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Star Trek: New Visions (Single Issues) #0-2
Star Trek: New Visions
John Byrne presents all-new Star Trek: The Original Series episodes like you've never seen them before! Including the Star Trek Annual 2013 photonovel "Strange New Worlds" as well as the photonovel one-shots "The Mirror, Cracked" and "Time's Echo" - done in the fumetti-style by one of the greatest living comic book artists!
140 pages, Paperback
First published October 14, 2014
31 people are currently reading
76 people want to read
About the author
John Byrne
2,973 books366 followersLibrarian note:
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
John Lindley Byrne is a British-born Canadian-American author and artist of comic books. Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on nearly every major American superhero.
Byrne's better-known work has been on Marvel Comics' X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’ Superman franchise. Coming into the comics profession exclusively as a penciler, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also started inking his own pencils). During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He also wrote the first issues of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series and produced a number of Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing.
There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name
John Lindley Byrne is a British-born Canadian-American author and artist of comic books. Since the mid-1970s, Byrne has worked on nearly every major American superhero.
Byrne's better-known work has been on Marvel Comics' X-Men and Fantastic Four and the 1986 relaunch of DC Comics’ Superman franchise. Coming into the comics profession exclusively as a penciler, Byrne began co-plotting the X-Men comics during his tenure on them, and launched his writing career in earnest with Fantastic Four (where he also started inking his own pencils). During the 1990s he produced a number of creator-owned works, including Next Men and Danger Unlimited. He also wrote the first issues of Mike Mignola's Hellboy series and produced a number of Star Trek comics for IDW Publishing.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
November 8, 2014
This is a hard one to rate. The idea here is brilliant: to take screenshots of the original Star Trek and transform them with photo-editing software into photo-novels with a difference: these stories are new and never seen before. The quality of the stories are highly variable, but the whole experience is probably the most satisfying experience a first-generation Trekker can hope for to see the original cast and character experience new adventures. (I could almost hear the background music from the series as I read.)
September 1, 2020
Boldly Going Once More
The fate of Gary Mitchell has weighed heavily on James Kirk, but a strange recall to the Delta Began colony puts old ghosts to rest.
John Byrne's experimental photo montage graphic novel is fascinating to look at, but it is the story that makes this book soar.
The fate of Gary Mitchell has weighed heavily on James Kirk, but a strange recall to the Delta Began colony puts old ghosts to rest.
John Byrne's experimental photo montage graphic novel is fascinating to look at, but it is the story that makes this book soar.
February 20, 2019
THREE (count 'em), THREE (plus one little vignette tacked on at the end), THREE GREAT, and totally BRAND NEW stories, featuring vintage photo montages of the full cast of The Original Series in all their late 1960s glory! However... most of the photos range from slightly blurry to just plain grainy, appartently because of all that hasty-pasty digital manipulation of slapped together classic imagery.
All of which really does "transport" the reader (if you'll kindly pardon the Star Trek pun) right smack dab back to the one and only (truly worthy) original Star Trek Universe. But... it also, at the very same time, kind of makes your head swim (or spin, or something to that effect) while you're thinking, "I'm pretty darn sure I know which classic episode that image was taken from." Or, "Wait! Wasn't Mr. Scott's hair different a few pages back?"
Actually... yes. Yes, it really was! And if you noticed that too, YOU WIN A PRIZE! 'Cause actor James Doohan really did sport at least three different hairstyles (bangs, combed straight back, then back to bangs -- but more combed over), three (arguably) 23rd century Scottish hairdos during the three year run of the Original Series. But... doggonit! You DON'T (well, none of us, actually) win any Geek of the Year awards for eagle eyeing such cleverly perceived handy-dandy, nerdy little details such as that.
Nope! All those totally unintentional little "Easter eggs" actually just serve to DISTRACT the reader and help to bore lots and lots of annoying little holes in that all important "fourth wall." Yep. They just kinda bomb the hell out of an extremely important little thing called "aesthetic distance."
If you don't have a background in theater (or simply didn't end up taking a class in it as a Humanities elective in college), that pretty much means what happens to an audience who gets distracted by a piece of malfunctioning scenery, or the flubbing of crucial lines midway through the performance. And when that happens... OUCH! You'd better have some real, real good, Shakespearean trained, first class thespians up on that ol' stage to strut and fret and REALLY MAKE the audience soundly forget all that pesky stuff that wasn't supposed to go wrong. Why? 'Cause the show MUST go on, silly!
Overall though, you gotta love author/artist John Byrne. He's not just a comic book writing genius (and a pretty decent artist, too), but he's yet another highly accomplished British born Canadian-American who just plain done real good after making that little trip across ye old Atlantic Pond.
Anyway, unceremoniously shoving all of the above to one side (if ya can), Star Trek: New Visions is actually REALLY GREAT STUFF. Problem is though, that it really would have been an infinitely superior final product if a good artist had simply used all that gorgeous photo reference to actually render honest to goodness, good old fashioned ARTWORK to greatly enhance the exact same stories - which would have made them much, much, MUCH more palatable, cohesive, slick-looking, and just plain MORE EFFECTIVE overall.
But... oh well! I guess ya can't always get what you want in this old universe of ours. You can bask in the incandescent glow of time honored nostalgia to your little heart's content, but in the end, you can't actually "go back home," you know. Not really. Especially not these days, it seems. And especially when it comes to a once much more sacred scifi property such as Star Trek. Unfortunately.
All of which really does "transport" the reader (if you'll kindly pardon the Star Trek pun) right smack dab back to the one and only (truly worthy) original Star Trek Universe. But... it also, at the very same time, kind of makes your head swim (or spin, or something to that effect) while you're thinking, "I'm pretty darn sure I know which classic episode that image was taken from." Or, "Wait! Wasn't Mr. Scott's hair different a few pages back?"
Actually... yes. Yes, it really was! And if you noticed that too, YOU WIN A PRIZE! 'Cause actor James Doohan really did sport at least three different hairstyles (bangs, combed straight back, then back to bangs -- but more combed over), three (arguably) 23rd century Scottish hairdos during the three year run of the Original Series. But... doggonit! You DON'T (well, none of us, actually) win any Geek of the Year awards for eagle eyeing such cleverly perceived handy-dandy, nerdy little details such as that.
Nope! All those totally unintentional little "Easter eggs" actually just serve to DISTRACT the reader and help to bore lots and lots of annoying little holes in that all important "fourth wall." Yep. They just kinda bomb the hell out of an extremely important little thing called "aesthetic distance."
If you don't have a background in theater (or simply didn't end up taking a class in it as a Humanities elective in college), that pretty much means what happens to an audience who gets distracted by a piece of malfunctioning scenery, or the flubbing of crucial lines midway through the performance. And when that happens... OUCH! You'd better have some real, real good, Shakespearean trained, first class thespians up on that ol' stage to strut and fret and REALLY MAKE the audience soundly forget all that pesky stuff that wasn't supposed to go wrong. Why? 'Cause the show MUST go on, silly!
Overall though, you gotta love author/artist John Byrne. He's not just a comic book writing genius (and a pretty decent artist, too), but he's yet another highly accomplished British born Canadian-American who just plain done real good after making that little trip across ye old Atlantic Pond.
Anyway, unceremoniously shoving all of the above to one side (if ya can), Star Trek: New Visions is actually REALLY GREAT STUFF. Problem is though, that it really would have been an infinitely superior final product if a good artist had simply used all that gorgeous photo reference to actually render honest to goodness, good old fashioned ARTWORK to greatly enhance the exact same stories - which would have made them much, much, MUCH more palatable, cohesive, slick-looking, and just plain MORE EFFECTIVE overall.
But... oh well! I guess ya can't always get what you want in this old universe of ours. You can bask in the incandescent glow of time honored nostalgia to your little heart's content, but in the end, you can't actually "go back home," you know. Not really. Especially not these days, it seems. And especially when it comes to a once much more sacred scifi property such as Star Trek. Unfortunately.
May 5, 2017
I never thought this would be fantastic, but it is. It captures the rhythm of an original Trek episode, the style, the story functions of each character. I’ve seen each episode enough times to recognize the stills, but I still forgot they were reused most of the time. It doesn’t have the same variety of tones -- original Trek could be serious, fun, goofy, self-important, intense. These mostly fall into a “weighty” tone, a feeling of pondering the mysteries of the universe -- the “Where No Man Has Gone Before” sort of thing. I don’t mind that, it’s as authentic as anything. Many plots revisit original episodes, extending concepts to see how they might play out, but always in character. Some are new, but in the same spirit, the same general classifications of episodes. Even the sciencey sci-fi bits don’t make sense in the same way that original episodes didn’t make sense. Super super good.
October 6, 2014
I will not lie, it does take a few pages to get used to the photo panels, but once you do, you realize that a great novel John Byrne has written.
July 8, 2020
This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.5 of 5
I want to know why it took so long for someone to actually do this!
Author, artist, photo-manipulator John Byrne writes in his introduction that he wanted to create new Star Trek stories by editing existing clips of the episodes together. I've had the same thought! And then when he saw the Star Trek photonovels he thought about creating Star Trek stories in this same fashion ... use photos from a variety of episodes, in sequential fashion, to tell new stories. I'd had that same thought! But Byrne, being a well-known and well-respected figure in the comic book industry, definitely had an advantage. When he went o talk to a comic publisher, people listened (not that I ever tried).
Byrne also writes about how much work it was, matching light sources and relative sizes within each panel. Ah...this is why it took so long for someone to actually do this.
The fun here is mostly in seeing what Byrne manages to do with the characters and how he puts them together to tell a story. He's also an accomplished comic book writer and, being a fan of Star Trek, he puts together some clever Star Trek stories that easily could have been pulled from the 1960's series.
The only downside here is that by relying on the the existing screenshots, we're pretty much tied to telling stories with the existing guest stars, and Byrne does just that. He tells new stories with familiar guests and incidents. We travel to the Mirror universe, and we remember Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner. I wasn't thrilled to get 'new visions' of them, but I still appreciated Byrne's work, both as writer and the artistic effort of filling in the scenes.
In this volume we have the following stories:
"Strange New Worlds" - a new story with Gary Mitchell
"The Mirror, Cracked" - the alternate universe Spock pays the Enterprise a visit to warn them that alternate universe Kirk has traveled between timelines and has struck a deal with the Klingons
"Time's Echo" - a unique story, and Byrne gets quite creative, creating new locations and characters
"Sweet Sorrow" - this was a very short but sweet story in which the women of Star Trek, led by Yeoman Rand, get to have their moment
Looking for a good book? Star Trek: New Visions is a photo-montage graphic novel with stories and photo arrangements by John Byrne. It's a fun trip and great to see the well-known characters in new adventures.
I borrowed this book through the Kindle Unlimited program.
I want to know why it took so long for someone to actually do this!
Author, artist, photo-manipulator John Byrne writes in his introduction that he wanted to create new Star Trek stories by editing existing clips of the episodes together. I've had the same thought! And then when he saw the Star Trek photonovels he thought about creating Star Trek stories in this same fashion ... use photos from a variety of episodes, in sequential fashion, to tell new stories. I'd had that same thought! But Byrne, being a well-known and well-respected figure in the comic book industry, definitely had an advantage. When he went o talk to a comic publisher, people listened (not that I ever tried).
Byrne also writes about how much work it was, matching light sources and relative sizes within each panel. Ah...this is why it took so long for someone to actually do this.
The fun here is mostly in seeing what Byrne manages to do with the characters and how he puts them together to tell a story. He's also an accomplished comic book writer and, being a fan of Star Trek, he puts together some clever Star Trek stories that easily could have been pulled from the 1960's series.
