The Gorn Crisis

I finally got around to reading this Next Generation graphic novel, published by Wildstorm way back in the day. To say that I'm not a fan of Kevin J. Anderson would be putting it mildly, but I think that this is the first time that I've dipped into his comic book work. The story itself is decent: a little cliche, in that it involves the Enterprise crew convincing a violent race that there are better ways to do things (yay peaceful cooperation!), but it's executed surprisingly well. My favorite part, however, was the subplot with Commander Riker and a crew of dishonored Klingons scrabbling to build an outpost and defend against the Gorn. I was a little disappointed to see the Gorn in this section defeated with the old cold-blooded show more lifeform standby-- turning the heat down-- though. What really makes the story work, however, is Igor Kordey's glorious painted artwork. His likenesses of the crew are good, not necessarily precisely accurate, but they work well. What truly excels is his depiction of the Gorn: they are definitely fearsome, aggressive warriors here, not to be trifled with. It is clear from his artwork and from Kordey's "dossier" on the Gorn in the backmatter that he put a lot of thought and work into the depiction of this then-one-episode Star Trek race, and that the so-so story works as well as it does is a testament to him far more than it is to the writers. show less

Interesting TNG story covering political upheaval in the Gorn empire. Aspects (to me) reminiscent of the culture of the green folk on Barsoom.

Fun to see this turn in the Star Trek Universe by Kevin J. Anderson, better known for his work in the Star Wars and Dune 'verses. There's an interesting afterword about the design of the Gorn race, with anatomical drawings and more.