Seems like an unlikely combination: the crews of the Enterprise and Marvel Comics merry band of mutants: The X-Men.
But, that’s just what happened, not just once, but twice!
First the classic, original Star Trek TV cast teams up with The
The X-Men meet Star Trek: The Original Series and then Star Trek: The Next Generation joins Wolverine, Nightcrawler, Colossus and Storm.
To say the meetings were memorable is an understatement. Imagine the X-Men teaming up with Kirk and Picard. Now that’s a team-up!
When Star Trek was at the top of its popularity in the mid-1990s Marvel Comics was granted the rights to produce a line of Star Trek comic books by Paramount Studios.
The first collaboration teamed the crew of the Starship Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk.
In the story the Enterprise is investigating a spatial rift. The ship’s sensors indicate two spacecraft exiting the rift. One ship holds the X-Men. The other The Imperial Guard of the Shi’ar Empire. Kirk’s ship is stopped in its track with one punch by The Gladiator of The Imperial Guard.
It appears Deathbird is tracking the X-Men who have transported to the Enterprise. Aiding Deathbird is the combined power of Proteus and Kirk’s former best friend Gary who gained godlike powers when the Enterprise entered the energy field at the edge of the galaxy (see ‘Where No Man Has Gone Before‘).
Only the combined might of the Enterprise and The X-Men manage to stop Proteus/Gary. Marc Silvestri supplies the art.
An additional Star Trek Pin-Up Gallery is included.
In the second book Jean Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise have a ‘Second Contact ‘ with Marvel's merry mutants.
The story takes place just after the events of the First Contact Star Trek movie where Picard and crew defeat the Borg and their queen.
The Enterprise, though damaged, manages to return to Earth-but to a different type of Earth where Shi-ar technology exists as does the X-Men.
The time discrepancies are explained by the arrival of Kang The Master of Time. Throw in some Borg, the Sentinels, the Thunderbolts, the return of Wesley Crusher, the Traveler, alternate timeline X-Men and a surprise ending and you have a classic crossover tale.
Both tales are fun reads and mark a point in Marvel Comics history when the company was exploring new territory.
Matthew 11:30 (NIV) “For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
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