Return to Delta Vega!

 

With the PPC having done a write-up over seven years ago of the early voyages of the starship Enterprise and her crew as adapted by Marvel Comics, it's high time we followed up with Marvel's treatment of that ship's second captain and crew, in a crossover tale which featured some very unexpected guest-stars--the uncanny X-Men!

Scripted by Scott Lobdell with art by Marc Silvestri (et al., which is putting it mildly), 1996's Star Trek/X-Men throws together the many characters of both mediums in order to solve their mutual problem: how to seal a psionic rift in space, while also dealing with the threat of Gary Mitchell whose form and power have been usurped by the mutant known as Proteus. Throw in the Shi'ar, and you've got yourself a party.

And there's another connection to the Shi'ar's arrival for Kirk to take into account: the sudden presence of the X-Men on his ship, having been forced to abandon their own vessel and transport to the Enterprise.

The fact that the Enterprise apparently has no automatic detection system for unexpected boarders nevertheless paves the way for some amusing scenes as the X-Men covertly make their way through the ship--but not so covertly as to avoid the senses of a Vulcan, as Mr. Spock picks up on Jean Grey's psychic probing and tracks the team to a corridor (where he and Wolverine have a brief skirmish).

Elsewhere, Storm and the Beast are seeking out the ship's medical facility in order to treat the wounded Gambit, and the inevitable name collision occurs.

Though Lobdell's recollection of Trek minutiae results in a minor slip-up or two, the tone of the story works out well for both X-Men and Enterprise crew, as each group meets with the other and pools their information and resources in order to meet the threat of Mitchell, whose dead body has been reanimated by Proteus. (Along with the man's memories, something which even the most taciturn reader would likely take the writer to task on--but necessary for the story's resolution, as we'll see.)

As for the Shi'ar, they turn out to be mostly window dressing, with the power of Mitchell/Proteus of interest to Deathbird and the Guard but a part of the plot which never gains traction. The bulk of the story's attention, instead, remains on the Enterprise crew and the X-Men--even including a scene where these two universes have cause to meet in discourse on the issue of mutants.

Eventually, the X-Men and Kirk's landing party transport to the surface of Delta Vega, the planet where Mitchell previously met his death and where they find that Proteus and the Shi'ar have come to terms in a surprising alliance.

Yet if there's any disappointment to be found in this story, it's that this threat, for all its buildup, comes to naught as an element of suspense and danger. In the story's climax, as Proteus attacks while the psionic rift begins to tear the planet apart, the Imperial Guard practically disappears from sight, while Proteus quickly sunders whatever hopes for an alliance Deathbird might have had; meanwhile, the battle against Mitchell is mainly waged in his mind by Kirk and Jean, who with Mitchell's help makes it possible for the X-Men and Enterprise crew to take out Proteus.

What doesn't add up, however, is the contrast in what we've seen in Mitchell's about-face here, as opposed to what we know of his ambition and sense of superiority on display when he first faced Kirk on Delta Vega. Originally, Mitchell went to his grave wanting to establish himself as a god and willing to kill even his close friend as well as the entire crew of the Enterprise if they stood in his way, despite the efforts of Kirk and Mitchell's nascent godlike companion, Dr. Elizabeth Dehner, to reach him. Here, though, it's as if someone has flipped a switch for Mitchell to stand down on cue, as Kirk and Jean appeal to his humanity and all too quickly have their efforts rewarded.

With Proteus's destruction, we're left with the Enterprise's efforts to collapse the psionic rift--and from there, the usual farewells to be found in these types of fictional what-ifs.

Whether this forty-page story was worth its $5.00 price tag depends on how much substance the reader was hoping to come away with--in other words, whether the book's eye-catching cover was indicative to them of an epic, as opposed to what turned out to be a decent plot that was wrapped around anticipated interactions between the Enterprise crew and the X-Men which led them to pooling their talents and abilities to overcome the mutual threat. To truly live up to its billing, Star Trek/X-Men might have been better served as a brief limited series, or even a two-part story on the order of 1993's Future Imperfect, either of which would have allowed the reader to become more absorbed in the characters--in particular, the intriguing reappearance of Gary Mitchell.  A nascent "god," who finds himself among the living again while psychically leashed to another mutant bent on making use of his godlike power, doesn't seem like the type who relinquishes his life a second time without putting up one hell of a fight--whether it's against Proteus, or James Kirk.

BONUS!
The many, many hands involved in this merging of two franchises universes.