The Black Hole

The Black Hole was a 13-panel comic strip, the second of two released by Larami Corporation in 1979. The story was printed on a narrow spool of paper and read by loading it into a Star Trek Space Viewer toy. In this story, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) intercepted a black hole.

Publisher's description

 * Omnibus teaser
 * When a "runaway black hole" threatens the entire galaxy, the Enterprise crew flies around it at warp 12 to create a vacuum, drags away the singularity and fires photon missiles to destroy it.

Summary
The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) was assigned to divert the course of a rogue black hole currently traveling between a star and its planet. James T. Kirk ordered the ship to warp past it at an extremely high speed, which would shift its direction. After the maneuver was successful, Hikaru Sulu annihilated the phenomenon with missiles.

Characters

 * James T. Kirk • Spock • Hikaru Sulu

Starships and vehicles

 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) ( heavy cruiser)

Locations

 * Unnamed star system

Races and cultures

 * Human • Vulcan

Science and technology

 * missile • photon missile • viewscreen

Ranks and titles

 * captain • crew • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • Starfleet ranks

Other references

 * black hole • bridge • galaxy • helm • planet • red alert • star • star system • vacuum • warp • warp 12

Timeline

 * The comic strip's packaging was branded for . While crew uniforms were colored using the palette from the Starfleet uniform (early 2270s), the detailing on the uniforms was that of the older style Starfleet uniform (2265-2270). The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), both inside and out, was depicted in its pre-refit configuration, suggesting a placement in the late 2260s.

Background

 * Although the science described in the story was over-simplified for children, the events were plausible if the black hole was a microsingularity and its course diverted using the ship's warp field.
 * Hikaru Sulu was referred to as "Zulu".
 * "The Black Hole" was also the name of a Disney movie released two weeks after in December 1979.

Related stories

 * – In 2266, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) used electromagnetic fields to tow the star remnant Doona.
 * – In the 2270s, the Enterprise used antimatter to destroy a gravitational field weapon consisting of extremely dense matter.

External link

 * The complete comic strip is posted at the Star Trek Comics Checklist website.