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Star Trek: The John Byrne Collection
Comics legend John Byrne brings new form to the Star Trek universe in this collection of tales from the final frontier. Includes Alien Spotlight: Romulans, Assignment: Earth, Romulans: Balance of Terror, Romulans: The Hollow Crown, Crew, Romulans: Schism, and Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor.
488 pages, Paperback
First published April 9, 2013
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About the author
John Byrne
2,954 books359 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 - 15 of 15 reviews
February 3, 2017
A good Star Trek GN. Fun stories featuring the Romulans, The Original Number 1, and Dr. McCoy. One small complaint about the book itself. The binding is absolute shit. First time the book has been opened and you can feel it start coming apart. No bueno.
May 6, 2019
I am a fan of all things Star Trek but this was my first Star Trek graphic novel & first John Byrne book. While it took place in the Star Trek universe, the characters didn't include the crews we all know. The stories were good though & I enjoyed reading this.
December 14, 2015
I have often had a love/hate relationship with John Byrne with his handling of both Superman and Wonder Woman, but I've got nothing to complain about when it comes to his understanding of "Star Trek". These stories are great, and even the casual fan will love them.
September 30, 2023
Byrne was part of the original generation of Star Trek fandom, watching it as a teenager who grew up studying at the altar of comic books and science fiction of the 1960s. His love and knowledge of this era's art is genuine. Byrne was from the generation of creators who knew that this stuff was important and tried to make it clear to the rest of the world that it was just as important as the fans always believed. The fans that Byrne influenced went on to become creators who did just that, making nerd persecution a thing of the past. Nerds are now free to be themselves in public.
I don't know what's what here, as I am a casual Trek fan. Time travel has always been a pet theme for Byrne, and he uses Gary Seven from a single episode of the original series to pepper throughout the various series, giving them a common thread. Star Trek: Assignment Earth is a lot of fun, with Byrne exploring what could have happened if Roddenberry's spin-off series had been greenlit.
My favorite issues in this book were Star Trek: Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor, a fantastic set of tales which take place after the original series somewhere near the first movie. I am not a Trek expert but could follow the stories here easily enough.
I don't know what's what here, as I am a casual Trek fan. Time travel has always been a pet theme for Byrne, and he uses Gary Seven from a single episode of the original series to pepper throughout the various series, giving them a common thread. Star Trek: Assignment Earth is a lot of fun, with Byrne exploring what could have happened if Roddenberry's spin-off series had been greenlit.
My favorite issues in this book were Star Trek: Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor, a fantastic set of tales which take place after the original series somewhere near the first movie. I am not a Trek expert but could follow the stories here easily enough.
June 7, 2018
John Byrne did some great stories, set at the fringes of the Trek universe.
I loved Asignment Earth and really wish he'd do a sequel. So much fun.
'Crew' was a worthy prequel to TOS, much better then Enterprise.
Frontier Doctor is the only one featuring someone from a main cast and it was great to see McCoy in solo action.
The Romulon stuff is my least favorite, not bad, just not the biggest fan of political intrigue.
I loved Asignment Earth and really wish he'd do a sequel. So much fun.
'Crew' was a worthy prequel to TOS, much better then Enterprise.
Frontier Doctor is the only one featuring someone from a main cast and it was great to see McCoy in solo action.
The Romulon stuff is my least favorite, not bad, just not the biggest fan of political intrigue.
March 18, 2024
This was disappointing. Most of the stories were about Seven.
July 6, 2015
While I am not a huge Star Trek: The Original Series fan I did enjoy these stories. My biggest complaint is that they tended to move along too quickly so I never felt like I got to know, or care about, just about most of the characters. While John Bynre is somewhat controversial within the comic book world, his art and storytelling ability are still top notch. Except for the last series, the main Star Trek characters aren't the focus and rarely appear.
in chronological order, the first series included in the volume would be 'Assignment Earth,' which follows Gary Seven, a character from one TV episode. I wanted to like these stories more than I did, but I felt like they fell short.
The second one follows Number One from the original pilot episode through her Starfleet career leading up to the pilot episode.
The next series focuses on the Romulons, filling in back stories and some holes from TV episodes.
last series focuses on Dr McCoy between the TV series and the first movie.
Byrne has some story elements and characters that bridge the multiple series and tie some of the plots together. A couple of the individual issues were real standouts, rivaling some TV episodes in ideas.
This is worth reading if you are a fan of John Byrne, or Star Trek - especially the Original Series. If you aren't at least familiar with the Star Trek universe, I am not sure how much you will enjoy this.
in chronological order, the first series included in the volume would be 'Assignment Earth,' which follows Gary Seven, a character from one TV episode. I wanted to like these stories more than I did, but I felt like they fell short.
The second one follows Number One from the original pilot episode through her Starfleet career leading up to the pilot episode.
The next series focuses on the Romulons, filling in back stories and some holes from TV episodes.
last series focuses on Dr McCoy between the TV series and the first movie.
