Other Treks: The Ashes of Eden
Writers: William Shatner with Judith Reeves-Stevens & Garfield Reeves-Stevens
Artists: Steve Erwin (pencils) & Jimmy Palmiotti (inks)
Welcome to another edition of Other Treks. This month, I’m covering a comic that I have some very mixed feelings about.
The 1990s were arguably the Golden Age of Star Trek, at least in my opinion. In 1991, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, my personal favorite Trek movie, gave us the swan song of the TOS cast. Meanwhile, The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine were firing on all eight cylinders, with Voyager joining the lineup in the middle of the decade. The novels, comics, video games, and collectibles were all being cranked out at an incredible pace.
It was AWESOME!
Then, in May of 1995, we got a comic book written by William Shatner, along with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. It tells the story of Captain Kirk after the events of The Undiscovered Country and serves as a final adventure for Kirk as he comes to terms with his new lot in life. Age is finally forcing him to gain a different perspective on his position in Starfleet and what his future should be.
And that is probably where some of my mixed feelings about the story come from.
I don’t know if I’m qualified to argue with William Shatner about how Captain Kirk would handle retirement, but Kirk’s reaction to the events and motivations of the story just never felt quite right to me.
The story picks up not too long after the events of The Undiscovered Country. The Enterprise-A has been ordered to return to Earth to be decommissioned, and Kirk’s mindset is somewhat similar to what we saw in Star Trek II, only with the volume turned way up. Adding to his uneasiness is a Starfleet Academy rival in the vein of Finnegan, except this one isn’t harmless. He is on his way to becoming the new Commander in Chief of Starfleet.
Kirk sees the writing on the wall and decides that he wants to retire. He doesn’t want to become an instructor, and he doesn’t want to be mothballed himself.
Enter the people of Chal, a planet that may possess the secret to extended life and has a history of military success against its enemies. Unfortunately for them, their location near Klingon space makes them a tempting target. The Klingons want what Chal has, as do the Romulans—and, of course, Kirk’s old Starfleet Academy rival has his own interest in the situation.
On paper, this sounds like pretty standard Star Trek fare. And, for the most part, it is.
Going into the story, you pretty much know that Kirk is going to triumph, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The problem I have is how easily Kirk seems to retire, and then how quickly he becomes involved with the young woman from Chal, who is clearly manipulating him and playing directly into his ego.
Even when I first read this in 1995, I found that relationship a little creepy. Spock, McCoy, and some of the other characters even comment on the fact that she could practically be Kirk’s granddaughter. This is one of the first times that I can think of when Kirk’s propensity to get the girl drifts into the realm of caricature. I understand that accusation about the character, but I’ve never felt that it was quite accurate. In this case, though, it’s kinda “icky,” like Roger Moore’s last outing as James Bond.
This graphic novel is an adaptation of the much longer novel of the same name, also written by Shatner and the Reeves-Stevens team. I haven’t read the original novel, so I can’t say whether some of these things are explained or developed better there.
One thing that really bothered me, though, is how conveniently Kirk—and, spoiler alert, Scotty—end up with the Enterprise-A in a position to defend Chal. It feels as though they’ve essentially been handed this mission by Starfleet simply because the story needs them there, and I felt that it was just… eye-rolling.
The setup is so convenient that it takes me out of the story.
One of the more interesting aspects of the book, however, involves the rest of Kirk’s former command crew hitching a ride on the Excelsior with Sulu. They are essentially being brought in to stop Kirk, and that was a fresh idea for me. It was also, in a strange way, a little sad.
I know Star Trek has been criticized by many writers over the years because of Roddenberry’s famous rule about not having conflict between members of Starfleet. Deep Space Nine certainly demonstrated that allowing more conflict between characters could lead to some very interesting storytelling.
But there is something about seeing Kirk pitted against so many of his closest friends that just feels wrong.
Maybe that’s because there is something naively sweet about the idea of the TOS crew all getting along. They respect each other. They’re friends. They’re almost an extended family. That’s something many of us—including me—have taken some solace in over the years.
So seeing Kirk go up against those people is uncomfortable in a way that I think the story actually does a good job of making you feel, even if I’m not entirely sure that I like the direction.
The Art
For the most part, I really like the art in this comic. The cover in particular is gorgeous. It is one of those covers that would look fantastic as a poster or framed on the wall.
There is also a military-ball-type sequence in the story, where we get to see several characters in modified versions of the familiar Monster Maroon uniforms, adapted to look more like formal dress uniform. I actually like the look, although it isn’t canon and can be a little jarring.
And considering that I was already having some issues with the motivations of some of the characters, the slightly unusual costumes can kick you out of the story.
Still, the artwork throughout the comic is good, and if nothing else, this is a book worth picking up just to thumb through the pages. The cover alone makes it worth a look.
Final Thoughts
So, where does that leave me with The Ashes of Eden?
It’s not a bad Star Trek story. There are some genuinely interesting ideas here, particularly the idea of Kirk struggling with the end of his career and the TOS crew being forced into opposing him. But some of the character motivations and plot conveniences make it difficult for me to completely embrace the story.
Maybe some of those issues are handled better in the original novel. I haven’t read it, so I can’t make that comparison.
For me, this is one of those Trek stories where I appreciate what it is trying to do more than I actually enjoy the execution. The artwork, however, is another story. I really like it, and that beautiful cover alone makes this comic worth a gander.
Well, that’s it for this month. I hope someone is reading this other than myself and/or Dustin as he formats it and puts it into the newsletter! As always, I welcome any thumbs-up, thumbs-down, input, or recommendations for something you’d like to see me look at and review.
Hailing frequencies closed, till next month!