. The weapon’s nature calls back to Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, in which David Marcus’s use of protomatter rendered the Genesis matrix unstable, causing the Genesis Planet to explode. It’s surprising that more writers haven’t explored the substance’s obvious potential as a weapon of mass destruction.
Malibu’s final issue is an oddity, as it doesn’t jibe with established Bajoran history. The notion that Bajor maintained a prison to house Cardassian war criminals during the occupation defies logic, given how desperate, poverty-stricken, and powerless the Bajoran people were. Consider how far-fetched a movie would be if it centered around Jews running a prison in Germany to incarcerate Nazis during Adolf Hitler’s lifetime. Nonetheless, it’s an enjoyable story with a focus on Kira Nerys and Dukat, whose hate-fueled interactions always lit up TV screens. That same dynamic of distrust is at play in the comic, lending Malibu’s final tale some gravitas.
Even as the combined efforts of Malibu and DC reached their end, a new era loomed on the horizon, for Marvel Comics would resume the center seat half a year later. To fans’ delight, Marvel unveiled five simultaneous monthly Trek titles, as well as one-shots and miniseries, and this went far toward easing the pain of losing three popular series. Starting next week, this column will explore how Marvel crafted prequels, sequels, and tie-ins to onscreen Star Trek, beginning with Star Trek Unlimited.
Looking for more information about Star Trek comics? Check out these resources:
- My ongoing column for Titan Books’ Star Trek Explorer magazine
- The Complete Star Trek Comics Index, curated by yours truly
- The Star Trek Comics Checklist, by Mark Martinez
- The Wixiban Star Trek Collectables Portal, by Colin Merry
- New Life and New Civilizations: Exploring Star Trek Comics, by Joseph F. Berenato (Sequart, 2014)
- Star Trek: A Comics History, by Alan J. Porter (Hermes Press, 2009)
- The Star Trek Comics Weekly page on Facebook
Rich Handley has written, co-written, co-edited, or contributed to dozens of books, both fiction and non-fiction, about Planet of the Apes, Watchmen, Back to the Future, Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Hellblazer, Swamp Thing, Stargate, Dark Shadows, The X-Files, Twin Peaks, Red Dwarf, Blade Runner, Doctor Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Batman, the Joker, classic monsters, and more. He has also been a magazine writer and editor for nearly three decades. Rich edited Eaglemoss’s Star Trek Graphic Novel Collection, and he currently writes articles for Titan’s Star Trek Explorer magazine, as well as books for an as-yet-unannounced role-playing game. Learn more about Rich and his work at richhandley.com.
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