Villordsutch reviews Star Trek: Harlan Ellison’s City on the Edge of Forever #2…
Harlan Ellison’s WGA Award-winning teleplay, visualized for the first time! Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and Yeoman Rand return to the Enterprise following their first encounter with the Guardians of Forever, only to find a darker, more vicious crew of renegades awaiting them! Can they return the timestream to its proper state? And will they even survive long enough to try?
I can’t recall a recent comic book that I have such pleasure in taking my time in reading and absorbing so much as I have with the two issues of City on the Edge of Forever so far (issue One review is here). My stall is obviously set out in front of you here and you can see that this review for issue #2 is going to be a positive one, but there is no point keeping it as the big reveal and letting it all out now will just help this article flow much easier.
I am also honestly considering, if they release it, purchasing the graphic novel of the comics combined. I know it sounds odd as I’m currently in the process of reading the comics and I’m only actually hitting the second issue out of five issue series, but already I’m hooked on what the Tiptons, Woodward and of course Ellison are giving to us – plus these are preview digital editions and I want the real thing in my hand. The Tiptons (Scott and David) are, to me, seamlessly weaving Harlan’s original teleplay into the Trek history via this comic book medium; it’s exciting, it’s brilliant, and it’s just perfect. And to make this comic even shine that bit more the art from J.K. Woodward is truly fantastic; with time and care given to each page of this important piece of Star Trek history, it hasn’t taken a step wrong.
We get to see, in this issue, something rather brilliant which was missing from the original episode as the crew of the Enterprise all beam back to the ship from the planet. It is here we discover the Enterprise isn’t the Enterprise, but a ship called the “Condor”. The Condor crew have the appearance of the Klingons’ poor cousins, scared faces, shabby fur coats and huge bazooka type phaser weapons (rather poor at opening transporter room doors, however). After a rather brutal scrap Kirk decides he needs to make his case with the Guardians to see if he can go back and fix the past. With a room full of Red Shirt security he tasks Yeoman Rand to hold the Transporter Bay; the stare she returns to his order is perfect for a person ready to stand their ground. Kirk and Spock leave for the planet and beg the Guardians to return to the past and fix whatever Beckwith did to alter the future so drastically, which as we know they allow.
A fantastic issue and a series that you all really need to be reading and also keeping. If you’re buying one comic this week it’s this one.
For those that missed it Flickering Myth recently caught up and interview J.K. Woodward and Scott Tipton about the City on the Edge of Forever comic book release and the interview can be found here.
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
Originally published July 23, 2014. Updated April 12, 2018.