The only downside here is that by relying on the the existing screenshots, we're pretty much tied to telling stories with the existing guest stars, and Byrne does just that. He tells new stories with familiar guests and incidents. We travel to the Mirror universe, and we remember Gary Mitchell and Elizabeth Dehner. I wasn't thrilled to get 'new visions' of them, but I still appreciated Byrne's work, both as writer and the artistic effort of filling in the scenes.
In this volume we have the following stories:
"Strange New Worlds" - a new story with Gary Mitchell
"The Mirror, Cracked" - the alternate universe Spock pays the Enterprise a visit to warn them that alternate universe Kirk has traveled between timelines and has struck a deal with the Klingons
"Time's Echo" - a unique story, and Byrne gets quite creative, creating new locations and characters
"Sweet Sorrow" - this was a very short but sweet story in which the women of Star Trek, led by Yeoman Rand, get to have their moment
Looking for a good book? Star Trek: New Visions is a photo-montage graphic novel with stories and photo arrangements by John Byrne. It's a fun trip and great to see the well-known characters in new adventures.
I borrowed this book through the Kindle Unlimited program.
January 28, 2019
This was a pretty fun idea of doing a comic book while using shots of the actors. I like artists' representations, but there's something about seeing Bill, Leonard and the others. It really did feel like I was just reading episodes of the show.
The Gary Mitchell story I felt pretty "meh" about. I remembered the original episode a little and didn't see too much of a reason to continue the story. I guess it gave Kirk peace of mine about the whole thing. Naturally, I loved going back to the Mirror Universe. It's probably my favorite alternate reality in any canon. I like what they did with Mirror Kirk working with the Klingons, since that absolutely made sense. Too bad we don't get more of Captain Uhura. That's a universe I'd love to explore! I almost feel bad for Mirror Kirk, though. Things never seem to go well for him.
The story of the Enterprise crew meeting descendants born from a crash was a LOT like a storyline I just watched in a DS9 episode. It wouldn't surprise me if one took inspiration from the other. I did find this ending very interesting; it really shows the similarities and differences between Kirk and Sisko as captains. The story of the yeoman leaving after her loved one was injured also reminded me a lot of another Trek story. I'm not sure if this particular yeoman was featured in the show-- I've watched two other series since watching the original, so I can't remember-- but it gave a "what might have been" sort of impression when Kirk watched her beam away.
Overall, I liked it. I like all Trek stories, and no doubt will enjoy more in the future.
The Gary Mitchell story I felt pretty "meh" about. I remembered the original episode a little and didn't see too much of a reason to continue the story. I guess it gave Kirk peace of mine about the whole thing. Naturally, I loved going back to the Mirror Universe. It's probably my favorite alternate reality in any canon. I like what they did with Mirror Kirk working with the Klingons, since that absolutely made sense. Too bad we don't get more of Captain Uhura. That's a universe I'd love to explore! I almost feel bad for Mirror Kirk, though. Things never seem to go well for him.
The story of the Enterprise crew meeting descendants born from a crash was a LOT like a storyline I just watched in a DS9 episode. It wouldn't surprise me if one took inspiration from the other. I did find this ending very interesting; it really shows the similarities and differences between Kirk and Sisko as captains. The story of the yeoman leaving after her loved one was injured also reminded me a lot of another Trek story. I'm not sure if this particular yeoman was featured in the show-- I've watched two other series since watching the original, so I can't remember-- but it gave a "what might have been" sort of impression when Kirk watched her beam away.
Overall, I liked it. I like all Trek stories, and no doubt will enjoy more in the future.
September 7, 2018
I can't be more happy about this book.
It's one of my dreams become true.
It's not just the fact of the original frames of ST TOS.
I can't feel the John Byrne's hand here. Good stories. I mean, they are not just good stories. Those adventures really fit in the original series. You really believe on these adventures as if they really happened in the TV screen.
I can't wait to seed more adventures like this.
