Well, we’ve survived another year: this is the last comic of Season 2. We’ve been sitting on this strip for a couple of months now, but as this season started with a Star Trek joke, we thought it would be fitting to hold onto it so that we could finish with a Star Trek joke.
During the past year we’ve had a short series of movie poster parodies (with our “Usual Suspects” parody still showing a remarkably strong lead in our page rankings), a couple of jabs at Apple’s iPhone, and created our longest strip to date. We’ve handed out flyers at Collectormania, and run ads on Google and Facebook – the latter resulting in a significant boost in visitors to our Facebook page. We’ve even gone into print, with a (hopefully) regular spot in “Aylesbury Town Matters“, our local Town Council’s quarterly magazine. As if that wasn’t enough, we’ve expanded our international appeal, with one of our comics being translated into Indonesian, and over ten of them being translated into Italian! Hopefully there will be more translations to come as we enter our third year – do get in touch with us if you’re interested in helping out.
This particular comic obviously owes a lot to the infamous “run from side to side while we shake the camera” approach to warfare that was so prevalent in the original Star Trek series. But it’s also inspired by my first ever trip on an aeroplane, at the age of 16 when I flew out on a school trip to the Mediterranean. As we came in to land at Athens the previously smooth flight became rather bumpy, then we dropped suddenly before bumping along a little more as we made a bouncing and juddering landing on the tarmac. I loved it! It was exhilarating and thrilling, like a roller coaster ride. Having never flown before, I sensed it was a little rougher than expected, but assumed that all landings were a bit bumpy.
It was only as we slowed to taxiing speed that I looked around the cabin and realised that what I’d experienced was probably somewhat worse than normal. A hefty proportion of my fellow travellers were busy talking into paper bags, and the “No Smoking” and “Fasten Seatbelt” signs were dangling from the ceiling, held on by nothing more than their electrical cables.
Cette bande dessinée est aussi disponible en français
This comic is also available in French
Click here to download the SVG source for this comic
G1: Captain's log, stardate 4866.6. In light of the outcome of previous missions Starfleet has ordered us to take a more "diplomatic" approach to alien contact.
[Interior: Bridge]
G2: Sir, a Klingon Bird of Prey has de-cloaked to starboard and is bearing down on our position. Recommend we raise shields, captain!
G1: Hmmm… best not. We don't want them to misinterpret it as hostility.
[The whole frame is leaning to The Greys' right]
G2: Sir! They've launched a photon torpedo! Direct hit to our port nacelle. I strongly recommend that we raise shields!
G1: They probably just leant on the wrong button. It's an easy mistake to make.
[The frame is leaning more steeply to The Greys' left]
G2: Sir… we've taken another hit damaging decks 3 through 7! I must insist that we raise shields now, before it's too late!
G1: No, no… it's probably just a bit of a misunderstanding. We'll try talking to them first. Hail them lieutenant!
[Frame has completely fallen onto its side. The frame border decorations have fallen off or hanging on by a few wires. Most of the crew are broken and bleeding at the bottom of the frame. G1 is hanging on to a railing]
G1: Okay, perhaps you're right. Ensign, raise shields! Ensign… Ensign…?
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Congratulations on another great year! I’m looking forward to Season 3.