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"Khan" Part 1
Star Trek: Khan #1
IDW
Written by: Mike Johnson
Story Consultant: Robert Orci
Pencils and Inks (present day): David Messina
Pencils (flashback): Claudia Balboni
Cover by: Paul Shipper
October 2013 |
The Federation trial of Khan begins!
Read the story summary at Memory Beta
Notes from the Star Trek
Chronology
This issue is stated to open on stardate
2259.246. Yet, it takes place after most of the events seen in Into
Darkness, which begins
at stardate 2259.55! As usual with the IDW stories, the stardate
is off. Better to think of it as stardate 2259.646, maybe.
This mini-series takes place near the end
of
Into
Darkness.
Didja Know?
Star Trek: Khan was a 5-issue
mini-series published by IDW. Within the framework of the
Federation trial of Khan, the former dictator tells the story of
his youth and rise to power. It differs from a previously
published interpretation of his past as told in volumes One and
Two of The Eugenics Wars, novels published by Pocket
Books.
The main covers of all five issues of this
series were by Paul Shipper, in a style that seems inspired by
that of Drew Struzan, well known for his many movie posters,
including the Star Wars and Indiana Jones
franchises. Even Shipper's signature is similar.
Didja Notice?
As the Federation trial of Khan is called to order on page
1, the judicial council appears to be made up of three
humans, one Vulcan, and one Andorian.
The lead prosecutor of the case against Khan is Samuel T.
Cogley, who appeared in the original timeline in the ST-TOS
episode "Court Martial", where he defended Kirk in court
when he was accused of the murder of Lieutenant Commander
Ben Finney. The depiction of Cogley in this mini-series is
based on the countenance of actor Elisha Cook, Jr., who
portrayed him in that episode.
On page 3, Kirk remarks that Starfleet has begun a
comprehensive effort to eliminate all elements of Section
31. We will see in "After Darkness" Part 1 that they have
not been entirely successful.
On page 3, panel 2, Kirk reveals a holoimage of Khan as he
looked in the late 21st Century, stating that the current
claimant to the identity of Khan looks nothing like the
original. The holoimage presents a figure very close to that
of the late actor Ricardo
Montalbán, who portrayed Khan in
the ST-TOS episode "Space Seed" and the movie Star Trek:
The Wrath of Khan. The outfit worn by Khan in the
holoimage is one seen in a 20th Century photo of him from
"Space Seed".
When one of Dr. Heisen's investors refers to his plans to
breed genetically perfect humans as "eugenics", Heisen
disagrees, calling it "An ugly word from an ugly time,
thankfully behind us." The term was coined by English
polymath Francis Galton (1822-1911) in the latter half of
the 19th Century, to describe the process of perfecting the
genetic quality of Homo sapiens. Some followers of
the philosophy advocated the castration, sterilization, or
euthanasia of "undesirables" to prevent contamination of the
human gene pool, most notably Nazi Germany from 1933-1945.
Young Khan's ability to heal from a fatal wound, due to the
re-sequencing of his DNA performed by Dr. Heisen's project,
serves to set up his blood's ability to bring the dead Kirk
back to life in Into
Darkness.
On page 18, Dr. Heisen remarks, in regards to Khan,
"...superior ability breeds superior ambition." This phrase
was attributed by Spock to one of Khan's creators in "Space
Seed".
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