Who knows if we could see new Star Trek Next Generation stories this way? Or, why not, new Firefly episodes?
A whole universe of possibilities is open here.
Thank you, Mr. Byrne.
It's one of my dreams become true.
It's not just the fact of the original frames of ST TOS.
I can't feel the John Byrne's hand here. Good stories. I mean, they are not just good stories. Those adventures really fit in the original series. You really believe on these adventures as if they really happened in the TV screen.
I can't wait to seed more adventures like this.
Who knows if we could see new Star Trek Next Generation stories this way? Or, why not, new Firefly episodes?
A whole universe of possibilities is open here.
Thank you, Mr. Byrne.
December 17, 2019
Decent stories
The repurposed images capture the photo novels of the 1970s. The science of the third story is a bit iffy, but it's not a show stopper -- no one asks of black holes are so strong to trap all light, how does any get past it? Light would warp and twist in the direction the black hole.
The zoom-in feature is nice, but there are repeated speech balloons from previos panels that are included, messing up the story flow. Byrne is a good writer, but this should have had more editing to fix the bug. Dinged 1 star for this. Liked it, but they are spendy books.
The repurposed images capture the photo novels of the 1970s. The science of the third story is a bit iffy, but it's not a show stopper -- no one asks of black holes are so strong to trap all light, how does any get past it? Light would warp and twist in the direction the black hole.
The zoom-in feature is nice, but there are repeated speech balloons from previos panels that are included, messing up the story flow. Byrne is a good writer, but this should have had more editing to fix the bug. Dinged 1 star for this. Liked it, but they are spendy books.
October 30, 2022
Well, that was interesting. No really.
Inspired by the fotonovels of the 70s, which are interesting in their own right, these are a telling of new stories connected to or interwoven with real TOS episodes.
The tone and settings are loyal to TOS. The compositing is somewhat cheap and occasionally shoddy (even for the time it was made), but it fits the fanfic pasting together of a new story from old clippings and it somehow all works.
I can’t rate it higher than three stars—I liked it—but I’m happy to award those three.
I’ll gladly continue the series.
Inspired by the fotonovels of the 70s, which are interesting in their own right, these are a telling of new stories connected to or interwoven with real TOS episodes.
The tone and settings are loyal to TOS. The compositing is somewhat cheap and occasionally shoddy (even for the time it was made), but it fits the fanfic pasting together of a new story from old clippings and it somehow all works.
I can’t rate it higher than three stars—I liked it—but I’m happy to award those three.
I’ll gladly continue the series.
May 21, 2017
As a kid, I loved the original Star Trek fotonovels that inspired this series. Even now, I enjoy looking at the pictures (though the photoshopping can be a little distracting). The stories, however, are just too blandly generic to fully reignite my inner twelve-year-old. It's a nice fan project, but not much more.
September 12, 2017
Wow did I enjoy this. I was bitching that Byrne wasn't drawing the book but I decided to try it and I don't regret it. Of the four stories collected here they are all good but our first one, "Strange New Worlds" and "Time's Echo" were the best and the Yeoman Rand back up was heartbreaking. It really does have the feel of TOS Trek.
May 4, 2021
An interesting experiment, but ultimately a bit of a mess. While the stories are occasionally interesting they frequently take too long to get anywhere and the photomontages combined with new artwork are often distractingly 'off' both in terms of perspective and focus.
Worth a look, but don't get your hopes up.
Worth a look, but don't get your hopes up.
May 25, 2024
The first two stories here are quite decent - I liked the return to Delta Vega to explore Gary Mitchell's fate and the mirror universe story that fills in the gaps after Mirror Mirror nicely - but the collection is marred by the misfire that is the last story, a pointless rehashing of DS9's Children of Time without any of the complexity, emotion and pathos that episode had.
May 13, 2020
Cognitively they’re harder to read than usual comics and I wonder if they wouldn’t‘ve been easier done in drawings, but the plots were enjoyable and there’s a lot of hard work visible in creating these comics.
