COMIC REVIEW - Star Trek: Debt Of Honor (1992 DC Comics One-Shot)

Written by Chris Claremont

Art by Adam Hughes and Karl Story

So this is an interesting little beast; a Star Trek movie-era one-shot story published in a prestigious hardcover graphic novel from DC Comics that is basically an excuse to give you as many callbacks, winks, and nods as you could possibly fit within 90+ pages of comic book. To the layman with no clue about Star Trek, this means very little, but to the hardcore Trekkie out there, Debt Of Honor references so many things, features so many guest characters including those who have only been spotlighted in a single episode of Star Trek, and makes so many callbacks to past moments and eras that it almost overwhelms the entire book. It's usually the worst kind of thing when so many callbacks are made and the whole thing coasts on nostalgia that it detracts from the overall product.

And yet the funny thing about Debt Of Honor is that these nods aren't just quite little things. Some of them contribute quite a bit to the overall story, which has quite a few layers to it. Captain Kirk, commanding the second ship to bare the name U.S.S. Enterprise, still feels guilt over the loss of the previous Enterprise, and is about to partake in a mission to take on a menace from his past. What follows is a story that bounces between present day and flashbacks, which touch in a number of eras. From Kirk's days on the Farragut to the five-year mission and even The Motion Picture and its dull gray uniforms gets some love.

Complimenting the superb storytelling and writing is the wonderful art. Everything looks like what it's supposed to; none of the ships depicted have weird proportions or anything of the sort. There's a genuine effort in some cases to have the characters somewhat resemble the actors who portrayed them. Though it is funny seeing Kor depicted as he appeared in "Errand Of Mercy", considering that DS9 would bring the character back and give the modern Klingon look. This came out before that was a thing, so that's not an intentional mistake... but it is funny.

Debt Of Honor is one of the few Star Trek graphic novels that I still have laying around and is one that I often go back to every now and then. It's a damned fine book with the perfect balance between fan service and solid storytelling; one that anyone working in a popular franchise should strive to achieve. This gets my highest recommendation.