Villordsutch reviews Star Trek: New Visions #4 – “Made Out of Mudd”…
John Byrne continues his new Star Trek photonovel adventures with “Made Out of Mudd” – Harry Mudd has gotten under Jim Kirk’s skin before, but never quite like this… alien artifacts, Klingons, and a mad man’s schemes add up to headaches for the Captain and his crew. All that, plus Tribbles!!
We’re at issue #4 of John Byrne’s Star Trek “photonovel” run and for those not up to speed on what a photonovel actually is, it’s where John Byrne has been painstaking collecting individual images of old Trek which he then manipulates on his computer into a comic book format, delivering a brand new Trek tale – or two – every couple of months. On paper this is a rather cool sounding idea, it reminds you of old Christmas Annuals where episodes were captured and relayed in this fashion; however that’s on paper.
In this issue w’ere given two stories and a teaser, with our first tale dealing with Harry Mudd being genetically manipulated to look like Kirk thanks too a devious revenge plot from a besmirched Captain of the Starship Exeter and some Klingons. We also have a follow-up fluff story involving a Klingon Tribble hunting party. Neither tale fails to raise any interest whatsoever in the reader and it becomes nothing more than a chore as you plough into this story. The upsetting thing is the preview of “A Scent of Ghosts” – coming in Issue #5 – with its two pages actually caught my interest more than the entire comic.
The really heart-breaking thing in this comic is the signs that John Byrne is no longer placing the time or patience into producing these comics to an acceptable standard. It’s becoming more and more apparent that certain scenes seem to be nothing more than CTRL+C and CTRL+V; the blending of heads is sometimes off, as well as the individual panels and the use of blur is horribly applied. The list of issues in the comic is quite long. The problem is we know that John Byrne is an expert in his field, and I can only assume that the time limit he has set to release these comics upon himself is to short; I’d be more than happy to wait a month or two more and in-turn receive a better standard of comic, one which I could sing the praises for rather than instead having to sit here and berate it.
I can’t really recommend picking this issue up, I’m sorry to say, as both the story and the artwork in the issue are not worth the price on the front of the cover.
Villordsutch likes his sci-fi and looks like a tubby Viking according to his children. Visit his website and follow him on Twitter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?list=PL18yMRIfoszFJHnpNzqHh6gswQ0Srpi5E&v=zzYUW1bfw34&feature=player_embedded
Originally published December 10, 2014. Updated April 13, 2018.
