Villordsutch reviews Star Trek: Harlan Ellison’s City on the Edge of Forever #5…
The final act of Harlan Ellison’s Hugo and WGA Award-winning Star Trek teleplay! Is James T. Kirk willing to sacrifice the woman he loves, to save the universe as he knows it?! You may have seen the episode, but you only think you know how it ends! From the mind of literary legend Harlan Ellison!
Here we are at the final chapter of the comic book translation of Harlan Ellison’s The City on the Edge of Forever and it is going to be extremely sad to see this short serial go. In five months I have witnessed quite possibly the greatest Star Trek comic book series ever fly by and I’m glad I had the chance to review it. With that in mind I take to our final chapter and for those who remember the show they will know how this ends.
As Kirk approaches a disabled beggar with a sign around his neck which reads, “I fought at Verdun”, he barters for information about Beckwith and discovers where he’s been seen hanging around at night. With that Kirk spends the evening with Edith and lost in thought, he realises he’s fallen in love and tells her so. Leaving Edith lost for words, Kirk meets up with Spock and our chase to capture Beckwith begins as the disabled beggar has found their target. With Spock worried about other time-lines being altered if Beckwith kills anybody with his phaser, Kirk insists the beggar stay back; however in an act of heroism he leaps in front of Kirk and is struck dead by the phaser fire. As our issue plays out Edith is run down, but not before Beckwith attempts to rescue Edith from her violent fate, which troubles Spock as he queries the strange the actions of human nature and Beckwith with Kirk in the closing panels. This final chapter is a bitter ending for Kirk – we knew it was going to be and this comic delivers it beautifully.
We all could be paying for this comic for fan service alone and just buying it for storing it away’s sake – never to be read – but this issue (and every issue before it of course) shows why you shouldn’t. From the word go I was smiling at the first page with a sly smirk with the “I fought at Verdun” sign, which continued to plague Kirk throughout the comic; I always disliked Starfleet officers’ amazing recollection of history and here it fails them. Harlan, along with Scott, David and J.K., have delivered another excellent episode in this comic book series.
We all knew beforehand that City on the Edge of Forever was a great episode and I had a bit of trepidation when I heard that Scott and David Tipton where to bring it to a comic book format, not because of the skills you understand, but a wonder if it would work. They did make it work – wonderfully so – and with the amazing artistic skills of J.K. Woodward this series shone and it will continue to shine for many years to come.
In January 2015 IDW Publishing are set release this series as a hardcover collection and if you’re going to by one Star Trek book in 2015 make sure it’s amazing, and make sure it’s City on the Edge of Forever.
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.
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Originally published November 12, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
