9 Star Trek Story Threads Continued In Non-TV Formats
5. Comic Thread - Assignment: Earth
Comics offer a great deal of flexibility as another medium to enjoy the continuation of TOS. There have been a number of attempts by publishers in the past: Gold Key had a run in the seventies; DC picked up the original Trek franchise characters in the 80's but more recently, IDW Publishing has picked up the challenge and has been releasing titles that not only reflect some awesome material that was not exploited back in the days of the original series, but also utilizes incredible talent from the comic industry, like the legendary John Byrne. In 2008, IDW released a mini-series of stories titled Star Trek: Assignment Earth, after the TOS episode "Assignment: Earth". All Trekkies worth their salt will remember this episode as a pilot project for another possible Roddenberry series that didn't take off. Again another unfortunate storyline that would never be seen on television. The premise was based on the adventures of an agent named Gary Seven, human, but trained by benevolent aliens who saw that Earth had potential and were willing to influence its development to more positive ambitions. Another interesting side-note was that this was actress, Terri Garr's first TV appearance. Byrne is known as an exceptional artist, but he is also one of the few artists who can write as well as draw comics. He scripted a series of stories that captured the essence of the original premise of the failed TV series and re-imagined it for the entertainment of die-hard Trek fans as well as introducing it to other generations.
John Kirk is a Teacher-Librarian and currently a History/English Teacher with the Toronto District School Board.
But mostly, John teaches Geek.
Comics, Sci-Fi (Notably Star Trek), Fantasy and Role-Playing and table-top games all make up part of John’s repertoire, There is a whole generation of nerds-in-embryo who rely on him to make sense of it all, to teach that with great power comes great responsibility, that the force will be with us always and that a towel IS the most useful thing to have in one’s possession.
When John isn’t in the classroom, he can be found in his basement writing comic reviews for www.popmythology.com and features for Roddenberry Entertainment's www.1701news.com.
Byrne is known as an exceptional artist, but he is also one of the few artists who can write as well as draw comics. He scripted a series of stories that captured the essence of the original premise of the failed TV series and re-imagined it for the entertainment of die-hard Trek fans as well as introducing it to other generations.