Byrne has some story elements and characters that bridge the multiple series and tie some of the plots together. A couple of the individual issues were real standouts, rivaling some TV episodes in ideas.
This is worth reading if you are a fan of John Byrne, or Star Trek - especially the Original Series. If you aren't at least familiar with the Star Trek universe, I am not sure how much you will enjoy this.
November 7, 2016
Great stories! I am a fan of Star Trek the original series as well as Mr. Byrne, though this is the most ample selection of his work i recall in the last ten years. Creator and material are well-suited.
Byrne amplifies characters that seem minor into major players, effectively. The best of these is the crew person known only as "Number One," from the original pilot episode, played by Majel Barrett, wife of creator Gene Roddenberry. Her career rises and expands, here, without ever knowing her full name! There is even a scene in which this character meets Nurse Christine Chapel, also played onscreen by Barrett.
You also get Gary Seven and friends expanding upon the "Assignment Earth" pilot storyline.
But better than this is Byrne's elongated portrayal of the Romulans, including some nice set pieces between them, Klingons, and the Federation. Because Byrne is inking his own pencil art, as well as writing, the fabrics and textiles of the Romulan upper class come to graphic life on the printed page.
Recommended.
Byrne amplifies characters that seem minor into major players, effectively. The best of these is the crew person known only as "Number One," from the original pilot episode, played by Majel Barrett, wife of creator Gene Roddenberry. Her career rises and expands, here, without ever knowing her full name! There is even a scene in which this character meets Nurse Christine Chapel, also played onscreen by Barrett.
You also get Gary Seven and friends expanding upon the "Assignment Earth" pilot storyline.
But better than this is Byrne's elongated portrayal of the Romulans, including some nice set pieces between them, Klingons, and the Federation. Because Byrne is inking his own pencil art, as well as writing, the fabrics and textiles of the Romulan upper class come to graphic life on the printed page.
Recommended.
May 3, 2013
As a comics fan, I've always liked John Byrne's art. This graphic novel collect seven issues of his run on Star Trek at IDW, and although my review copy only included the first issue, I can confidently review this book based on past experience with Mr. Byrne's work. He is that consistent.
The lines are clean, the characters familiar and iconic, and the skies are filled with a bewildering array of stars (how did he draw all those stars?). The crafty Romulans are deploying a new ship with a warp drive and they have an unusual ally in their quest to dominate the galaxy.
Even after all these years, and thanks to J. J. Abrams reboot of the series, the franchise continues to be strong with fans, and they will not be disappointed with this collection.
The lines are clean, the characters familiar and iconic, and the skies are filled with a bewildering array of stars (how did he draw all those stars?). The crafty Romulans are deploying a new ship with a warp drive and they have an unusual ally in their quest to dominate the galaxy.
Even after all these years, and thanks to J. J. Abrams reboot of the series, the franchise continues to be strong with fans, and they will not be disappointed with this collection.
March 28, 2013
John Byrne has always been one of my favorite comic book artists of all time. I used to buy any comic book that came out with him as the penciler. His artwork has very crisp and almost realistic features and his action scenes leaves nothing to the imagination. This collection also showed his storytelling prowess, which is definitely a bonus.
May 22, 2013
I was provided the first chapter of this graphic novel collection. It takes place during the TOS era and shows some behind-the-scenes action in Romulan space. I liked that is showed more about the cloaking devices that were so prevalent in TOS. The Klingons were cool to see as well.
I'll give this one chapter a 3/5 and I look forward to checking out the graphic novel when it is released.
I'll give this one chapter a 3/5 and I look forward to checking out the graphic novel when it is released.
July 1, 2016
Excellent collection of stories that connected to one Story arc based on a classic Trek episode. You have to read it for yourself. Other characters like Gary Seven, Dr. McCoy, and Number One from the classic pilot "The Cage" that introduced Star Trek to the world get the spotlight. This is an excellent way to celebrate Star Trek's 50th anniversary and preparation for the upcoming film.
July 8, 2017
John Byrne, a fabulous writer and artist and long time Trek nerd (I don't know if he is a Trekkie or Trekker) has written and drawn an epic of sorts of TOS Trek that ties in some wonderful Easter Eggs, homage and plot points from a modern master of comics.
Also it's a shame that some of his ideas aren't implemented into Trek canon.
Also it's a shame that some of his ideas aren't implemented into Trek canon.
November 4, 2013
‘Star Trek: The John Byrne Collection’ is a fantastic volume that every John Byrne and ‘Star Trek’ fan should have and enjoy.
Read the full review at PopMythology.com
Read the full review at PopMythology.com
August 10, 2016
Decent work by Mr. Byrne. He did seem rather obsessed with the character of No. 1 from the original Star Trek premiere, which he never did give a name in any of his stories. I've always been a fan of John's work, but I hate when he inks his own stuff. He needs an inker.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews