For issue 20 of DC Comics ongoing Star Trek series, which was on stands until November 1985, Wenonah Woods pens a Sulu story that saw Tom Sutton on pencils and Ricardo Villagran on inks.

This will be the third issue exploring supporting character stories, which is good, I just hope it’s a solid tale. Let’s find out.

Stardate: 8293.6

Sulu is taking some leave on a station known as Moutaindove for a wedding. It seems Sulu’s family is a major producer of cyber-suits, as the Hatoyama Corporation (his mother’s name), and their competitor and neighbour, Heike Corp, also make suits. The wedding between the two families should end decades of disputes and feuds.

There’s a nice double-page splash of the station in high orbit over a planet as Sulu closes on it. It conveys the size nicely, but it also felt like a bit of a waste of space, in terms of art.

Sulu’s personal log highlights his anxiety about reconnecting with his family, but it is his duty or giri to support them. We also learn that he had a relationship with one of his cousins, which may feel odd to some of Western society, but is an acceptable thing in a number of cultures.

He will be representing his mother in the ceremony; she is unable to attend, and Sulu takes in the changes and growth of the station and company, even as his uncle’s health seems to have declined.

We get a look at the suits used to make starships, and they look like something out of Pacific Rim.

Sulu meets the groom, from the Heike Corp, and things go sideways when one of the giant suits attacks Sulu’s uncle. Sulu discovers that it wasn’t an accident; the machine was tampered with.

Oh, and the bride, Keiko, is the cousin love Sulu left behind years ago when he went to Starfleet. When they are reunited, will that threaten the wedding? Unfortunately, when the pair are reunited, they are seen by Reijiro, the groom, and he is angered and vows vengeance.

We learn that he’s not interested in the marriage; he wants to destroy Sulu’s uncle and the cyber-suit company.

The wedding proceeds without incident, though Sulu is keeping an eye on everything, on edge following the attack. Reijiro has poisoned Uncle’s sake, something Sulu has figured out. And once rumbled, Sulu and Reijiro confront one another with swords.

A chase and more fighting ensue, eventually ending in the pair clashing in cyber-suits. It feels very Kaiju/giant robot, and not at all like Trek, especially since we’ve never seen the cyber-suits again.

Sulu fights with honour, besting Reijiro. He’s maintained the legacy of his family, but he must say goodbye to Keiko, as she is married now to Reijiro, and must tend to him. That means the two will never be together.

Sulu returns to the Excelsior knowing he’s lost a woman he cares about, and his life is a little emptier because of it, but honour has been served.

I like Sulu, but this story really didn’t serve him very well, and it seemed more interested in telling a very familiar story rather than doing anything new with the characters. The story drifted from recognizable Federation tech to weird giant robot machines, which seemed more in line with anime than Trek.

Not my favourite tale. Let’s see what happens next time when we get a Spock story in Dreamworld. Boldly go as the Human Adventure continues.