Star Trek: All of Me
Written by Tony Isabella and Bob Ingersol, pencils by Aaron Lopresti, inks by Randy Emberlin, colors by Nick Bell and Jeromy Cox

No doubt about it, I was skeptical. After all, just about every comic house this and the other side of Archie Comics has made an attempt at putting out a good, compelling, or even mildly interesting Trek book, and has failed. A lot. What were the chances that WildStorm, now a DC imprint and, to my mind, not at their best, could do any better?

But I was wrong to doubt them, I see that now. I plead anti-DC bias. 'Cause WildStorm, under the able direction of Senior Editor Jeff Mariotte (who's recent Buffy novelisation The Xander Years, Volume 2 almost made up for the horror of Nancy Holder's City Of effort), have managed the impossible. A beautifully drawn, wonderfully coloured, fantastic Original Series tale, exactly in the spirit of the TV show that spawned it. Take a moment to admire the wonders not ceasing.

Our plot involves an old Academy buddy of Spock's, Armand St. John, an unpleasant and obnoxious researcher, and pretty obviously the villain of the piece. He's been working on something that the Federation wants, and when he requests that the Enterprise be sent to help him, some pesky Admiral type orders Kirk and his merry band to proceed to his aid, at best speed. This, despite the troupe of Orion pirates (I always loved the Orions. People with green skin are very cool) that had just been captured by that self-same crew. Those Orions come in later, of course. It's pretty obvious.

Well, Kirk, naturally, orders a course change and the Federation's finest wend their way toward Pollux II, St John's stronghold. On the way we get a little background on the megalomaniacal inventor, and it becomes even more painfully obvious that he's got some kind of scheme in hand that Kirk and Spock are gonna have to foil by the end of the episo... er... comic. Upon reaching their destination, and after a nasty bit of by-play with the potentate of his own little research station, Kirk and Spock are forced to leave Dr. McCoy behind as they, Chekov and an unnamed Redshirt (watch out, Redshirt! You're gonna die! It's obvious!) beam down. And begin to detect something odd...

All of the beings on the station, from many different species, have one thing in common: they look like Armand St. John! Intriguing, you can hear Spock think. Obviously, he's going to have to work out how this feat was accomplished, and send all of the captured Klingons, Andorians, even Romulans home. It's obvious! St. John, once encountered, explains that his "Others" on the station are, in fact, drawn from Alternate Universes. Alternate Universes that he learned of after reading the highly classified report of Kirk's adventures through the looking glass in the episode "Mirror, Mirror." Obviously, this can't be so. As Spock proves. A fight ensues. The Enterprise, with Sulu in charge, is boarded, some people are shot with phasers, and the Orion's are released from their cell. Obviously.

Are you thinking that quite a lot of this seems to be obvious? Well, you're right, it is obvious -- right up till the end. See, it's just like a Star Trek episode! Obvious, predictable, only one shot of Uhura, more obvious.... twist! Surprise! Wow, yeah, war really is bad! Oh, and more of a twist: the Redshirt didn't die. This is the best Star Trek comic, like, ever!

That is not to say that no other Trek production has ever been a success. The remarkable Peter David turned out some terrific scripts in the DC days, and Marvel's recent Voyager title at least had the virtue in being just like the series... in that it sucked. But the unfortunate tendency of Trek publishers toward allowing their writers to be stupid, along with permitting some truly appalling art to pass muster, has meant that most comics based on the franchise have tended to be completely dreadful. It may have been a case of knowing that a captive market of millions of Trekkies and -ers, many with a tendency towards comic-buying anyway, would swallow whatever was dished out.

But no more. First WildStorm brought us the impressive four-part series Star Trek: The Next Generation: Perchance to Dream (which followed in good ol' tradition by taking its name from a Trek novel, just as so many episodes took the same names as earlier Trek books.) Then April saw the release of Christopher Golden and Tom Sniegoski's wonderful Star Trek: The Next Generation: Embrace the Wolf (which, if you didn't know better, you'd think was the title of one of Golden's Buffy novels.) And now, the miracle that is All of Me is sure to delight the Trek fan in us all.

I'm not getting too excited though. There was already a Voyager book they put out which I kinda... didn't buy, and another one is on the way soon. And following that is a Deep Space Nine four-parter written by K.W. Jeter, the man responsible for single-handedly ensuring that no further hardcover DS9 books would be produced after the execrable Warped. So, I'm trepidatious. I'm cautious. I'm almost Spock-like in containing my enthusiasm. It's only logical.

But, at the same time, I am starting to feel a certain sense of optimism regarding the future of Trek in print, if not on screen. This could actually turn out to be a good Trek title. I mean, there's a first for everything. Hey, that Redshirt didn't die, and that's gotta count for something.

-- Rachel Hyland

Star Trek: All of Me, published by WildStorm Productions, is currently available in Prestige Format, only through comic retailers.

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