What do you think?
Rate this book
Star Trek: Tests of Courage (Star Trek
Hikaru Sulu, newly installed as captain of the U.S.S. Excelsior, has his baptism of fire in this adventure. Joining him to solve the mystery of a vanished cache of dangerous weaponry are his old compatriots on the U.S.S. Enterprise™.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
41 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
October 25, 2021
My latest exploration of space with the gang from Star Trek, courtesy of DC graphic novels. These books are dangerously addictive!
In this episode, we follow along with Captain Sulu, in command of the Excelsior, as he heads to trouble near the neutral territory which serves as a divide between Federation and Romulan space. What could be happening?
The situation is complex, involving two planets recently accepted into the Federation. One of the conditions of joining the Federation is that they must destroy their advanced weapons, but during this endeavor, someone attacks them and they request Federation help.
So off goes Sulu and Excelsior.
But Captain Kirk and the Enterprise were also in space dock and they have been ordered to go with Excelsior, to make a proper statement of the Federation's power to both the people of the two planets and whoever it is attacking them.
Can Kirk and Sulu work together as equal partners? Will the crew of the Excelsior learn to trust their captain the way Sulu used to trust Kirk?
I am not ever very objective about Star Trek, I must admit that. But these DC tales have been great fun for me. The artwork is colorful and brings the story to vivid life, and I just love roaming the universe with my old gang of originals, even if we are all much older now than we were back in the day.
Except for Captain Kirk: he never seems to have as many wrinkles as the rest of us. Why is that?
In this episode, we follow along with Captain Sulu, in command of the Excelsior, as he heads to trouble near the neutral territory which serves as a divide between Federation and Romulan space. What could be happening?
The situation is complex, involving two planets recently accepted into the Federation. One of the conditions of joining the Federation is that they must destroy their advanced weapons, but during this endeavor, someone attacks them and they request Federation help.
So off goes Sulu and Excelsior.
But Captain Kirk and the Enterprise were also in space dock and they have been ordered to go with Excelsior, to make a proper statement of the Federation's power to both the people of the two planets and whoever it is attacking them.
Can Kirk and Sulu work together as equal partners? Will the crew of the Excelsior learn to trust their captain the way Sulu used to trust Kirk?
I am not ever very objective about Star Trek, I must admit that. But these DC tales have been great fun for me. The artwork is colorful and brings the story to vivid life, and I just love roaming the universe with my old gang of originals, even if we are all much older now than we were back in the day.
Except for Captain Kirk: he never seems to have as many wrinkles as the rest of us. Why is that?
March 8, 2017
A Stellar Arms Race
8 March 2017
A part of me wanted to write about how this story deals with the issues of the nuclear arms race and also the conflicting nature of the Hippocratic Oath in the context of war, until I realised that this is basically Star Trek and I have to admit that I am really not a huge fan of Star Trek. Okay, I do watch the odd movie that makes its way to the screen (including the three reboots that have arisen over the last few years), and I have also watched all of Deep Space 9 and quite a few of The Next Generation (and Star Trek Voyager) but in the end it still comes down to the fact that it is Star Trek, which while it is a science-fiction adventure, it is set in this semi-utopian future that basically wants to make me sick.
Anyway, I found this comic book (I am not going to dignify this book with the title graphic novel, namely because in my mind graphic novels tend to be much more sophisticated than was is in effect a licensed form of fan fiction with pretty pictures that probably would never find themselves in an art gallery – well, that's probably being a little harsh because the Schirn in Frankfurt did have an exhibition on the beginnings of the comic strip, but then again we are talking about really, really early comics, not something that has appeared in 1994) when I was in Sydney and staying in a hotel across the road from a comic book store that looked like it was trying to clear out all of its stock. Anyway, after a brief scan of its contents the only things that caught my attention were a couple of Star Trek comics and a Judge Dredd annual.
This adventure is set sometime between Star Trek V and Star Trek VI and is around the time that Sulu (aka George Takai – the guy that posts all of those funny Twitter and Facebook posts) got his first command. Actually, the writer of the comic in the afterword spent three pages carrying on about how it was unfair that it took Sulu so long to actually become the captain of a star ship and that by the time he did the series had effectively come to an end. Well, I suspect the reason had more to do with Hollywood being Hollywood as opposed to any really deep character development – Star Trek has always been Star Trek, and of the seven years of the Next Generation series, Picard was always captain and Ryker was always XO. Well, maybe in some of the movies he did land up with a promotion, but as far as I am concerned, in the world of television bugetry constraints, cash flow, and ratings always seems to trump character development.
