Tony Isabella writes a two-part story that brings back Redjac from Wolf in the Fold. The Wolf, issue 22 in DC Comics’ ongoing Star Trek series, was on shelves for January of 1986. It featured pencils by Tom Sutton and inks by Ricardo Villagran.

Does the comic pull off a worthy successor to the classic Original Series episode? Let’s find out!

Stardate 8878.1

The opening page details the Excelsior’s current mission, a bit of a shakedown cruise, and how it has taken them to the Argelian system, where the events of Wolf in the Fold took place fifteen years earlier (does that math work or not? It may).

The bottom half of the page shows a Starfleet officer being threatened by an Andorian (?) wielding a deadly-looking knife! While this ensign, Gillespie, is being murdered, Admiral Turner delivers a strange assignment to Kirk: a first contact mission with a planet, Enoch IV, that worships an evil deity. The civilization has a prophecy of a struggle between their god and a hero from the stars named James T. Kirk.

Exploratory images depict a temple with a sprawling mural, and on it is undeniably an image of Kirk. Starfleet isn’t happy about this, and Kirk had better pull off this mission successfully to get back in their good graces (again).

As Turner continues detailing the assignment, we see Konom and Nancy taking a quiet walk together, until they happen upon a name written in blood on the way, just as Turner says it… “redjac.”

Kirk calls a briefing, and for those not in the know about the events in the episode, like Saavik and Security Officer Richardson, there’s a two-page illustrated recap. There’s a bit of an error in one of the panels that shows Scotty with a moustache, but it only happens once. For the most part, the canon and continuity are solid. Except for the last panel of the flashback, which seems to show an Enterprise that has the television nacelles, but the saucer and secondary hull of the films.

Saavik concludes that Redjac must have survived the transporter dispersal, and Uhura has discovered that the Starfleet assignment was a fraud, created by Redjac. This entity is more powerful than they thought.

Richardson shares what everyone knows: this is a trap. But Scotty and Kirk feel that this gives them an advantage, knowing it’s a trap. But before they can concoct a plan, they receive a notification from hydroponics: there are two more murdered crewmembers. There’s a message scrawled on the walls, ‘Look for the tape!’

Konom was almost a third victim, but he survived. McCoy squirrels him away to Sickbay, while the rest of the command crew listen to the tape security has found. It’s Redjac. Redjac details how it will kill the officers in the room with Kirk, calling them by name. It can’t be a recording, then can it? How did it know what officers would or wouldn’t be with Kirk?

Kirk takes a moment in the ship’s morgue, which is just off Sickbay, I guess. It’s a quiet, introspective scene, which piggybacks nicely on something Chekov says to Richardson – they can only die once, but Kirk can die six hundred times, once for every crewmember on the Excelsior.

The Excelsior arrives at Enoch IV, and the landing party, in those awesome coats, prepare to beam down. Kirk is leading McCoy, Saavik, Chekov, Richardson, and a late Nancy Bryce. Though McCoy covers for her, saying he asked her to stop by to see Konom in Sickbay. Kirk is less than impressed.

As they beam down, with Kirk chastising McCoy for playing cupid, we see Bearclaw heading to his assignment: guard Sickbay. He’s too late, there are already bodies there, and another message: ‘one more to go.’

On Enoch IV, the inhabitants flee before the arrival of the landing party. Running in fear… and speaking English? Or is this just something Redjac is doing so that they can understand one another?

Bearclaw finds Konom, weak and still recovering, but he says that he is able to feel Redjac and knows where the entity is hiding. Then the Klingon collapses.

Kirk and his team approach the ancient temple. The panels intercut between the landing party and Konom imparting information to Bearclaw. Fog rolls in, and a scream cuts through it as Konom tells Bearclaw that Redjac has taken possession of… Nancy Bryce!!! And she’s holding a bloody knife over Chekov!

To Be Continued!!

Okay. I like a lot of it. I like revisiting Original Series episodes and updating them. For the most part, I feel this one works. I like a lot of the art, the story works to tie in with established continuity while giving the added supporting characters (Nancy, Konom, Bearclaw) their moments as well. It does have a nice sense of dread about it, and there is a lot of blood spilt. Let’s see where the story ends up when I dig into part two, Wolf at the Door.

I wonder if Scotty will be able to deliver some overdue comeuppance to Redjac in the next issue. Let’s Boldy Go and find out!