Review: Star Trek #12

The Truth About Tribbles Part 2

Writer: Mike Johnson

Artist: Claudia Balboni

The Enterprise crew must find a way to stop the tribbles before they cover the Earth…

Like the first part, this takes its cues from various parts of the tribble mythos from the prime timeline as created by David Gerrold without directly copying anything. The solution to the problem is different – and some of the facts we learn about tribbles are new, but fit within the parameters of the creatures known to date – and at last we get confirmation that Spock Prime is keeping his nose well and truly out of events in the new timeline.

Mike Johnson gets a very TOS banter between the characters while still staying true to the slightly different versions of the crew – some of Scotty’s asides are definitely Simon Pegg’s incarnation rather than James Doohan’s – and the relationship between Uhura and the command crew is noticeably more friendly. (Can you really imagine Nichelle Nichols calling Spock, Kirk, Chekov and Scotty “boys”? Yet here it works even if there are shades of Amy Pond with the Doctor and Rory.)

The art is spot-on, and may give a clue about Rand’s appearance in the second film, if it’s accurate to the actress playing her…

Verdict: A successful reinterpretation: if we must have reworked stories, like this please, rather than rewriting the history of the Federation before the timeline split. 8/10

Paul Simpson