Byrne imagines the Gary Seven series that never was: the continuing adventures of Seven, Roberta, and Isis from the pilot the network never picked up to spin off from Star Trek. ( )

After making his Star Trek debut in Alien Spotlight, Volume 1, John Byrne returns to the fold in these tales of Gary Seven, secret agent, and Roberta Lincoln, his ditzy assistant, picking up from where the episode "Assignment: Earth" left off in 1968. It's a fun idea to see what these two got up to on a regular basis-- previously we'd only had their encounters with the Enterprise crew or Khan Noonien Singh-- and Byrne executes this pretty well, as Seven and Lincoln bag communist sympathizers and the like in an attempt to stop nuclear war from breaking out. As a fan of Danger Man, how could I not enjoy this!? Unfortunately, Byrne doesn't seem as much a master of the "done-in-one" plot as he ought to be as a long-time comics veteran: some of the stories' resolutions are ridiculously simple, especially "My Name is Legion", where the Beta Five computer takes care of everything. Also disappointing is the reveal of Seven's employers' long-time enemy in "We Have Met the Enemy...", who really don't seem very bright or powerful given the rep that they have. On the other hand, "Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow" is fun, disturbing, and a quality retcon all at once, and "Too Many Presidents", featuring a Chinese plot to replace Richard Nixon, is a perfect 1970s spy story with an appropriate modern edge. Oh, and I think I'm in love with Roberta Lincoln. She just looks so fab!