I did mention that this story does explore the issue of the arms race, but the arms race, especially in the modern era where we have developed weapons that have the capacity of destroying all life on Earth, is something on which lots and lots of ink has been spilt. The other subject was much more interesting and that is the nature of the Hippocratic Oath – does a doctor take sides in a war, and if a doctor treats an enemy soldier are they committing treason? The problem is that doctors (or at least those portrayed in literature) tend to hold the sanctity of human life above politics. Organisations like the Red Cross are facing these ethical dilemmas in places like Syria and Afghanistan – if they treat terrorists are they partaking in terrorism? Further, hospitals are being viewed as important pieces of infrastructure and modern belligerents are becoming more willing to target these institutions in an effort to disrupt the enemy's capacity to wage war. However, the thing with modern warfare is that the boundary between the enemy and the civilian is becoming ever more blurred, but then the concept of the guerrilla war is not necessarily something new – Napoleon and Hitler had to deal with insurgents, it is just that we in the west are beginning to find ourselves on the other side of the fence.
8 March 2017
A part of me wanted to write about how this story deals with the issues of the nuclear arms race and also the conflicting nature of the Hippocratic Oath in the context of war, until I realised that this is basically Star Trek and I have to admit that I am really not a huge fan of Star Trek. Okay, I do watch the odd movie that makes its way to the screen (including the three reboots that have arisen over the last few years), and I have also watched all of Deep Space 9 and quite a few of The Next Generation (and Star Trek Voyager) but in the end it still comes down to the fact that it is Star Trek, which while it is a science-fiction adventure, it is set in this semi-utopian future that basically wants to make me sick.
Anyway, I found this comic book (I am not going to dignify this book with the title graphic novel, namely because in my mind graphic novels tend to be much more sophisticated than was is in effect a licensed form of fan fiction with pretty pictures that probably would never find themselves in an art gallery – well, that's probably being a little harsh because the Schirn in Frankfurt did have an exhibition on the beginnings of the comic strip, but then again we are talking about really, really early comics, not something that has appeared in 1994) when I was in Sydney and staying in a hotel across the road from a comic book store that looked like it was trying to clear out all of its stock. Anyway, after a brief scan of its contents the only things that caught my attention were a couple of Star Trek comics and a Judge Dredd annual.
This adventure is set sometime between Star Trek V and Star Trek VI and is around the time that Sulu (aka George Takai – the guy that posts all of those funny Twitter and Facebook posts) got his first command. Actually, the writer of the comic in the afterword spent three pages carrying on about how it was unfair that it took Sulu so long to actually become the captain of a star ship and that by the time he did the series had effectively come to an end. Well, I suspect the reason had more to do with Hollywood being Hollywood as opposed to any really deep character development – Star Trek has always been Star Trek, and of the seven years of the Next Generation series, Picard was always captain and Ryker was always XO. Well, maybe in some of the movies he did land up with a promotion, but as far as I am concerned, in the world of television bugetry constraints, cash flow, and ratings always seems to trump character development.
I did mention that this story does explore the issue of the arms race, but the arms race, especially in the modern era where we have developed weapons that have the capacity of destroying all life on Earth, is something on which lots and lots of ink has been spilt. The other subject was much more interesting and that is the nature of the Hippocratic Oath – does a doctor take sides in a war, and if a doctor treats an enemy soldier are they committing treason? The problem is that doctors (or at least those portrayed in literature) tend to hold the sanctity of human life above politics. Organisations like the Red Cross are facing these ethical dilemmas in places like Syria and Afghanistan – if they treat terrorists are they partaking in terrorism? Further, hospitals are being viewed as important pieces of infrastructure and modern belligerents are becoming more willing to target these institutions in an effort to disrupt the enemy's capacity to wage war. However, the thing with modern warfare is that the boundary between the enemy and the civilian is becoming ever more blurred, but then the concept of the guerrilla war is not necessarily something new – Napoleon and Hitler had to deal with insurgents, it is just that we in the west are beginning to find ourselves on the other side of the fence.
