In February of 1984, DC Comics began publishing an ongoing Star Trek series set directly after the events in The Wrath of Khan. In this continuity, Kirk is given command of the Enterprise and the mission begins anew in much the same manner as the original series. This initial ongoing Trek DC series was unique insofar as it was continuously published as more Trek films came along.
The writers of the comic book series dealt with the death of Spock, the destruction of the Enterprise, and the crew turning into outlaws by taking some big chances; even larger than the ones occurring on film. Here are some of the strange new worlds you probably missed.
A Klingon in Starfleet Years Before Worf
Right from issue #1, the ongoing DC Star Trek series was in a tough spot. Spock had died in the most recent movie, splitting the holy trinity of Kirk/Spock/McCoy. Saavik was brought onboard to replace him as the resident Vulcan, but that could not restore the dynamic that the three principal characters, and the series itself, was known for.
In general, the comic didn’t seem quite sure what to do with everyone, and it quickly became apparent in the series that writer Mike W. Barr was not intending on working with the character dynamics that were already present. Towards this end, he introduced new side characters, all of which would prove to be long-running and essential members of the crew.
The most interesting of these was a Klingon named Konom who, after defecting to the Federation, became an honorary member of Starfleet. Keep in mind that at this point the only “new” Klingons we’d seen on creen were from The Motion Picture, meaning Konom was not only sporting a movie-era Starfleet uniform, but also rocking the “lobster” forehead.
When Peter David started writing for the comic in 1988, Konom was given an adopted Klingon son named Bernie. (There is some speculation that a Klingon in the Peter David penned TNG era novel Strike Zone, is an adult version of Bernie.) Konom also had a romance with a human Starfleet officer named Nancy Bryce, who he eventually married. (Konam’s bachelor party pictured right.)
Did Gene Roddenberry read the Star Trek comics prior to The Next Generation? Konom was far from a guest star, so it certainly seems possible that the character of Worf was at least partially inspired by Konam. Interestingly, Kirk is still buddies with Konom after the incidents in Star Trek III, making Kirk seem a little less like a bigot than he comes across in the films. In fact, on the whole, the Kirk of these comic books is a more enlightened, calmer, peace-seeking guy than he is in any other incarnation.
In addition to Nancy and Konom, there was also a crew member named Bearclaw, who despite having a kickass name, was kind of an asshole. All of these characters would hang out with Kirk; even following him to the Enterprise-A. Sadly, the comics underwent a retcon in 1989, which means we never got to see what role Konom might have played on the outskirts of the events of Star Trek VI. How would Gorkon and Chang reacted to the presence of a pacifistic Klingon Starfleet officer?
Kirk as the Captain of the Excelsior
Spock coming back from the dead and the Enterprise blowing up were just minor setbacks to the DC Star Trek comic series. The comic writers worked around the movie continuity as a rule, even as more movies came along.
In Star Trek IV, Sulu makes a joke about the crew getting assigned to the Excelsior, but in the comic book, it actually happened. Kirk, Bones, Saavik, Sulu, Chekov, Konom, and even M’Ress and Arex from the Animated Series, all transferred to the Excelsior. The writers looked on the bright side of all the tragic events of the films. Spock’s dead, you say? Who cares! We’ll get Saavik; she’s younger and a girl! The Enterprise got blown up? That’s fine, there’s this new ship that is way bigger and slicker anyway.
Starfleet didn’t exactly hand Kirk the keys after blowing up the Enterprise, however. Instead, Kirk and friends are forced to start flying the Excelsior around to help thwart an invasion from the Mirror Universe.
There’s a bit of a fake-out moment here, where it seems like the recently destroyed Enterprise is just going to get replaced by the Mirror Universe Enterprise, but it doesn’t end up happening. Instead, while in command of the Excelsior, Kirk has to shoot up the bizarro Enterprise in order to save the day. Between the Reliant fighting the Enterprise, the Enterprise running away from the Excelsior, and then this throw down, it seems like Starfleet on Starfleet action was the standard of Trekmovie-era space battles.
Remember how Spock’s brain was all messed up at the end of Star Trek III? Turns out mind-melding with the mirror-Spock made him all better, so much so that he was given command of a science vessel called the Surak. Meanwhile, Kirk tricks Starfleet into not court martialing everyone for their law-breaking ways by exploiting his celebrity status to 23rd century media. He tells a reporter that the crew saved the galaxy from the mirror universe, so everyone should just love him. Starfleet gets nervous about the popularity of Kirk and his crew, so they give him the Excelsior. In a way, this is exactly the same reason why Kirk wasn’t punished in Star Trek IV: he saved the planet.
When Star Trek IV came out, the comic book 
took the Excelsior away from Kirk and the crew, stuck them back on the Bird of Prey, and had Spock go crazy again because of an exposure to some kooky virus. The cover of the issue in which a lot of these events unfold, declares “Back to Vulcan!” in big letters.
Non-Non Canon
After the release of Star Trek V, all of this continuity ceased to exist in Star Trek comics, as DC rebooted the series and set it back to issue #1. From that day forward, there was no Konom and no references to hanging out on the Excelsior, essentially rendering already non-canonical comics even more non-canonical. (Non-non-canonical? Humpbacked? People?) It’s a shame, too, because a lot of the character stuff from these comics was exactly in keeping with the kinds of small stories Star Trek could occasionally tell. Sure, it probably wasn’t realistic that Starfleet would let Kirk get away with all the crap he was doing, and it’s hard to believe they’d also be okay with Konom, but there’s something charming about these comics.