September 13, 2025
Amazing!
This was so enjoyable! The photo shopping was great. The stories were entertaining. I liked how some of the stories were sequels to episodes. I highly recommend this to any Star Trek fan!
This was so enjoyable! The photo shopping was great. The stories were entertaining. I liked how some of the stories were sequels to episodes. I highly recommend this to any Star Trek fan!
January 3, 2018
I can't add much to what's already been said. I simply am thrilled to have more "new" TOS of the same style and feel as those made in the late 1960's!
March 11, 2019
John Byrne's photomontage works quite well and the stories are strong. I didn't expect to like this. Four stars.
September 27, 2019
Rather well done "lost episodes" made from rejigged and reformatted original screenshots and characters from TOS. Captures the spirit of the original with aplomb.
June 19, 2020
Very ingeniously done using stills from the TV series telling new and old adventures. Very enjoyable.
tried-to-read
May 9, 2021I read about half of this and it is pretty well-done, but it just isn't my thing.
March 17, 2022
A fun throwback to the photobooks of decades past, but with new stories.
June 22, 2022
New Wine into old wine skins indeed!
May 4, 2023
Just like episodes of the tv series!
May 6, 2015
More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/
This is a great idea - taking 'screenshots' of the original series characters and using them to either create a new story or continue on from one of the previous stories. And for the most part, it does work well. The effect is much like the those architectural preview images of real people pasted into a computer generated background that shows what the project could look like when completed. It's fun for fans of the series to see those characters anew or to get more story on famous episodes such as the Doomsday Machine and Amok Time.The stories are varied but nearly all reference a specific episode in mind (a necessity when using characters, I suppose). From a Ronald Tracey inspired story of revenge (The Omega Glory), to Klingons trying to put one over on the Federation (in TOS' rather silly way), to a very funny Harry Mudd being stuck with Kirk's face (a chuckle worthy ending worth the price of the book alone!). Star Trek TOS at times really can't be taken seriously and Byrne has faithfully captured that innocent and less serious time.
I won't say that all the stories captured my attention. And the background CGI visuals were a bit rough in places. Nitpicky details such as Tracey having blood on his face from the original episode fight that should have been cleaned off before insertion also kind of bugged. But in all, it was a greatly enjoyable read. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.
September 23, 2016
This was my first foray in photonovel reading. It can feel odd seeing familiar shots in new contexts, but the format can work.
"Strange New Worlds" is a sequel to the second pilot "Where No Man has Gone Before," taking place nearly three years after that episode (so 2268) and showing that Kirk was part of the Enterprise crew in 2264, a year before the five-year mission. Gary Mitchell always seemed like an interesting character to me since he was friends with Kirk for a while, and it's a shame that he only got one episode. Published materials allow for the chance to explore him a bit more. IDW's Kelvin Timeline adaptation of "Where No Man Has Gone Before" incorporated a little bit more backstory, but it played out pretty much the same way as the episode. Mitchell had more stuff to do in IDW's Mission's End, which was a nice surprise. Here, I feel like the results are mixed and in between, which may be fitting seeing as how Mitchell is between worlds and has to let go so that he may stay dead.
"The Mirror Cracked" is a sequel to "Mirror, Mirror." I'd say that this is my least favorite in the collection since it's more of the same. And "Time's Echo" seemed to have shamelessly stolen the premise of DS9 episode "Children of Time," which also dealt with future descendants of the show's crew who end up not existing when a crash is prevented. "Sweet Sorrow," though short it may be, was a compelling explanation for why Janice Rand disappears from the series. Her ex-fiance Andrew Calloway has suffered an illness during a mission and ends up on artificial life support, so she has to leave the Enterprise to take care of him.
Overall, an interesting read. A bit could have been more original, but of course this is a photonovel.
"Strange New Worlds" is a sequel to the second pilot "Where No Man has Gone Before," taking place nearly three years after that episode (so 2268) and showing that Kirk was part of the Enterprise crew in 2264, a year before the five-year mission. Gary Mitchell always seemed like an interesting character to me since he was friends with Kirk for a while, and it's a shame that he only got one episode. Published materials allow for the chance to explore him a bit more. IDW's Kelvin Timeline adaptation of "Where No Man Has Gone Before" incorporated a little bit more backstory, but it played out pretty much the same way as the episode. Mitchell had more stuff to do in IDW's Mission's End, which was a nice surprise. Here, I feel like the results are mixed and in between, which may be fitting seeing as how Mitchell is between worlds and has to let go so that he may stay dead.
"The Mirror Cracked" is a sequel to "Mirror, Mirror." I'd say that this is my least favorite in the collection since it's more of the same. And "Time's Echo" seemed to have shamelessly stolen the premise of DS9 episode "Children of Time," which also dealt with future descendants of the show's crew who end up not existing when a crash is prevented. "Sweet Sorrow," though short it may be, was a compelling explanation for why Janice Rand disappears from the series. Her ex-fiance Andrew Calloway has suffered an illness during a mission and ends up on artificial life support, so she has to leave the Enterprise to take care of him.
Overall, an interesting read. A bit could have been more original, but of course this is a photonovel.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 28, 2024
2 Stars may seem a little mean. Like I am not giving it enough credit. It may reflect my own prejudices about the format rather than the qualities of the writing. Let me explain.....
So this comic is created out of old stock photos and where necessary new photos super imposed in old scenes. I can see the reason for doing it as the original cast were cool, the tech now has a retro feel like those brilliant Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials and who doesnt want to see more adventures of the original crew.
The stories are well written, at first I wondered why they were just redoing classic episodes but they were not. These were new tales, some based on episodes but new tales none the less.
My problems with the format are several fold:-
- I associate photo stories with rubbish magazines from the 70s and those dreadful photo agony columns.
- The TV series was limited by its budget and the special effects at the time. Comics are not so the tales are held back by the lack of epic, huge scale images.
- Still photos do not get the emotional range of a good artist.
- Photos restrain the character and personality of both the artist and the writer of a comic. They do them an injustice.
On the positive side:-
- Its the original crew and they certainly look like them.
- The writing is good and feels like the classic series.
- Its John Byrne, whats not to like about anything he writes.
- It was readable.
I will read another volume of this to see if the format grows on me. If it does and it turns out that the above view is just my inner prejudice I will come back and up it by a star but right now, while not awful, the volume felt shacked and weakened by the choice of format.
So this comic is created out of old stock photos and where necessary new photos super imposed in old scenes. I can see the reason for doing it as the original cast were cool, the tech now has a retro feel like those brilliant Buster Crabbe Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers serials and who doesnt want to see more adventures of the original crew.
The stories are well written, at first I wondered why they were just redoing classic episodes but they were not. These were new tales, some based on episodes but new tales none the less.
My problems with the format are several fold:-
- I associate photo stories with rubbish magazines from the 70s and those dreadful photo agony columns.
- The TV series was limited by its budget and the special effects at the time. Comics are not so the tales are held back by the lack of epic, huge scale images.
- Still photos do not get the emotional range of a good artist.
- Photos restrain the character and personality of both the artist and the writer of a comic. They do them an injustice.
On the positive side:-
- Its the original crew and they certainly look like them.
- The writing is good and feels like the classic series.
- Its John Byrne, whats not to like about anything he writes.
- It was readable.
I will read another volume of this to see if the format grows on me. If it does and it turns out that the above view is just my inner prejudice I will come back and up it by a star but right now, while not awful, the volume felt shacked and weakened by the choice of format.
June 14, 2014
This was awesome and a fantastic follow up to the original episode "Mirror, Mirror." I liked it so much I got added to the list for the future issues.
July 22, 2015
Interesting concept: taking the idea of the fotonovels of the 70s and creating...with some digital magic of today...new stories
January 22, 2017
A fun alternate look into the Trek universe.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews