From: rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu (Michael Rawdon)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current,rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: _Debt of Honor_ (some spoilers)
Date: 15 Nov 92 21:24:35 GMT
Reply-To: rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu
Organization: University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Dept., Madison, WI

Crossposted to rec.arts.comics.misc

In <1992Nov15.054627.15233@news.columbia.edu> jml12@cunixa.cc.columbia.edu (Jonathan M Lennox) writes:
>  I gave up on DC's regular Star Trek comics after PAD was forced off
>them a few years back; however, I noticed a few days ago that Chris
>Claremont's long-awaited DEBT OF HONOR is now out in paperback, and I
>was inspired to pick it up.  Some comments follow the ^L:

>  Well, being off the X-men for a year certainly seems to have cleared
>up Chris Claremont's writing style.  This is a dramatic improvement
>over his last few issues of that comic, and his _Firstflight_ pabulum.

Yeah, this was a very good story.  In my mind, it's Claremont's best effort
in *years* (IMO his writing dropped below the Mendoza Line after Uncanny
X-Men #175, and became unreadable after #200), and is probably my favorite
comic Star Trek story since the Barr-Ross "first mission" in DC's Star Trek
(first series) Annual #1.

Of course, the outstanding artwork helped a lot, too!

>I disliked the way McCoy's accent was represented in print--the
>transformations of all occurances of "I" to "Ah"--

Me, too.  It made *some* sense for the post-ST4 scenes (McCoy reverting more
into his southern accent as he gets older), but he didn't talk like that
in Classic Star Trek.

I thought Scotty's accent was a tad overdone, too.  (Has Scotty *ever* used
the word "bairns" on-screen?  I'm *sure* he hasn't used it *nearly* as much
as comics and fanfic seem to think.)

>but on the whole, I
>must say, I'm impressed.  All the characterizations seem spot-on, and
>the art really captures all the actors at their various ages.

Yah.

>  And the people brought back--it's amazing what you can get away with
>by a) writing in the "best and brightest of Starfleet" and b) not
>having to track down the actors.  I'm afraid I can't even identify all
>the people waiting in the shuttlebay for Kirk on page 53, though I'm
>sure there are people on this group who can.  Anyone?

Well, I'm doing this from memory, so I may miss one or two, but:

Bailey: The young officer in "The Corbomite Maneuver" with a prejudice
	toward Vulcans, who became an emissary to the First Federation
	at the end of the episode.
Kyle: The transporter chief in many Classic Trek episodes, seen as first
	officer of the Reliant in Star Trek II.
Styles: Presumably the captain of the Excelsior in Star Trek III, though
	curiously Hughes made him look nothing like the actor from that film.
Garrovik: Son of Captain Garrovik of the USS Farragut (the ship from the
	first flashback sequence), who helped Kirk destroy the creature
	which killed his father, in "Obsession".
Mira Romaine: I think she was Scotty's love interest in "The Lights Of Zetar".

I don't remember who the other woman was.

>  Claremont was obviously also having fun writing his friends into the
>story.  For those who don't realize, Emma Bull and Will Shetterly are
>two Minneapolis-based writers, and at least the former is a member the
>band "Cat's Laughing," whose work is on the tape Gillian was so happy
>to receive.  (Can anyone identify the "Excalibur sessions"?)  What's
>more, the "Sparrow" mentioned is the main character of Bull's novel
>BONE DANCE, and is, in fact, a collector and seller of audio- and
>videocassettes.  (No spoilers for that, mostly becuase it's off
>topic.)  Again, there may be other references to this group of
>people...

Shetterly is the author of the Captain Confederacy comic, a recent mini-
series of which was released last year by Epic Comics.

>  Thirdly, did anyone else come to the conclusion that T'kir was meant
>to be Kirk's daughter?  There is her name, of course, and the fact
>that her eye and hair color match those of Kirk, whereas her mother's
>eyes are purple (at least at first--they seem to have been purple in
>the first flashback, but brown in the present-day stories.  I'm not
>sure if this was deliberate or not.) and her hair color was much
>darker.  In addition, there were numerous hints dropped:

[...]

>  So there seems to be some definite hinting going on here.  My
>question, however, is when did Kirk and T'cel have any time to do
>anything together?  There didn't seem to be any suspicious gaps in any
>of their encounters, except in the very first when Kirk was unconscious.  
>So what's going on here?

I didn't get the feeling at all that she was meant to be Kirk's daughter,
mainly because 1) As you say, there was no time for anything to have
happened between them, and 2) Surely Kirk would have picked up on these
"hints" you saw and have had some reaction.

-- 
Michael Rawdon				 rawdon@colby.cs.wisc.edu
University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Department, Madison, WI

    "What about you, Captain?" Krill asked.  "Do you seek death, or do you
run away from it?
    "Neither," Kiroth answered.  "Death seeks me.  It will find me in time.  
To run is simply a waste of energy.  To embrace death is sheer madness.  I 
await death.  When it comes, I will be ready."
    "To fight, or to flee?"
    Kiroth looked at his XO with barely contained horror.  "To die."
		- "Escape From The Holdfast", by Jim Hart; Captain's Log #8
Newsgroups: rec.arts.startrek.current