Marvel's Star Trek Overview Part 5: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1997-1998)

 Hey everyone, how's it going? I'm doing pretty well for a Wednesday. I'm back with the fifth installment in my Marvel Comics Star Trek overview series. This time we're taking a look at Marvel's DS9 comic book series that ran for 15 issues from 1997 to 1998. Like with the last two installments, I haven't read this series before, so I'm not going to have very much to say about it beyond the little bit I've been able to find on Memory Alpha about it. With that out of the way, let's get into it.

The first issue of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was published in January 1997. Well, that was the cover date. The issue was actually published in December of 1996, but cover dates are almost always a month ahead of when the issue is actually published for whatever reason. Unlike the DS9 comic published by Malibu Comics from 1993 to 1995, which took place during the first three seasons of the show, this series takes place during seasons 4 and 5. Which means that not only is Worf in the comics, but at some point they transition from the uniforms introduced in the show's first season, to the ones introduced in the 1996 feature film, Star Trek: First Contact, which were then used starting ten episodes into season 5. 

The writer for this series was Howard Weinstein. Weinstein had been the main writer of the second volume of DC Comics's TOS comic book series from issue 17 to issue 75, occasionally handing writing duties off to another writer for an issue. He's also written several novels from the TOS and TNG novel series by Pocket Books. And, he also wrote an episode of Star Trek: The Animated Series in 1974. So his association with the franchise is longer than most novel and comic book writers who have written for the franchise over the years. 

This series brings back some recurring characters from the franchise. Lwaxana Troi, who is the mother of Deanna Troi from TNG, Commander Tomalak, who was a Romulan commander that Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D encountered several times over the course of season 3 of TNG, as well as once in season 4 and again in the series finale at the end of season 7, and Commander Tebok, the first Romulan commander that we met in the season 1 finale of TNG. Which is surprising, since Tebok hasn't been seen in an episode or movie since 1988 when the TNG season 1 finale, "The Neutral Zone", originally aired. And Tomalak hasn't been seen since the TNG series finale, "All Good Things...", originally aired in 1994. And while this series was coming out only three years after that episode aired, it's still surprising to have both of those characters show up in a DS9 comic book series.

As with the other Marvel Star Trek comics that included issues set in the 24th Century, the DS9 series was involved in the "Telepathy War" story arc. Unlike the others though, DS9 had two issues dedicated to the crossover. The first was issue #12. Honestly, I think this crossover was a bit too ambitious for Marvel to be doing with Star Trek comics, especially since Early Voyages and Untold Voyages, both of which I'll be covering in future installments of this overview, both take place during various periods of time in the 23rd Century, this crossover feels like too much of an effort for a comic book line that very few people were reading, and even fewer people even knew about given Marvel's status at the time. Because, don't forget, Marvel was facing bankruptcy at the time the Star Trek comics were coming out.

Issue #13 was the second issue dedicated to the crossover. What strikes me about the DS9 comics in comparison to the other Marvel Star Trek comics, including the original 1980 series, is how busy the covers look. Even compared to modern Star Trek comic book covers. I do like the logo used for the series though. It's bigger than the one used on the TV show, which I also like. 

Like with the Voyager series, the Deep Space Nine comic ended with issue #15. And like with all the series I've covered in this overview, the writers and artists working on this book weren't aware that Marvel was losing the Star Trek license and had prepared a miniseries similar to the Voyager one that I'll be covering in a few weeks. Unfortunately it was canceled before it could be published, and the license moved to WildStorm, which was owned by DC Comics by that point. 

One of the reasons I'm doing this overview is because there's next to no coverage on the Marvel run of Star Trek on the internet. There's some background information on Memory Alpha, but YouTube is devoid of reviews, overviews or retrospectives on this era of Star Trek comic book publishing. There's a little bit on the DC era, but most of the coverage is on the IDW Star Trek comics or on the original Gold Key comics from the '60s, when TOS was in its original TV run. And I think that's because Star Trek comics aren't big sellers and have never been even though DC's run sold enough that it was able to keep going for twelve years, which is the second longest comic book run in Star Trek's history. IDW is the only other publisher to have the license for as long as it has, which is almost 17 years and counting.

That's it for me for today. I'll be back soon with my review of "Encounter at Farpoint", the pilot episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Next week I'll have reviews out for season 3 of Only Murders in the Building and for Star Wars: Ahsoka as both shows are airing their finales next week. And, at some point, I'll have a review for the second novel of the Star Wars X-Wing series, Wedge's Gamble. So until then have a great night and I will talk to you all later. Take care.