^Ahh, yes, I see what you mean. Yes, there is about a half-centimeter strip of extra lounge imagery between the top of the page and the panel with Pike and Number One. Nothing's missing. Though now that I look at it, I'm having a hard time seeing how that extra strip can fit with the scene below it, unless there's meant to be an upper level to the lounge. But if there were, then presumably it'd be closer to the "camera" and the people would be larger in proportion.
The DC Fontana book is called Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment, and it is excellent!! I agree, Gordon Purcell is the best Trek artist we have ever had. I have been reading Star Trek comics for years and years and remember him from the DC Comics days. His last series The Last Generation was excellent too with very good writing to go along with it. I am so glad that IDW Comics are keeping him "employed". Naturally to make a single recommendation out of so many comic books is impossible, but in addition to the DC series I would recommend two Marvel series..Early Voyages focusing on Christopher Pike and Starfleet Academy whcih features Nog and some other interesting characters. Marvel did a very good job with many small and unknown characters and that may be why too many people overlook these. But they are really good!!
TOS stories Where should I start? I just ordered this yesterday and am looking forward to it. Actual Trek stories and without budgetary problems showing alien races or locations just like TAS stories were envisioned before the actual 70's animation company Filmmation actually poorly animated the visuals. I'm interested in stories closest to the feel of TOS and TAS stories and using TOS characters. Can anyone point me in the direction for when Star Trek The Complete Comic Book Collection DVD arrives next week? Were there any TOS or TAS writers who wrote Trek comic book stories? Which issues should I check for them and what are the writer's names so I can check them out on memory-alpha.org?
Re: TOS stories Where should I start? Filmation's animation was limited, but I wouldn't call it poor. Their artwork was better than anyone else's in television at the time, even if it didn't move much. If you want good-looking alien locations, you could hardly do better than Filmation's top-notch background artists. Sure, they were pretty static, but then, so are the comics you're looking forward to. Walter Koenig (who wrote TAS: "The Infinite Vulcan") also wrote issue 19 of DC's first series. Howard Weinstein (TAS: "The Pirates of Orion") was the regular writer on DC's second TOS series for the majority of its run, and has written various other ST comics for DC, Marvel, and Wildstorm. D.C. Fontana wrote IDW's Star Trek Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment miniseries (which features TAS's Lt. Arex). David Gerrold has written stories for TokyoPop's third TOS and first TNG manga digests. Larry Niven (TAS: "The Slaver Weapon") wrote the syndicated ST comic strip storyline "The Wristwatch Plantation," which is not available on DVD, though it can be found online.
Christopher, thank you for your very informed and thoughtful reply.I understand TAS was a different medium that a strip in a comic book. I will check out the issues you mentioned.
Re: TOS stories Where should I start? Mmmmm. It's a bit tricky, because I probably would have recommended the first DC Comics storylines but these are post-ST II, and with everyone running around in movie uniforms you might not get the same feel. If you also have an appreciation for TNG, why not sample "The Modala Imperative", two mini-series with a continuing plot thread? The first four issues are firmly set during TOS, IIRC, and the next four have elderly Admiral McCoy and Ambassador Spock with the TNG cast, revisiting the problematic planet. Spock's appearance in a TNG story predates his role in "Unification", and was inspired by the line in TNG's "Sarek" episode, in which we learn that Picard had been at the wedding of Sarek's son. I'd also suggest DC Comics' first three annuals: "All Those Years Ago..." (a flashback to Kirk's first days on the Enterprise), "Final Mission" (Will Decker comes aboard in his TMP costume and they visit Talos IV), and"Retrospect", which is a beautiful story, told in reverse, about Scotty's never-before-mentioned wife. DC started their numbering again when their license was renewed in 1989. The annuals of Series II are also quite strong, IIRC. George Takei co-scripted one about Sulu.
Nor is the TokyoPop material. Both companies' Trek output is recent and still in print as far as I know.
Therin of Andor and Christopher you two are amazing! I came across this today. The 11 Most Ridiculous Moments in Star Trek Comics http://www.comicsalliance.com/2009/05/05/the-11-most-ridiculous-moments-in-star-trek-comics/ and these: Boldly Going Where No Comic Had Gone Before http://io9.com/5241586/boldly-going-where-no-comic-had-gone-before it is here where I read and this is why I am looking forward to the comics on The Complete Comic Book Collection DVD.
Can't open the DVD software- Help! I need help with the Star Trek - The Complete Comic Book Collection DVD-ROM. I am running Microsoft Windows XP Professional Service Pack 3 and have Adobe Reader v.9 installed. I have turned off the antivirus, antispyware, firewall scanning software The box packaging says: System Requirements Adobe Acrobat Reader 7.0.8 which is supplied with product or above. Even if I goto the Windows Explorer Folder Options Advanced Settings all I can see is the autorun.inf file even after I turn on view all hidden files. I can only get the autorun.inf file to open this way in the text Notepad program. And here is what shows up in Notepad: "[autorun] open=winopen \Start.pdf shell\pdf=Install &Adobe Reader 7.0 shell\pdf\command=install\Adobe Reader 7.0\AdbeRdr708_en_us shell\viewreadme= &Star Trek Read &Me shell\viewreadme\command=winopen \readme.html" It shows the disc is 6.36GB. My computer's DVD-ROM and DVD-RW drives are from 2004 and I'm not sure if they are dual-layer but I haven't had problems before. I've tried both drives already. Any help?
Re: Can't open the DVD software- Help! Find comics.pdf on the disk and double-click it. It should open in an Acrobat window. You can click on the publisher's logos, abd you will be taken to subheader pages, which contain lists of individual issues. You don't need to rely on the autorun feature to access the content of the disk.
just got the comic DVD-ROM to work today! Thanks. I borrowed a friend's laptop and the DVD-ROM ran fine. I hooked up an external drive and copies the entire data contents from the DVD-ROM. I've checked out [skimmed really] some of the DC 1984 and 1989 stuff that was recommended. I am also interested in checking out Marvel's Starfleet Academy series of 19 issues starting in December 1996 just to get a feel for what could be possible with a animated or live action series that was discussed in a few different threads on Future of Trek. I know you guys did not recommend it but I'll give it a shot. I really like that I can zoom in on the art & dialogue bubbles. If I had a larger computer monitor or two monitors it would be larger than comic book size. Someone I read has hooked up his 50" plasma HDTV screen to his computer and was able to read these comics on that huge screen. talk about leisure reading from a couch or armchair! I don't own a laptop but I can see that putting the entire DVD-ROM data on a USB 8GB flash drive would be some great reading material while traveling with a laptop out of town, or just about anywhere. Even with the new $350. minilaptops that run Windows XP and can display PDFs you can plug in a USB flash drive with the comic collection and take it with you. After skimming some issues I loved seeing the aliens in trek that may be bipeds but are not humanoids and could only be done on TAS due to makeup and costume budget and time restraints of a live-action TV series and the big wide vistas in these comics that just don't happen in Trek TV series and are only seen in the Trek movies. So cool to be able to see more stories with all of the Trek TV series characters. Something for every Trek fan! I like the TOS characters and VOY characters so I'll read those first and perhaps check out the TNG stuff for the stories about alien races & planets. I already noticed some non-canon ships such as Marvel Starfleet Academy November 1997 "Telepathy War part 1": USS Sagan (NCC-75055) which looked like Voyager or the new ship NCC-85527 Discovery Class from the new Star Trek Online game that was just announced in September. Does anyone know of any comic issues on the disc with The Borg in them?
Re: just got the comic DVD-ROM to work today! What I like to do when I read it on my laptop (which I always do, since my desktop's CPU gets too hot for me to want to leave a DVD in its drive for long) is to rotate the image sideways and enlarge it to full screen, then turn the laptop on its side so I'm holding it like an open magazine. It lets me read the pages at a bit larger than actual size. Or just get a laptop with a DVD drive. That's pretty much standard, isn't it? DC's TNG #47-50, "The Worst of Both Worlds," and #71-75, "War and Madness" Marvel's VGR #10, "Ghosts" Marvel's "Operation: Assimilation" one-shot Wildstorm's VGR graphic novels False Colors and Elite Force Wildstorm's Star Trek Special #1 (and only) contains a brief Borg story by Andy Mangels & Mike Martin. Those are all the Borg stories on the disc as far as I can recall. Beyond the disc, there are Borg appearances in Marvel's TNG/X-Men crossover "Second Contact" and in IDW's Alien Spotlight miniseries.
Where should I start? Christopher wow you really know your Trek comics! I couldn't have asked for more. I've set the ones you listed aside to read as I am a Borg fan and have the Borg DVD fan collective set. I skimmed a few and see how the drawing detail of the Borg has changed from TNG to VOY eras with how the Borg visually have changed in the TV series.
Re: Where should I start? I can't take the credit -- I just did a search for "Borg" at the ST Comics Checklist: http://homepage.mac.com/mmtz/stcomix/index.html