And to think this all started with a food fight.
Star Trek #42
DC Comics (September, 1987)
“The Corbomite Effect!”
WRITER: Mike Carlin
PENCILER: Tom Sutton
INKER: Ricardo Villagran
COLORIST: Michele Wolfman
LETTERER: Agustin Mas
EDITOR: Robert Greenberger
The new Enterprise-A is suffering a lot of strange mechanical difficulties, and some of them are a threat to the ship. While the others are waving it off as the usual new ship troubles Scotty has seen a mist-like being he’s convinced is a gremlin connected to the mishaps. With nobody believing him Scotty has to take drastic action to get the “wee beastie” off of the ship. Meanwhile, the ship gets a new assignment, to return to planet Gamma Trianguli IV, the planet from the episode “The Apple”.
What they got right: Here’s something the show and movies never gave us: the night shift. I hope there’s a story where Commander Codobach and his crew get to do something cool. There are some neat looking non-Terrans I would like to get to know more about. We get a threat that may or may not be intentionally dangerous but does make for an interesting one. Scotty also gets a good adventure. It’s like the comic version of a “bottle episode”.
What they got wrong: Considering the crew has met actual god inspirations, monsters, witches, an alien who lives on fear and was responsible for Jack The Ripper, shouldn’t the crew at least entertain the idea of a gremlin? We also see them talking about overtime and bonus pay, but this might have been before Roddenberry decided Earth no longer used currency. The use of “corbomite” makes sense in the story because they’re just casually referencing a bluff Kirk used once but why is it in the title?
Recommendation: An overall good story. Worth checking out for Star Trek fans.
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