92 pages aren't enough: Debt of Honor (Star Trek graphic novel)

  Chris Claremont et al.  Debt of Honor A Star Trek graphic novel. It begins with a flashback, apparently a grievous memory of Capt. Kirk’s. Then we switch to the present: he’s on a boat with Dr Taylor, a nubile 20th century woman who’s helping re-establish dolphins in Earth’s seas. The following story involves tracking down some nasty not-quite-bug-eyed arthropodic monsters who’ve arrived in the neighbourhood via a “rift” in space-time. The old Enterprise crew, all somewhat greyer and wrinklier, assemble on the new Enterprise. There’s more flashbacks to explain the relationship between Kirk and T’cel, a Vulcan-Romulan woman from his past. Klingons also participate: this story explains the eventual rapprochement between Klingons and Humans. Everything ends well, of course, with a hint of future adventures when T’cel decides to go exploring on her own. Oh, and Kirk ends up back on the boat with Dr Taylor.
     The book is confused and confusing. If you know enough about the Star Trek universe, you can piece together a reasonable time-line, and the central plot is well enough told that its hokiness (as you should expect) doesn’t intrude.
     But the flashbacks aren’t well handled. I’m one of those people who expects clear demarcations within a graphic novel, either chapter headings or subheadings, or noticeable shifts in graphic style, or both. I also like a good deal more character development than this book offers. I want to a few more insights into Scotty or Spock, for example, not just allusions to past events. So as a story, this book is merely average.
     The graphics are also somewhat lacking. Faces aren’t consistent enough. There’s sometimes far too much text. IMO, if you need words to clarify what’s happening, the story is either not suited for graphic treatment, or the story-boarding was skimped. Or, and I think this the underlying issue here, the story is too large and complex for the 92 pages allowed for it. To put it another way: as a text novel, there would be plenty of room to develop all the plots, past and present, and to interlace them clearly.
     For all these reasons, I assign **.