Script writer Mike W. Barr starts part one of an eight-part arc, with Promises to Keep. DC Comics continues to boldly go with its ongoing Star Trek series. This issue, which was on the racks until December of 1984, featured pencils by Tom Sutton, and inks by Ricardo Villagran. The pair also delivered the cover, which is solid but not outstanding.

Stardate 8215.5

The splash page features a reclining Spock, with a hunt of a smile, I swear, and he is aware his friends are approaching. And Kirk’s first line is oddly prescient, considering a moment in Star Trek IV. He asks Spock how he feels, and Spock replies well.

T’Lar is overseeing things. She says that Spock’s mind has been restored but that his thoughts are unpatterned and illogical. But she believes he will return to his previous self, in time.

Kirk, McCoy and Saavik have come to take their leave of Spock. They, and the rest of the crew, need to start patching things up around the galaxy following the cinematic escapades. Everything goes smoothly as Kirk and McCoy banter. Sulu, Chekov and Uhura take bridge positions (which still looks like the Trek III version of the prey’s bridge), while Saavik assists Scotty in Engineering.

Course heading?

Space station Regula I. And Dr. Carol Marcus.

Meanwhile, Admiral Turner has summoned Captain Styles and ordered him and the Excelsior to ‘retrieve’ Kirk and his captured bird of prey.

The bird of prey, still lacking the name we know it will receive, arrives at Regula I, where Carol is in mourning – Kirk had sent her a message about the death of their son David before she could receive the news from anyone else.

Kirk and McCoy beam over to see Carol, and it doesn’t go well for Jim Kirk. It hints at a deeper emotional level for Kirk. Carol kept David away so that he wouldn’t follow in his father’s footsteps, and then when he did, he ended up dead. She’s angry, hurt and mourning, and Kirk bears the brunt of it and wonders if she’s right.

That’s solid writing as far as I’m concerned, and I love how these beloved characters have to wrestle with these things.

Sulu, Uhura and Chekov are spending some time in Regula’s botanical garden (?), and while Sulu and Uhura are fairly content with how things are at the moment, Chekov reminds them of all the things that have happened lately. He’s convinced their careers are over.

Sulu wonders if he’ll ever be a captain now. But all three agree that the results were worth the consequences.

A similar discussion is occurring between Saavik and Scotty over a game of three-dimensional chess, though the playing boards look a little off. It’s too bad they didn’t have this scene with Scotty and Uhura, because then they could build that friendship up for Trek V.

McCoy (where did he get his uniform from?) comes to fetch Carol for a memorial service being held in the tunnels beneath Regula I where they first tested their work on Genesis. Everyone apparently had a uniform with them.

Apparently, there’s something about Regula’s magnetic field that keeps the protomatter in check – I do like that Barr is addressing all these issues, which fans would no doubt nitpick otherwise. Carol apparently read all of David’s research notes following his passing.

Carol and Kirk are able to make partial amends, and Carol delivers a deep callback by reminding Jim of what he always said, Let me help.’ This is a reference in part to the speech he made to Edith Keeler in ‘City on the Edge of Forever.’

Then the story shifts, and we see… the Enterprise approaching Regula I? The bridge is manned by all the familiar faces, including Spock. They contact Carol Marcus, while Saavik investigates some data and equations that the space station has transmitted to them.

Kirk is pleased; he says this is the first time she hasn’t failed him. She accuses him of murdering their son; he admits it, as she was poisoning him against Kirk. Figured out what’s going on yet?

The Enterprise fires on Regula I, blowing it up, and revealing on the last page of the issue that this is the mirror universe. And they have a plan to travel to our universe and take what is theirs!

I like how this issue plays out. It’s taken a much-needed emotional beat for our characters, letting them discuss the very things the fans were wondering… what happens now? And introduces a couple of other narrative arcs, Styles and the Excelsior, and their mirror versions coming for them.

Loved it.

Lets see what happens in issue 10, Double Image.