Although DC continued to publish solid Star Trek stories after 1989, the first run of these comics was an era of experimentation and fun. If you’re a Trekkie, you probably would have caught yourself smiling during every issue.
Ryan Britt is the staff writer for Tor.com. As a kid, he was so confused as to why Bearclaw was a person and not a delicious breakfast snack.
Really enjoyed reading this post; very interesting subject (at least to those of us who are old enough to remember these comics!) written in a thoroughly entertaining style. Many thanks!
I thought Arex and M’Ress did not rejoin the crew until after Star Trek IV.
In one issue of the Mirror Invasion saga I had a letter published in the comic.
This was a really great of Trek comics. The writers had a lot of freedom to do what they wanted at that time.
Unfortunately, after The Next Generation came out, the powers at Paramount were more restrictive on what you could do in the books in the comics.
I do not think there has ever been a Trek series as good as this one.
I love these comics (along with the Star Trek novels of the ’70s and ’80s) because it’s fun to see what tie-in writers made of the Star Trek Universe before they had quite so much continuity to draw from. 79 episodes and 2 feature films aren’t really that much to draw from, and it’s amazing to see the creative things writers could come up with when there was so much more open to interpretation and Paramount was trying so hard to protect a brand.
My favorite story in this series was Annual #3 — a story by Peter David that gives Scotty a wife and a life story that spans the original series. It’s a wonderful story that I highly recommend, and it was recently collected in an IDW Best of Peter David trade paperback, so it’s easy to find. This type of Star Trek story just can’t be published anymore. Too much is known about these characters, and Paramount is too protective.
While I really enjoyed these when they were coming cout, the one Trek comic series I enjoyed the most was Star Trek: Early voyages, set about 10 years before TOS, and under the command of Christopher Pike. The series only ran about a year and a half from 1997 to 98, but it was a lot of fun (and so much less canon to violate!).
Thanks for the memories. I read the comic during the timeframe you describe. I remember Konom, Nancy, and Bernie vaguely. I think I tossed these comics in the 90s or 2000s which I rather dearly regret now. I remember the comic series as a lot of fun.
I loved these comics…they were a lot of fun, and they did get a lot of the small character moments right, such as one moment when Kirk and company are being transported somewhere as prisoners or something, and the ship they’re on is attacked; as the ship lurches about, McCoy says something like, “What’s going on? It feels like Jim’s driving!” Of course, there was also some gonzo stuff, like Kirk telling a reporter what he’s been up to, so when the reporter reports it in the Federation News or whatever, Starfleet Command is surrounded by picketers holding up placards reading “Keep Kirk!”
There’s also a wonderful Harry Mudd story that has yet another computer-gone-awry; Kirk’s first attempt to deal with this is his tried-and-true “talk it into a logical contradiction” strategy for computers-gone-awry, but the computer just says, “Poor baby.” And then there was their version of the Enterprise crew’s first mission together, which unfortunately came out right around when Vonda McIntyre’s novel “Enterprise” came out.
It was a really fun take on Trek, though.
Agreed; I loved these stories, and admired and respected the effort to make the comics continuity work with canon material, even when the plots turned ridiculous. The writers did things that could never have worked in other media incarnations, and they had fun with the characters. Thanks for the trip down memory (alpha) lane!
One of my favorite Star Trek stories of all time and in all media happened during this run. I have the comic somewhere and haven’t read it in years, but I remember the story vividly. I think it was an annual entitled “All Those Years Ago.” The crew is on the Excelsior, Spock is on the Surak, and he comes over to visit with Kirk. They reminisce about the old days, and we see how Kirk gets command of the Enterprise. There’s his meeting with Pike, who selected him to replace him, and his first meetings with Scotty (which is hilarious, as Scotty doesn’t care for Kirk at first) and of course, his first meeting with Spock.
Pike gives Kirk a ceremonial sword at the change of command ceremony. The scene touched me then and still gives me chills to think about. I was hoping these new Star Trek films would have a scene like this, but alas, they went another direction entirely.
I read the other issues of this series as well. They were a wonderful fix of Trek inbetween movies. I highly recommend picking them up.
Bernie (formerly known as Moron) was most definitely Ambassador Kobry in the TNG novel “Strike Zone”. Ko-bry salutes his adoptive parents from the Enterprise, KOnom the Klingon and Nancy BRYce.
And yeah, Filmation’s Arex and M’Ress joined the Enterprise-A for the post-ST IV comic adventures. When Series II started (post-ST V), M’Ress was ordered to be redrawn as antelope-horned M’yra and poor ol’ Arex (whom Peter David wanted to move across to Security in the revamped comic) was replaced by Ensign Fouton.
When David started using timeslipped Arex and M’Ress in his 24th century “New Frontier” novels, Arex did indeed move across to Security.
Thank you for this article. I used to catch a bus into the city every month to buy the new ST comic. I LOVED this series and followed it eagerly. GREAT memories of mid teenage years in a simpler and far easier time.