This week marked the launch of a brand new Star Trek crossover series with Star Trek/Green Lantern – Spectrum War. The first issue isn’t all that great
but if you want more details you’re welcome to read my actual review of it
here. Star Trek actually has a fairly lengthy history of crossover
stories in comic book form, previously crossing over with Doctor Who, The Legion of
Superheroes, The X-Men, Ghostbusters, Transformers, and The Planet of the Apes. However this latest crossover has got
me thinking about how Star Trek
hasn’t actually crossed over with all of the DC or Marvel comic universes, just
small aspects of them. It got me
thinking about what other comic properties Star
Trek could stand to cross into and I put together a top 15 list, here they
are.
15- 30 DAYS OF NIGHT
30 Days of Night is a series of vampire
comics from IDW. Though initially
a simple 3 issue mini-series it’s since spun out into a much larger mythos of
comics and tie-ins, even spawning quite a few film adaptations and a crossover
with the X-Files. It might seem strange to success Star Trek, a series notorious for a more
scientifically mind approach to speculative fiction, should crossover with a
vampire show but here me out. Star Trek The Original Series never really worked off of such strict
standards, instead its emphasis was on finding imaginative and weird scenarios
for the crew to encounter, like teaming-up with Abraham Lincoln. TOS would be the perfect combination
point for a story about the USS Enterprise becoming infested with
space-vampires, especially given 30 Days
of Night already featured a really good space based vampire story.
14- WEIRD WORLD
Weird
World was initially a strange sword and sorcery style comic published by Marvel
during the time beefy, barbarian fantasy was very in. This was the same era when Marvel picked up the license for Conan the Barbarian comics. The series is getting a bit of revival
recently with a tie-in comic to Marvel’s Secret
Wars event. The basic idea is
about an incredibly strange and random science fantasy environment that blends Alice in Wonderland style nonsense with
the kind of sword and sandal fantasy action of Robert E. Howard. Weird World would be the perfect
dumping ground for any Star Trek cast
given how much it defies their greatest strengths of logic and rationality.
13- ADAM STRANGE
Adam
Strange is a DC character known as the hero of two worlds. Strange was previously a simple Earth
man till a strange alien teleportation ray called a Zeta Beam transported him
across space to the planet Rann where he dawned a jetpack and became the
planet’s greatest hero. Adam’s had
a lot of tweaks to his character over the years that have really allowed him to
transcend his Buck Rogers/Flash Gordon
origins. Jetpacks & Star Trek are two great tastes that go
great together but I’d especially like to see Adam’s blend of quick strategy
and “man of two worlds” persona interact with a less hands on Captain like
Picard.
12- ADAM WARLOCK/HIGH EVOLUTIONARY
These
two are a double feature but they’re so often intertwined as characters it’d
feel wrong to feature one without the other. High Evolutionary is a super scientist from the Marvel
universe who technology puts him above whole civilizations. Adam Warlock, depending on the continuity,
is his most advanced creation, a new stage in evolution meant to be the perfect
being. Eugenics and genetic
engineering are a big part of the Star
Trek mythos for the worse, helping to start the Eugenic Wars that
devastated Earth and created the series most infamous villain Khan. It’d be really cool to see who a
Federation crew interacted with beings defined by genetic perfection and
manipulation, especially Dr. Bashir from Deep
Space 9 who was a genetically modified being himself.
11- SQUADRON SUPREME
The
Squadron Supreme was initially a one off group of Marvel characters created as
thinly veiled allegories for DC’s Justice League. They basically only existed to allow Marvel to do a JLA vs.
Avengers type storyline but garnered the attention of Mark Gruenwald, one of
Marvel’s best authors. Gruenwald
used the team to tell a gripping and though provoking 12-issue series about the
nature of power when the team attempts to turn their world into a utopia. Everything about Gruenwald’s Squadron Supreme speaks to some aspect
of Star Trek; a utopian dream through
technology, the boundaries of power, and the emphasis on subtle
indoctrination. Any of the later
Trek series like Next Generation, Deep
Space 9, or Voyager could work
for a great crossover.
10- STARRO, THE CONQUEROR
Starro
is probably the most iconic Justice League villain of all time. A giant Starfish that travels through
space from world to world, raining down tiny versions of himself that attach to
people’s faces and turn them into his mindless thralls. Starro is the kind of high concept
villain that’s just so incredibly strange and unique he’s managed to persist
with little personality beyond being a conqueror of worlds. While his odd nature would make him a
perfect fit for Star Trek The Original
Series or even The Next Generation,
I’d love to see him take on Voyager
with how well he’d fit into the generally weird but deadly nature of the Delta
Quadrant.
9- OMAC
This
is one of the few cases in which there are multiple versions of the character
I’m discussing. While I like the
initially Kirby take on OMAC I actually think Keith Giffen and Dan Didio’s New
52 era OMAC would be a better fit for the Star
Trek mythos, in particular the reboot Star
Trek comics. Giffen’s OMAC had a lot of similarities to the Star Trek reboot in how it used previous
iconography as a grab bag of recognizable ideas and visuals. Where OMAC exceeded it though is in terms of supremely creative
storytelling and a completely unrestrained approach to scifi. OMAC
is just the kind of property needed to give the rebooted Star Trek comic a kick in its creative rear.
8- DOCTOR STRANGE
Dr.
Strange is a name that more and more people will most likely start to be
familiar with as we inch our way closer to his Marvel cinematic universe
installment in the fall of next year.
He’s the sorcerer supreme of the Marvel universe but that doesn’t
necessarily translate to the same kind of magic we see from Harry Potter or Gandalf.
Strange’s magic is more about traversing weird planes of existence and
dealing with extra-dimensional beings that defy any sense of cultural
origin. He’s the perfect fit for
the kind of bizarre, big idea reality shifting that Star Trek: The Next Generation would often flirt with. He’s the perfect guy for the crew to
run into while travelling at speeds where thoughts become reality or traversing
the Nexus.
7- BATMAN BEYOND
Batman
Beyond is probably the most successful case of a DC animated original idea
translating to the comic medium.
There had been characters who made the jump previously like Harley
Quinn, Mr. Freeze, and Batgirl but Batman Beyond was the first time a whole
universe of characters made the transition. His world is cyberpunk future culled from the same fields as
Bladerunner or Marvel’s 2099 comic series. Despite representing a totally
different tract of speculative scifi I still think the world of Batman Beyond
would make an interesting sounding board for the Star Trek mythos, especially for a group like the Voyager crew who
are often thrown into worlds and situations that are the antithesis of the
standard Trek future. At the very
least we’d get to see old Bruce Wayne and the holographic Doctor have a
curmudgeonly bastard-off with one another.
6- JUDGE DREDD
Judge
Dredd is a British dystopia comic that initially started out as satire but now
tends to blur that line more and more.
The basic idea is about an elite police force operating in a dystopian
future as judge, jury, and executioner.
The dark future and harsh approach to law and order might seem anti-Star Trek but it fits very well into the
dark period of Trek’s in-universe history after the 3rd World War
devastated humanity. That’s always
been a fertile setting for Trek stories, even giving us the best Next Generation film First Contact. At the same time Captain Kirk has fought brutal lawmen
before as in the incredibly good original series episode ‘Spectre of the Gun.’ It’d even be interesting to see Judgre
Dredd crossover with Star Trek:
Enterprise just to see how he’d interact with dedicated security officer
Malcolm Reed.
5- SHAZAM
Of
all the characters on this list Shazam is the only one who can match Star Trek’s childlike sense of wonder
and optimism. This is especially
true of The Original Series era, the time period that Shazam would be most at
home in. Shazam, occasionally
known as DC Comic’s Captain Marvel, basically defined silver age comics. Whacky high concept stories, weird
twist situations thrown onto the hero, extended family of fellow heroes, all of
that started with Shazam under the stewardship of Otto Binder, who would go on
to basically define Superman as he’s widely known today. Shazam’s blend of whacky ideas
approached with earnest passion and joyful optimism would fit perfectly into
the world of Star Trek the original
series.
4- THE NEW GODS
When
Jack Kirby left Marvel comics to work at DC he still wanted to tell big, mythic
style stories in the vein of the work he’d done on Marvel’s Thor. However, DC didn’t really have any characters in that
particular vein so Kirby invented them in a group of space based scifi deities
known as the New Gods. The New
Gods have been a major fixture of the DC universe since their inception, most
prominently through the character of Darkseid, DC’s greatest super
villain. Aside from the big, war
of the Gods story stuff inherent to the New Gods’ mythology being a perfect fit
for Star Trek there’s also the idea
of the New Gods as living iterations of archetypal concepts. For instance the character of Orion
isn’t just a soldier he’s all soldiers that ever were or will be. It’s a highly complex idea that would
fit perfectly into Star Trek’s
wheelhouse, especially something like the original series where the crew fought
omnipotent beings every other episode.
3- THOR
As
much as I love the New Gods I can’t deny that Kirby’s Thor work stands as the
best iteration of science fantasy work he ever did. Thor brings with it a more centered mythos that includes a
wide range of additional elements such as other mythological pantheons and
characters like Beta Ray Bill.
Really though, the deciding factor is wanting to see any number of
various Star Trek characters
interacting roaming around Asgard and trying to prove themselves worthy by
lifting Thor’s hammer. This
crossover strikes me as another good choice for the rebooted Star Trek continuity as Thor also takes a similar tract of using
recognizable elements from Norse mythology without really following their
original intent beyond superficial elements.
2- HOWARD THE DUCK
Howard
the Duck is often cited as the strangest hero in all of Marvel comics. Created in the ‘70s as a parody
character meant to help Marvel capitalize on the growing popularity of
underground comics Howard has been hanging around the Marvel universe for
decades since. Most recently he’s
gained a new comic after a surprise cameo appearance in last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy. His whole deal is being an angsty
curmudgeon of a duck stuck in a world he considers ludicrous. He’s honestly even too weird to gel
with any of the Trek shows but his prickly exterior and self deprecating humor
make him a great character to just throw into any given situation and seeing
him deal with the utopian future of Star
Trek is a recipe for hilarity.
1- GALACTUS
And
one last Jack Kirby character to top off the list. Galactus, the devourer of worlds, is the purest expression
of Kirby’s genius as a creator I can think of, taking the normally empty but
still imaginative ideas that were so emblematic of the silver age and imbuing
them with deeper ideas and scope.
Galactus isn’t simply Godlike in his power but in his demeanor as
well. Unlike Thor or Orion
Galactus has the physicality and persona of a being truly removed from the
realms of morality or even consciousness that govern the rest of us. He’s a force of nature made flesh to
the point that humans feel truly beneath him. He’s the ultimate challenge making him the perfect foil for
any Star Trek crew if not a full
collection of Trek races.
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