Star Trek #1430: Operation: Annihilate Part 2 (Reboot)

1430. Operation: Annihilate Part 2 (Reboot)

PUBLICATION: Star Trek #6, IDW Comics, February 2012

CREATORS: Mike Johnson (writer), Joe Corroney (artist)

STARDATE: Unknown (follows the previous issue)

PLOT: The comic follows the events of the tv episode "Operation: Annihilate!", with changes based on the new J.J. Abrams continuity. Spock cures himself of Denevan parasite madness and Scotty follows suit for the whole colony.

CONTINUITY: See previous issue (George Samuel Kirk, Deneva, the parasites, Yeoman Zahra). The woman I believed to be George's wife Aurelan wasn't, but Aurelan and their son Peter appear here. The Remastered Trek ultraviolet satellites are shown. There are TOS-style Vulcan musical instruments in Spock's quarters.

DIVERGENCES: See previous issue (title, Zahra). Spock's blindness does not go completely away by the end of the story.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Star Trek, Rated R.
REVIEW: I've been fairly lenient with this reboot series, but this issue is a real disappointment. Not because it's too close to the original, because it does at least end on a more hopeful note, with George and Aurelan Kirk still alive. Kirk reconnecting with his family so far from home is probably the best thing about the issue. Likewise, it ends with Spock regaining partial eyesight and in need of a Vulcan doctor IF any still exist, and the promise of a completely new story next issue (fingers crossed). No, what disappoints is that because we already know the solution to the problem, the conclusion to the story falls completely flat. I respect Johnson's attempt to skip to the newer material, assuming that we do indeed know the solution, but all the drama focusing on Spock in the original episode is lost in the process. Spock has the parasite under glass already, so doesn't return to the planet. Once the solution is found, it's implemented in just a couple of panels (that at least give Scotty a boost), and we're simply told Spock's eyesight is returning. Even the bit about George Kirk returning for his family is a little dull. Kirk goes back for him and finds him, ah well, so that's that. The problem may boil down to this: In trying to tell television stories, the comics medium fails to achieve its full potential. The comics should be telling comic book stories (as the Legion crossover does) and go where the television series never could go (in effects, pacing and ideas).