The Space Between-‘History Lesson’
Written by David Tischman
Drawn by Casey Maloney
IDW’s first entry into the thorny world of STAR TREK comics embraces all the difficulties inherent in bringing the series to comics and makes them strengths. A one-off story set during the first season of The Next Generation, it’s both a very familiar style of story and an unusually intelligent, to say nothing of dark, entry in the TREK canon.
The Enterprise is sent to Tigan, a world petitioning for entry into the Federation to assess their suitability. Riker, Yar and Data beam down and are met by Chancellor Lomac, the planetary leader. Tigan is idyllic and it’s inhabitants are all linked to a central computer network allowing instantaneous transfer of information. All is going well into something knocks the Enterprise out of orbit and suddenly, the Away Team find themselves as the only people who can remember Chancellor Lomac. How personal should history be? How close can a society get? And what happens when history can be edited with the push of a button?
Tischman’s script nails every major character beat of the NEXT GEN cast, from Geordi’s first season exuberance to Data’s cautious, slightly fearful approach to new information. Everyone gets a moment in the sun here and the traditional format of ‘Ship in jeopardy/Away team in more jeopardy’ allows Tischman to use every character well. The inhabitants of Tigan are equally nuanced and the eventual reveal on why they’re acting the way they are is perfect science fiction; a fantastical element married to something mundane and all too personal.
Backed up by Casey Maloney’s expressive, brawny artwork this knocks it out of the park. Not just good STAR TREK but good science fiction, this is a great debut in the TREK universe for IDW and completely deserving of your time.
Alasdair started writing when he was nine, powered by a hefty diet of '80s cartoons, Doctor Who and Icepops. He's quite tired by this stage but has written a lot of things for a lot of people, including Fortean Times, Neo and Surreal.