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.
74: IDW Publishing, 2007
From 2007 until around 2022 or so, IDW’s approach to Star Trek consisted primarily of stories based on The Original Series, The Next Generation, and the Kelvin timeline films. It occasionally focused on other shows as well, such as Deep Space Nine and Voyager, and each issue typically was published with multiple covers. This week’s column examines Klingons: Blood Will Tell, a five-parter chronicling the 1960s crew’s adventures on both the small and large screens, penned by the brother team of Scott and David Tipton. Interior art was provided by David Messina and Elena Casagrande, with Messina and Joe Corroney supplying the covers.
Klingons: Blood Will Tell is built around four episodes of The Original Series and the film Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and the Tiptons do a fantastic job of weaving a new story around these tales. With Praxis destroyed, Chancellor Gorkon proposes seeking help from the Federation, but not everyone agrees with his enlightened but desperate decision. While High Council member Kahnrah considers his vote, his granddaughter K’ahlynn and others (including Star Trek VI‘s General Chang) plot to thwart the peace talks, even if it means K’ahlynn assassinating her beloved grandfather.
Kahnrah studies records of the past for guidance on whether or not Klingons should trust humans, and whether it would be wise to ask the Federation for help after decades of mistrust. To that end, he examines Jim Kirk’s encounters with four Klingon warriors: Kor (“Errand of Mercy”), Koloth (“The Trouble With Tribbles”), Krell (“A Private Little War”), and Kang (“Day of the Dove”). In each case, the perspective is not that of Kirk’s crew and Starfleet, but rather the Klingons.
Ever since the Empire’s introduction in “Errand of Mercy,” Klingons have been a staple part of Star Trek, serving as both enemies and allies. Klingons appeared prominently on The Original Series, The Animated Series, and Enterprise, as well as in the films, with Klingon characters featured among the main casts of The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Discovery. Along with humans, Vulcans, Romulans, and the Borg, the Klingons are among the franchise’s most frequently depicted species and have been given some of the most richly developed mythology.
Yet aside from a few isolated exceptions, such as John M. Ford’s extraordinary novel The Final Reflection, much of that mythology has been told from the Federation’s perspective. Before The Next Generation‘s fully realized characterization of Worf made it easier for writers to explore the culture from a Klingon point-of-view, most Empire-centric tales were viewed through the eyes of Jim Kirk. As such, Blood Will Tell offers a refreshing change of pace, demonstrating how the Empire perceived those events from its own cultural perspective, and how Starfleet’s actions shaped Klingon attitudes thereafter.
In “Errand of Mercy,” Kirk, Kor, and an unnamed second-in-command (here called Kahlor) matched wits until the Organians imposed a treaty on both governments. “The Trouble with Tribbles,” “More Tribbles, More Tribbles,” and “Trials and Tribble-ations” featured Koloth, a devious Klingon who attempted to sabotage Federation operations at Sherman’s Planet. The ruthless Kang and his wife Mara debuted in “Day of the Dove,” in which a malevolent life form forced his and Kirk’s crews to fight and die for its benefit. And Krell, in “A Private Little War,” armed a less advanced civilization with formidable weaponry, forcing Kirk to do the same for the opposing side, thereby repeating the U.S. government’s mistakes during the Vietnam War.
All four episodes are among The Original Series‘ more popular tales, and seeing the Klingons’ view of those events is fascinating—particularly with regard to Krell, who actually scored a rare win in his encounter with Kirk. Despite the stalemate that resulted at Neural, that world’s inhabitants ultimately traveled a warlike path far more in synch with the ideals of the Empire than those of the Federation. The Tiptons pick up that thread, with Krell impressed by Kirk’s ingenuity in arming the Hill People, yet satisfied at having prevented the planet from embracing the Earthers.
