Episode Description

Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 31 by DangerousLines. In some ways, the stars came right for this issue. In others, it was a cosmic nightmare.

The Old Ones have been woven through Star Trek since the first season. The Old Ones made the androids of Exo III in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” The second season episode “Catspaw” gave us Sylvia and Korob, extra-galactic servants of the Old Ones and essentially evil wizards who rule Pyris VII. Later the same season, in“By Any Other Name,” we learned of the extra-galactic Kelvans, immense beings with a score of tentacles and superior, emotionless minds. The shape-shifting, tentacular Vendorians from the animated episode “TheSurvivor” could’ve been ripped from Lovecraft’s brain before being moderated for 1970s animation–then Lower Decks suggested they lay their eggs in humanoids’ throats.

It was time to bring these cosmic horrors on camera. I’ve never done horror before. When I went to try to tell the story, I found out how hard it is in this medium. I took a college course in horror filmmaking, and as I got into it I realized the nature of the medium works against the easy ways to do horror. Comics can’t do a jump scare. I can’t render things as squamous rugose or cyclopean. It took several false starts to figure out how to build the tension. You’ll have to be the judge of how well I did.

It also took me a ridiculously long time to realize this was MotherLovelace’s story. I tried out versions of it with Athena and leading the landing party, but it should’ve been obvious that the theme of confronting the creeping alien horror at the heart of the Federation’s institutions belonged to the Sisters of St. Barbara. Once I had that, the character arc snapped into place almost immediately. And, since the Sisters aren’t trained warriors and explorers, the horror elements became a little easier to arrange.

I don’t think I’ll be doing too much more horror, at least not deliberately. Trying to work out nightmare fuel literally cost me sleep. I’m glad I tried it, but I think I learned what I wanted to from it, and made the story points I needed to make.

I spent way too much time carefully crafting the servo. The original servo appears in the TOS episode “Gary Seven;” an updated version appeared in Picard’s second season. The transmuter is from“Catspaw,” where it was a necklace rather than a ring.

Our music this time is “Hoist theColors” by Hans Zimmer, from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. But we don’t share the title for the story; our title has a different meaning. We finally get some explicit explanation of the Sisters’… not theology, but guiding beliefs. And Mother Lovelace has resolved how to serve those principles going forward.

DangerousLines is the Publisher of this Comic Book Episode.

Click On Any Image To Read The Pirates of the Coal Sack Chapter 31.