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"Whom God Destroys" Part 2
Star Trek: Boldly Go #12
IDW
Written by Mike Johnson
Art by Megan Levens
Colors by Marissa Louise
Letters by AndWorld Design
Cover by George Caltsoudas
September 2017 |
Garth of Izar seeks vengeance on his former
crew of the Heisenberg
while masquerading as Captain Kirk aboard the
Endeavour.
Read the story summary of this issue at Memory
Beta
Characters appearing in this
issue
Captain Kirk
Eurydice
Thalia
Dr. Groffus
Garth of Izar
Dr. McCoy
Lt. Ellix
Lt. Darwin
Lt. Commander Sulu
Lt. Murcia
Captain Jiang
Akeelah
Demora Sulu (mentioned only)
Dr. Donald Cory
Didja Know?
This issue does not have an individual title, but
is referred to as the conclusion of "Whom God Destroys" on the
IDW web solicitation, so I have gone with that overall title for
the two-parter here.
This
title is also an homage to the original series episode upon
which the story is based, "Whom Gods Destroy". The title of the
original episode is a slight variation on a line in Henry
Wadsworth Longfellow's 1875 poem "The Masque of Pandora", the
full line being, "Whom the gods would destroy they first make
mad."
Didja Notice?
The "Previously in Star Trek: Boldly Go..." paragraph on the
inside front cover of this issue states that Kirk has been ambushed
by "his old flame, the space-pirate Eurydice..." The
term "flame" implies a romantic liaison in the past, but
Kirk did not have any romantic or sexual contact in their
previous meeting in the three-part
"Eurydice". It seems odd this editorial mistake should
be made considering the same writer, Mike Johnson, penned
both stories! However, the pair do "hook up" at the end of
this issue!
Page 7 reveals that Eurydice's pirate ship, the Spectral,
has warp-tracking technology years ahead of Federation tech.
The current captain of the USS Heisenberg is
Captain Jiang. The name "Jiang" may be a play on the name of
Captain Liang Jin, who was the
Heisenberg's
captain in the 2003 novel Garth of Izar.
It's possible that the helmsman of the
Heisenberg in this issue is Akeelah, who was
also the helmsman of the ship in the "10 years ago" sequence
at the beginning of
"Whom God Destroys" Part 1;
in both issues, the helmsman is an attractive black woman.
When faced with two Kirks, Sulu must decide which is the
real one. This is similar to a scene near the end of
the original series episode "Whom Gods Destroy" in which
Spock must decide between two Kirks in similar
circumstances.
On page 17, Kirk identifies Sulu's daughter as Demora. She
first appeared in the Kelvin Timeline (unnamed) in
Star Trek Beyond.
After stopping Garth, the Endeavour drops him off
at the Federation asylum on Elba II. This is the asylum
where Garth was being held at the beginning of the original
series episode "Whom Gods Destroy".
Though left unnamed, the governor of the Elba II asylum
appears to be the same man seen in the
original series episode "Whom Gods Destroy", Dr. Donald
Cory.
The 2-part story never quite explains how Garth, a human,
has become able to shape-shift. The closest we get to an
explanation is when he says that after the transporter
accident, "It was left to the Antosians to save me. And in
their mercy, to make me stronger than I ever was in
my...other life." In the original series episode, it was
said that the Antosians were able to use "cellular
metamorphosis" to heal injuries and change their outer
appearance and they taught this technique to Garth.
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