As with The Space Between‘s NX-02 shuttle and Xindi cameo, Blood Will Tell features a rare Enterprise tie-in, as Doctor Phlox appears in a flashback to “Divergence,” when the Denobulan helped Doctor Antaak cure the Klingon Augment virus. A later issue features a train stop at Antaak Square. The series explains that while the virus failed to augment Klingon strength as intended, it increased the ambition of those infected. Soon, the smooth-headed Klingons gained control of the High Council and led the Empire’s expansion efforts into deep space, neatly explaining their prominence during The Original Series… though not their absence during Star Trek: Discovery and Strange New Worlds.
One highlight is the background provided for Arne Darvin, from “The Trouble With Tribbles” and “Trials and Tribble-ations.” Readers learn that a human Darvin had existed, but that an operative called Gralmek had killed him and taken his place, retroactively mirroring the human Ash Tyler’s presumably tragic fate and the surgical transformation of Voq on Discovery. Though ambitious, Gralmek possessed inferior strength and stature, and he volunteered to undergo surgical alteration for the Sherman’s Planet espionage project, hoping to earn accolades as a spy that he’d never gain as a warrior.
Gralmek is said to be a mach ghoti’ (“small fish”) due to his slight stature. This clever in-joke references the complex nature of the English language, the rules of which would allow the letters in “ghoti” to form the word “fish”—the “gh” in “enough” is pronounced “f,” the “o” in “women” sounds like “i,” and the “ti” in “motion” forms an “sh” sound. Hence, “ghoti” equals “fish.” I’m a former high school teacher, and decades ago I used this very example to illustrate why English can be frustrating for non-native speakers to study. Scotty once said reading Klingon is hard; well, reading English can be harder.
The surgery was irreversible, which Gralmek learned after the operation’s completion, and he was trained in how to talk, eat, and act like a human. It would have worked, too, if it hadn’t been for those meddling tribbles! Intriguingly, Koloth seems to have had no knowledge of Darvin’s mission in the TV episode—or even that he was a Klingon, as he’s just as surprised by the revelation as everyone else and complains about it to his superior (a young General Chang). In a “blink and you’ll miss it” cameo, Deep Space Nine‘s Ben Sisko passes Darvin in an Enterprise corridor during Sisko’s trip into the past in “Trials and Tribble-ations.”
The strongest issue of the five involves “A Private Little War.” Readers witness how Krell arrived on Neural, battled a mugato bare-handed, and built up Apella as a puppet despot, as well as how the Empire used Neural as a testing ground to bypass the Organians by ruling planets unseen. Krell considers allying with the Hill People but decides Tyree is too mesmerized by Nona, his fetching Kahn-ut-tu witch wife, to be of use. Thus, the Klingon sets his sights instead on Apella after deeming him a hapless, easily manipulatable loser, playing on his unhappiness and desperation by promising to Make Villagers Great Again (MVGA). Perhaps Krell should be renamed Krump.
Blood Will Tell features a humorous tie-in to “The Man Trap,” as it brings back a minor character never mentioned onscreen after that episode: Beauregard, a.k.a. Gertrude, the carnivorous plant in the Enterprise‘s life sciences department, raised by Hikaru Sulu and Janice Rand. As Kang’s crew stalks Kirk’s throughout the starship, the Klingons enter the botany section and encounter the agitated Beauregard, which bites one of them on the arm. The warrior slashes at Beauregard in fury, but since the episode’s entity brought those slain back to life, perhaps the plant survived after all.
Issue #1 of Blood Will Tell was released in both English- and Klingon-language editions, courtesy of the Klingon Language Institute. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to facilitating the scholarly exploration of Klingon culture, and it helped IDW translate the script using the lexicon and grammar created by linguist Marc Okrand, author of The Klingon Dictionary. Marvel did something similar with Starfleet Academy #18, and IDW would do the same with Star Trek: Manifest Destiny #1, which we’ll get to eventually. Next week, we’ll examine another David Tischman miniseries, Star Trek: Year Four, which set the stage for the publisher’s more recent Year Five maxiseries. Qapla’!
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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