March 15, 2016
This trade collects a six-issue storyline from DC Comics' Star Trek title. Written by experienced Trek scribe Howard Weinstein, we are given a look at Captain Sulu's first mission as commander of the USS Excelsior. Naturally, the story also brings in the Enterprise and her crew, as well as a taut and interesting plot involving The Romulans and several new races.
Without going into spoiler-ish detail, I will say that the writing and characterizations are spot on, and the art is solid. I actually believe that if it had been filmed, this would have been a far more satisfying entry than Star Trek V, and would have made the entire series of films feel more like a cohesive whole. There's nothing here that will sway the uninitiated, but fans should find this a treat.
Without going into spoiler-ish detail, I will say that the writing and characterizations are spot on, and the art is solid. I actually believe that if it had been filmed, this would have been a far more satisfying entry than Star Trek V, and would have made the entire series of films feel more like a cohesive whole. There's nothing here that will sway the uninitiated, but fans should find this a treat.
July 8, 2021
There is nothing really exceptional about this graphic novel, which was originally 6 issues of the monthly comic in 1992 - it's standard Star Trek for the period. It is of interest as it covers Sulu's first mission as captain of the Excelsior.
September 11, 2024
Set between 'The Final Frontier' and 'The Undiscovered Country', this story begins with Hikaru Sulu taking command of the USS Excelsior. His first mission in command sees him paired with his former shipmates as the Enterprise-A joins the Excelsior to protect the end of hostilities between worlds who had been warring for generations. However, an aggressive alien race, aided by the devious Romulan Star Empire, plans to disrupt the peace process and seize powerful weapons for themselves.
I have to say that I like the concept behind this book far more than I really enjoyed the execution. Seeing Sulu command the Excelsior is a treat and I liked the idea that he's paired with Kirk for his first mission, with the two old friends trying to figure out their new dynamic on the fly.
Plus, just seeing Enterprise and Excelsior go into battle again hit all the right buttons for someone who has adored 'The Undiscovered Country' since he was a kid.
Truthfully though, the finished products is somewhat lesser than the sum of its parts and never quite pays off the incredible potential that the premise allowed for.
It certainly doesn't help that while the art for the Starfleet crews and ships is very good, the designs and depictions of the two main alien races are pretty terrible. Be it the four-eyed horse people or the race who look like a cross between the Ferengi and Orcs, they make the whole book feel cheaper as a result.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
I have to say that I like the concept behind this book far more than I really enjoyed the execution. Seeing Sulu command the Excelsior is a treat and I liked the idea that he's paired with Kirk for his first mission, with the two old friends trying to figure out their new dynamic on the fly.
Plus, just seeing Enterprise and Excelsior go into battle again hit all the right buttons for someone who has adored 'The Undiscovered Country' since he was a kid.
Truthfully though, the finished products is somewhat lesser than the sum of its parts and never quite pays off the incredible potential that the premise allowed for.
It certainly doesn't help that while the art for the Starfleet crews and ships is very good, the designs and depictions of the two main alien races are pretty terrible. Be it the four-eyed horse people or the race who look like a cross between the Ferengi and Orcs, they make the whole book feel cheaper as a result.
* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *
October 2, 2016
It was interesting to see Sulu take command of his first ship on his first mission. The characters were drawn true. The dialog and mannerisms were worthy of the original crew. Felt more like a movie then a comic.
February 7, 2016
This is the only Star Trek graphic novel I own, and the only Star Trek one I've read. It tells a nice, solid story from the beginnings of Sulu's captaincy of the Excelsior.
January 31, 2018
Not much to say about this collection. The story and art were fine, but there was nothing that jumped out at me. I would categorize this as another satisfactory episode of Star Trek.
June 28, 2024
Very good graphic novel good to see sulu and the Excelsior on a mission the other story was good with McCoy and the doctor who he used to work with overall a quick read
May 5, 2018
I never understand why the Star Trek franchise didn't do more with Captain Sulu and the Excelsior, and this story shows that there were plenty of interesting ways they could have gone about it. This storyline manages to balance out both ships and crews and gives almost all of the characters at least a few scenes of interest.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews