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Star Trek: Best of Klingons
Sharpen your bat'leth and prepare for war in this collection of unforgettable Klingon tales from the Star Trek universe. Including the original 4-part DC start to The Original Series as well as the 6-issue Klingons: Blood Will Tell series by Scott and David Tipton, this volume is more fun than is allowed by Klingon law!
234 pages, Paperback
First published September 3, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 22, 2020
‘Star Trek: Best Of Klingons’ is a book of two halves, more or less. The first half consists of four issues originally published by DC comics as Star Trek # 1-4. The second half was originally issued by IDW Publishing as Star Trek: Klingons: Blood Will Tell # 1-5. The first story follows on directly from the film ‘Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan’. The second is a sort of prequel to ‘Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country’. As these are generally considered the two best ‘Star Trek’ films of the old order this is no bad chronology into which to slot.
After the Khan adventure, Kirk manages to stay on as captain of the Enterprise and is sent on a mission to the Klingon border where another starship has been destroyed. At this point, Mister Spock is dead so Saavik is trying to fill in for him. Investigating events, the crew soon discovers Klingon involvement but there is more to it than first meets the eye. The script by Mike W. Barr is excellent, as is the art by Tom Sutton and Ricardo Villagran. Prejudiced in favour of old-fashioned comic art, I preferred the pictures in the first half of the book. Getting the likenesses right is not easy on a comic book work schedule but Sutton generally does a pretty good job. Kirk is hard to capture but in odd panels, he manages to convey something of the beauty of Saavik and Uhura. He tends to use smaller panels for quiet narrative chatty bits and let rip with big ones for the space battles. Overall, the storytelling, the most important thing in comic strips, is well done.
To be fair, the art by David Messina in the second half of the book is also very good but it seems computerised. Nothing wrong with that but it’s not my style. One’s prejudices are set early in these matters. The story is by Scott Tipton and David Tipton and it seemed odd at first but grew on me quite quickly. Kahnrah is a member of the Klingon High Council and has the deciding vote on whether or not to ask the Federation for help following the crisis on Praxis. If he votes not to ask for help, it means war. The Klingons will try to take what they need. Weighing up the matter he is reviewing previous clashes with the Federation and, to this end, we are told favourite old encounters from a Klingon point of view, namely Star Trek episodes ‘Errand Of Mercy’, ‘The Trouble With Tribbles’, ‘A Private Little War’ and ‘Day Of The Dove’. Kahnrah discusses these with his adult granddaughter. At first, this retelling seemed pointless to me but it became interesting and led to a grand conclusion.
Whether or not this is the best of Klingons I couldn’t say, not having read all the other Klingon stories in comic book format, but it’s certainly jolly entertaining. Story and art are top notch in both parts and I enjoyed it very much. The quality of the printing and reproduction is also excellent, making for a classy product overall. A worthwhile purchase for any sentient being worthy of the designation ’Trekkie’.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
After the Khan adventure, Kirk manages to stay on as captain of the Enterprise and is sent on a mission to the Klingon border where another starship has been destroyed. At this point, Mister Spock is dead so Saavik is trying to fill in for him. Investigating events, the crew soon discovers Klingon involvement but there is more to it than first meets the eye. The script by Mike W. Barr is excellent, as is the art by Tom Sutton and Ricardo Villagran. Prejudiced in favour of old-fashioned comic art, I preferred the pictures in the first half of the book. Getting the likenesses right is not easy on a comic book work schedule but Sutton generally does a pretty good job. Kirk is hard to capture but in odd panels, he manages to convey something of the beauty of Saavik and Uhura. He tends to use smaller panels for quiet narrative chatty bits and let rip with big ones for the space battles. Overall, the storytelling, the most important thing in comic strips, is well done.
To be fair, the art by David Messina in the second half of the book is also very good but it seems computerised. Nothing wrong with that but it’s not my style. One’s prejudices are set early in these matters. The story is by Scott Tipton and David Tipton and it seemed odd at first but grew on me quite quickly. Kahnrah is a member of the Klingon High Council and has the deciding vote on whether or not to ask the Federation for help following the crisis on Praxis. If he votes not to ask for help, it means war. The Klingons will try to take what they need. Weighing up the matter he is reviewing previous clashes with the Federation and, to this end, we are told favourite old encounters from a Klingon point of view, namely Star Trek episodes ‘Errand Of Mercy’, ‘The Trouble With Tribbles’, ‘A Private Little War’ and ‘Day Of The Dove’. Kahnrah discusses these with his adult granddaughter. At first, this retelling seemed pointless to me but it became interesting and led to a grand conclusion.
Whether or not this is the best of Klingons I couldn’t say, not having read all the other Klingon stories in comic book format, but it’s certainly jolly entertaining. Story and art are top notch in both parts and I enjoyed it very much. The quality of the printing and reproduction is also excellent, making for a classy product overall. A worthwhile purchase for any sentient being worthy of the designation ’Trekkie’.
Eamonn Murphy
This review first appeared at https://www.sfcrowsnest.info/
September 14, 2020
This collection has two Klingon stories of unequal strengths.
The first is from DC Comics in the early 1980s. The story is set right after the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. A conflict on a border threatens to turn into war between the Federation and the Klingons. The Klingons have a secret base from which they are attacking Federation colonies and ships by the Neutral Zone. The Enterprise, with Kirk but no Spock, goes to investigate. They are caught up in events that bring both sides to the edge of war. More is going on than meets the eye as events unfold. The story is a fairly typical Star Trek story--it's fun and plays to the strengths of the characters. The art was sub-par and obviously the story does not fit with the film continuity.
The second story is Klingons: Blood Will Tell, a story of Klingon High Council official Kahnrah, who is debating about a significant vote he has to cast. Praxis (the Klingon moon) has exploded, condemning their home world to annihilation in thirty or forty years. The Council is deadlock on whether to ask the Federation for help or not. Kahnrah reflects on various historical encounters between humans and the Klingons, though most involve Captain Kirk. Kahnrah has to decide if the humans are trustworthy and, more importantly, if the Klingons can retain their identity by making such a decision. Seeing events like the Tribbles story from a Klingon perspective is very interesting and well-told by the authors. Even though the decision is a foregone conclusion for Star Trek fans, the narrative makes an interesting exploration of Klingon attitudes and general character. The art is good and the story does fit in with the film continuity, so those are pluses too.
Recommended, though the second story is much stronger and more interesting than the first.
The first is from DC Comics in the early 1980s. The story is set right after the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. A conflict on a border threatens to turn into war between the Federation and the Klingons. The Klingons have a secret base from which they are attacking Federation colonies and ships by the Neutral Zone. The Enterprise, with Kirk but no Spock, goes to investigate. They are caught up in events that bring both sides to the edge of war. More is going on than meets the eye as events unfold. The story is a fairly typical Star Trek story--it's fun and plays to the strengths of the characters. The art was sub-par and obviously the story does not fit with the film continuity.
The second story is Klingons: Blood Will Tell, a story of Klingon High Council official Kahnrah, who is debating about a significant vote he has to cast. Praxis (the Klingon moon) has exploded, condemning their home world to annihilation in thirty or forty years. The Council is deadlock on whether to ask the Federation for help or not. Kahnrah reflects on various historical encounters between humans and the Klingons, though most involve Captain Kirk. Kahnrah has to decide if the humans are trustworthy and, more importantly, if the Klingons can retain their identity by making such a decision. Seeing events like the Tribbles story from a Klingon perspective is very interesting and well-told by the authors. Even though the decision is a foregone conclusion for Star Trek fans, the narrative makes an interesting exploration of Klingon attitudes and general character. The art is good and the story does fit in with the film continuity, so those are pluses too.
Recommended, though the second story is much stronger and more interesting than the first.
August 8, 2021
This collection of different Klingon-focused comics rather surprised me.
The first story is the 4-issue part of the original series comic that was interestingly set right after the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Thus we get fun elements like Kirk being overly harsh on Saavik mainly because she's not Spock. We have the Klingons stirring things up again with actions that could lead to breaking the Treaty of Organia with another force potentially manipulating events. Some facts and plot devices were still very off-base, but not as bad as the Gold Key books. But the likenesses of the characters were pretty good despite the limited colors used in printing at the time.
The second story in this volume was a 6-issue IDW story called Klingons: Blood Will Tell, which also featured some interesting new Klingon stories inserted into the events of the original series. How these two stories nicely referenced so many different TOS episodes made for a more fulfilling reading experience for someone who enjoyed those adventures without making it feel like all readers needed to watch those episodes to understand what was going on. This book nicely tackled the concept of Klingon intelligence/espionage efforts back in the day and how they tried to resolve such efforts versus their concept of honor.
The first story is the 4-issue part of the original series comic that was interestingly set right after the events of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Thus we get fun elements like Kirk being overly harsh on Saavik mainly because she's not Spock. We have the Klingons stirring things up again with actions that could lead to breaking the Treaty of Organia with another force potentially manipulating events. Some facts and plot devices were still very off-base, but not as bad as the Gold Key books. But the likenesses of the characters were pretty good despite the limited colors used in printing at the time.
The second story in this volume was a 6-issue IDW story called Klingons: Blood Will Tell, which also featured some interesting new Klingon stories inserted into the events of the original series. How these two stories nicely referenced so many different TOS episodes made for a more fulfilling reading experience for someone who enjoyed those adventures without making it feel like all readers needed to watch those episodes to understand what was going on. This book nicely tackled the concept of Klingon intelligence/espionage efforts back in the day and how they tried to resolve such efforts versus their concept of honor.
October 3, 2018
I really do love reading these comics. This one is no exception, though I liked the first story a lot more than the second. The first one had a really nice old-school art style that was dated but colorful and fun. The story itself was really good, too, and I really wanted to see what became of the human and the Klingon. I was disappointed when the story ended.
The second wasn't bad, but it was really distracting to change art styles so suddenly. That, and repeating a lot of the stories from the Original Series from a Klingon's perspective wasn't all that interesting. I guess it's fine if you haven't seen the series, but my guess is most people reading these comics have so repeating the same stories isn't necessary. The Klingon perspective doesn't even bring that much to the story. The most interesting part was at the end, and that's when I actually wanted to see what would happen next.
It was still enjoyable, but I wish there'd been more stories just focused on the Klingons rather than them in relation to the Enterprise crew.
The second wasn't bad, but it was really distracting to change art styles so suddenly. That, and repeating a lot of the stories from the Original Series from a Klingon's perspective wasn't all that interesting. I guess it's fine if you haven't seen the series, but my guess is most people reading these comics have so repeating the same stories isn't necessary. The Klingon perspective doesn't even bring that much to the story. The most interesting part was at the end, and that's when I actually wanted to see what would happen next.
It was still enjoyable, but I wish there'd been more stories just focused on the Klingons rather than them in relation to the Enterprise crew.
December 10, 2016
This omnibus feels kinda weird and disjointed in that it collects the first four issues of DC's run on The Original Series (which take place between The Wrath of Khan and The Search for Spock) as well as IDW's miniseries Klingons: Blood Will Tell (which shows Klingon points of view in episodes of TOS as well as The Undiscovered Country). Though Klingons are what both of these arcs have in common, I'm not convinced that that justifies binding together these two arcs of starkly different art styles and publishing eras. The stories themselves are somewhat enjoyable and I appreciated the continuity nod to the events of Enterprise. But the art in both arcs are kinda lacking and, in the case of the latter arc, I feel like I didn't really need to see familiar stuff from the Klingons' perspectives.
November 23, 2023
Star Trek: Best of Klingons
The Way of the Warrior is not always understood by the Federation, but it forms the foundation of the Klingon Empire. Honour is everything and, sadly, not always apparent from the actions of the few.
It is fascinating to see how far the 'Star Trek' comic line has evolved, from the dead end caused by 'Star Trek III: The Search for Spock', which had to be quickly retconned by DC to the smoother artwork and continuity heavy storylines of IDW.
The Way of the Warrior is not always understood by the Federation, but it forms the foundation of the Klingon Empire. Honour is everything and, sadly, not always apparent from the actions of the few.
It is fascinating to see how far the 'Star Trek' comic line has evolved, from the dead end caused by 'Star Trek III: The Search for Spock', which had to be quickly retconned by DC to the smoother artwork and continuity heavy storylines of IDW.
April 19, 2018
Fun compilation of four Klingon themed stories. My two favorites were the ones that explain why the Organians aren't around anymore and why we only see Klingons with ridges. Good continuity with original Star Trek universe and sympathetic portrayals of the Klingons.
December 7, 2023
I was not a fan of the first story, as it was older and more hokey. The rest of the stories were ones I liked.
March 2, 2026
the WoK tie in is fun and fabulous, the second half less so.
April 26, 2016
I enjoyed reading this book. This collection of Star Trek stories both from DC Comics and IDW focused on the Klingons. I enjoyed reading the original 4 part story arc from DC Comics when they had exclusive license to the series and one of the best adaptations of Star Trek other than IDW.
I am also glad it mentioned why the Klingons looked human and their current appearance in the 1st film. This paperback is a must read for Star Trek fans and looking forward to the upcoming film which is due next year in time for the 50th anniversary celebration of Star Trek.
I am also glad it mentioned why the Klingons looked human and their current appearance in the 1st film. This paperback is a must read for Star Trek fans and looking forward to the upcoming film which is due next year in time for the 50th anniversary celebration of Star Trek.
January 24, 2016
Qapla'! Good Klingon Fun!
I picked this up some time ago on a Humble Bundle - mainly to get the GoldKey Volume 1, but this was a great addition. Two stories, one with the TOS crew, after the death of Spock, another set just at the beginning of "The Undiscovered Country."
I enjoyed them both, but especially, Klingons: Blood Will Tell, the second story. That one built on Original Series events, with an elder Klingon retelling them and discussing them with his granddaughter as he was deciding whether to agree with Gorkon's plan or not.
I picked this up some time ago on a Humble Bundle - mainly to get the GoldKey Volume 1, but this was a great addition. Two stories, one with the TOS crew, after the death of Spock, another set just at the beginning of "The Undiscovered Country."
I enjoyed them both, but especially, Klingons: Blood Will Tell, the second story. That one built on Original Series events, with an elder Klingon retelling them and discussing them with his granddaughter as he was deciding whether to agree with Gorkon's plan or not.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews