Star Trek: Khan #1
Written By: Mike Johnson Art By: David Messina, Claudia BalboniStar Trek: Khan #1 is an extremely frustrating comic book. It merges the traditional origin and physical appearance of Ricardo Montalban’s portrayal of Khan with Benedict Cumberbatch’s portrayal, seemingly for the only purpose of streamlining continuity. Tonally, they do not match up, and what results is a generic and pointless telling of Khan’s origin.
Johnson resorts to creating the feeling of a very modern science fiction thriller by setting Khan’s origin in 1971, at a time where scientists are using genetic modification for the purposes of warfare. The scientists capture Indian children, one of which is of course Khan (called Noonien Singh), who I presume is made Indian to only match the ethnicity of the Montalban incarnation.
The story is told from the point of view of Khan, yet seen through the eyes of the geneticist, who is bland and adds no depth of character to the story. There’s nothing tragic about this origin of Khan (which backs up that this story is unnecessary) as he is always a blank slate, and there is no feeling of pathos or moment of transformation for the character.
The art by Messina and Balboni successfully differ the time periods of the story, but do little to offer a range in facial expressions..
With nothing really gripping emotionally, and a totally forced link to the original series, Star Trek: Khan #1 isn’t a Star Trek comic worth your time, whether you’re a classic Trek fan or a modern one.
