Warkentin
Thomas Warkentin (1935 - 2002) was a comic strip artist and writer, animator and magazine cover artist. From 1979 to 1981, he created the first eight stories of the US Comic Strips series.
Warkentin also produced the 12 TOS fotonovel paperbacks in 1977 and 1978, selecting the images and writing the captions. (Are They Comics? article by Rich Handley at the Hero Collector website.)
US Comic Strip series[]
To audition for the job of creating the Star Trek newspaper strip, Warkentin produced seven sample daily strips and two sample Sunday strips. He used his likeness for one of the characters. After Neal Adams and Al Williamson declined offers, Warkentin was hired. (The Newspaper Comics, Volume 1, The Newspaper Comics, Volume 2, Star Trek: Communicator Issue 121: "Forgotten Frontiers: Revisiting the Star Trek Comic Strips")
Warkentin’s stories embraced the motion picture era, highlighting the refit USS Enterprise as well as Klingons and other aliens seen in the film, while being seasoned with references from TOS and TAS. His tenure lasted 73 weeks, from December 1979 to April 1981. Following his departure, he provided art assistance in October 1981 for "Quarantine" and returned without credit in 1982 to illustrate the last 12 daily strips of "The Nogura Regatta".
Warkentin used plastic models to improve detailing and perspective in his illustrations. Sold at a Venice, California estate sale were five spacecraft models reportedly used for the series. Among them were two models of the refit Enterprise, one with its panel lines darkened. A K't'inga-class battlecruiser with panel lines heavily darkened by marker was also sold. Such K't'inga-class ships debuted in the strip on January 8, 1980, whereas an earlier story with Klingon ships did not have the detailing. (Estate sale article at Worthpoint.)
Star Trek credits[]
US Comic Strips, writer/artist[]
- "Called Home" (12/2/1979-1/12/1980)
- "Dilithium Dilemma" (1/13/1980-3/8/1980)
- "The Real McCoy" (3/9/1980-5/3/1980)
- "Double Bluff" (5/4/1980-6/28/1980)
- "Aberration on Abaris" (6/29/1980-9/6/1980)
- "Husian Gambit" (9/7/1980-1/17/1981)
- "Heads of State" (1/18/1981-3/21/1981)
- "It's a Living" (3/22/1981-4/25/1981)
US Comic Strips, art assistance[]
- "Quarantine" (October 1981)
- "The Nogura Regatta" (last 12 daily strips, uncredited, 1982)
Fotonovel writer/editor[]
- #1: "The City on the Edge of Forever" (November 1977)
- #2: "Where No Man Has Gone Before" (November 1977)
- #3: "The Trouble with Tribbles" (December 1977)
- #4: "A Taste of Armageddon" (January 1978)
- #5: "Metamorphosis" (February 1978)
- #6: "All Our Yesterdays" (March 1978)
- #7: "The Galileo Seven" (May 1978)
- #8: "A Piece of the Action" (June 1978)
- #9: "The Devil in the Dark" (July 1978)
- #10: "Day of the Dove" (August 1978)
- #11: "The Deadly Years" (September 1978)
- #12: "Amok Time" (October 1978)
Non Trek work[]
- For Warner Bros Animation in the 1990s, Warkentin was a background key designer, background layout artist and layout artist. He worked on 21 episodes of Animaniacs, 17 episodes of Histeria!, and 7 episodes of Tiny Toon Adventures. He also was a background key designer for the three-episode premiere of Superman: The Animated Series. (IMDB)
- The 1996 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Achievement in Animation was awarded to the artists, writers and directors of Animaniacs. (Emmy Award)
- From 1991-1996, Warkentin wrote stories for the Flash Gordon comic strip. (Flash Gordon)
- Warkentin illustrated three front covers and two back covers for Heavy Metal magazine. (Heavy Metal)
- Warkentin created promo art for video releases of the sci-fi film Dark Star. (Dark Star)
Appendices[]
External Links[]
- Thomas Warkentin article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Thomas Warkentin article at IMDB.