My story The Art of War in the latest Star Trek manga got a really nice mention at Trek Movie dot Com:
Fans of Wil Wheaton’s blog or books know him to be an adroit writer of nonfiction, an almost Mark Twain for the geek crowd if you don’t mind such a comparison. Yet his "Art of War" story shows he is talented with fictional narratives, too. The story involves Kirk and a Klingon named Kring both trapped together in a collapsed mine on the planet Angrena. The "enemies forced to cooperate" situation isn’t unique to science fiction or to Star Trek, be it the film Enemy Mine or "The Enemy" and "Darmok" episodes of TNG. These kinds of narratives succeed if there is something different about how they are told and if they provide the reader with something to think about with the characters or a social lesson. Wheaton does all of these things with his comic.
The story begins with both Kirk and Kring having to answer for their behaviors of helping the other person survive. One side of the page tell the story from Kirk’s experience, the other side of the page is from Kring’s. This allows for a juxtaposition of the Federation and Klingon cultures throughout the narrative. Also, we learn something about Captain Kirk and his decisions here show why he is such a great leader. There is also a social lesson here about not treating people, especially the enemy during war, as stereotypes. It is a lesson which is in the grand tradition of Star Trek.
The art by E.J. Su is effective, although one of my complaints about manga comics and Star Trek has historically been the lack of colors. The tradition for manga is of course black and white art, yet Star Trek’s tradition is bright colors. In fact, colors are an important storytelling device in Star Trek, from adding danger to scenes with red shirts to reinforcing the symbolism of diversity. I am not suggesting that a manga should have colors, it is that the lack of colors for a Star Trek comic are disconcerting and obviously distracting. That being said, Su’s art is quintessential manga art, with sharp lines that show the expressions of the characters in exaggerated and fun styles.
They gave me 10 out of 10! Dude!
