“Yesterday’s” Comic> Star Trek: Mirror Mirror

Evil Kirk wishes he could grow a goatee this cool.

Star Trek: Mirror Mirror

Marvel/Paramount Comics (February, 1997)

“Fragile Glass”

WRITER: Tom DeFalco

PENCILER: Mark Bagley

INKER: Larry Mahlstedt

COLORING: Team Bucce

LETTERER: Jon Babcock

EDITOR: Bobbie Chase

Taking place just after the events of the original series episode of the same name, mirror Kirk and the others switched with the regular universe counterparts are arrested by Spock, who despite being the only one who knows what really happened is still ordered to take Kirk into custody. Actually they were ordered to kill him for not blowing up the Harkans (which was actually regular Kirk’s doing) but because Spock isn’t a risk taker he want to at least be honest about it. He is still trying to seize control of the ship and win over Marlena. He even wins over Chekov, but Kirk and Sulu plot to get back control. Meanwhile, a group of Klingons want to advance their own reputation by destroying the ISS Enterprise, but Spock introduces Scotty to the Tantalus Field and they use it to defeat the Klingons, the remaining ship escaping to warn their people and try to form new technology and alliances to counter this new threat. Spock begins his mission to reform the Empire after a fight with Kirk leads to the latter’s death and Spock properly assumes command of the ship.

If yesterday’s comic review was a comic I couldn’t find praise for, the opposite is true of this one outside of the occasional 90s body type (for example some guys are too buff while others are too thin and at least once both Uhura and Marlena suffer from Liefeldian proportions). Unlike another Mirror Universe story we’ll get to during the movie period DC run (which was in more parts) this one benefits from the further Mirror Universe story of Deep Space Nine, setting up the Empire’s fall mentioned in that story. Occasional body issues aside the art is actually pretty good. DeFalco also seems to have a good sense of how the Mirror Universe would operate and Spock comes up with a brilliant plan to get the dilithium crystals and not blow up the Harkans, setting the stage for his further plans to change how they do things.

While this story does run counter to the earlier printed/later timed DC storyline and as good as I remember that story being I think this may be the better tale of the Mirror Universe. Again, it benefits from greater hindsight but while the DC story just tries to do a regular vs mirror tale this is just the mirror universe and I think it benefits. This is a comic any fan of the classic timeline would do well to pick up.