Star Trek At 60

Celebrating Star Trek at 60!

For the 60th Anniversary of the airing of the first episode of Star Trek, two DC comics that reached a 60th issue.

Star Trek #60 (June, 1994) with a cover by Jerome Moore, and story by Howard Weinstein and Carlos Garzon, is the conclusion of a three part story featuring Chekov.

Star Trek: The Next Generation #60 (June, 1994) with a cover by Jason Palmer and David Williams, and story by Michael Jan Friedman and Pablo Marcus, has the Enterprise-D crew searching for a missing starship crew on a planet, while Picard deals with an alien force in orbit.

Over the years, have had a few Star Trek articles, and here are a few of the best!

Leonard Nimoy's Spock  

William Shatner's Kirk

Ricardo Montalban's Khan

The first and last mission of Kirk's five years on the Enterprise

A Next Generation/Deep Space Nine crossover

The Mirror Mirror universe

...all to go, boldly, where no man has gone before!

Celebrating Artist Frank Miller

Celebrating artist Frank Miller on his birthday...here, with a couple of his earlier efforts at Marvel, drawing two Star Trek covers (#5 and #10, August, 1980 and January, 1981), as the crew of the Enterprise had just come out of their movie debut in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.

Star Trek Covered By Jim Starlin

A couple of Star Trek covers from the time between Star Trek III and Star Trek IV, when DC had the license.  Here, in issues #24 and #25 (March and April, 1986), Kirk and the Enterprise crew faced off against waring races, the Ajir and the Grond...all under covers by Jim Starlin, with interiors by Diane Duane, Tom Sutton and Ricardo Villagran.

Star Trek 59th Anniversary

In 1966, on this date, Star Trek first boldly went where no man had gone before with Captain Kirk and his crew of the starship Enterprise.

Some time has passed since then, and, to commemorate the event, a small collection of covers from 59th issues of Star Trek, with Gold Key (art by Mel Crawford), DC (with art by Jerome Moore), DC's Next Generation (with art by Jason Palmer and Jerome Moore) and IDW (with main art by Tony Shasteen).

Star Trek #59 (Gold Key) and Star Trek #59 (DC)

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Star Trek: The Next Generation (DC) and Star Trek #59 (IDW)

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Star Trek 58th Anniversary

Celebrating the debut of the TV show, Star Trek, which was on September 8th, 1966...

...boldly going where no man has gone before..

...with two special issues featuring the original cast in adventures set during the original series.

Star Trek #58 (Gold Key, December, 1978)

Here, in a story by George Kashdan with art by Al McWilliams and painted cover by Chuck Liese, Dr. Leonard McCoy has to cure more than a cold...he has to help out a much larger patient, "The Brain Damaged Planet", as a virus was menacing a whole planet's population, via the brain at the core of the planet.

An incredible task for a man who considered himself at heart just a country doctor.

Star Trek #58 (DC Comics, March, 1994)

With this story, by Howard Weinstein, with Carlos Garzon on interior art and cover by Jerome Moore, this issue started a run with a flashback on Pavel Chekov (as Chekov visited Sulu in the present day), set during the time of original mission, wherein the Enterprise was dealing with a mysterious ship bombarding a colony with lethal radiation as an old flame came back into Chekov's life.

Chekov, looking back on his life, just as, on this anniversary, Star Trek fans celebrate the original show (and all that came after).

Celebrating Star Artist Greg Hildebrandt

Celebrating the work of artist Greg Hildebrandt on his birthday (January 23, 1939) with this recent work of his...

..the cover for Star Trek: Year Five #1 (April, 2019) for IDW, featuring Kirk, Spock and the rest of the original crew of the Enterprise...

..all ready to go where no man has gone before.

This cover echoes a movie poster Greg did with his brother, Tim (January 23, 1939 - June 11, 2006) a long, long time ago....and we remember him this day as well.

Star Trek 56th Anniversary

On September 8th, 1966, fans were treated to the first episode of Star Trek.

Now, 56 years later, time to celebrate that science fiction classic, with a look at comic covers from Star Trek's long history in comics, with one being a little sadder than the rest.

Gold Key was the first to publish Star Trek, and IDW is the current license holder, and here are the covers of their 56 issues of their respective series....with art by an unidentified artist (October, 1978) and Tony Shasteen (April 2016).

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DC had two concurrent series running with Star Trek, one on the original series and one based on The Next Generation, with covers by Rod Whigham and Carlos Garzon and by Deryl Skelton (both issues cover dated January, 1994)

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But, the sad part of this anniversary, is this, the 56th (and last issue) of DC's original run of Star Trek comics, with cover art by Jerome Moore (November, 1988....and read more on the history of Star Trek comics here).  

But, not unlike Spock, Star Trek would return to comics, including the Next Generation and beyond!

Remembering Aron Eisenberg

Remembering actor Aron Eisenberg on his birthday (January 6, 1969 - September 21, 2019), most famous for his role as Nog, the tenacious Ferengi from Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

Celebrating the brief career of Aron's with special issue, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, The Celebrity Series: The Rules Of Diplomacy #1 (August, 1995), co-written by Aron Eisenberg and Mark Paniccia, with art by Leonard Kirk, and inks by Bob Almond, John Montgomery, Scott Reed and Leonard Kirk.  

A one shot issue about Nog's adventure helping a Klingon diplomat on the Ferengi homeworld, showing Nog's eagerness and interest in Starfleet, with the issue also including containing a biography of Aron.

Star Trek 55th Anniversary

Celebrating 55 years of Star Trek, as its first episode aired on September 8, 1966.

Here, with a painted cover (and a sLight error), Spock and Scotty faced off in the Gold Key Star Trek 55th issue from September, 1978, while an older Spock was the feature for the IDW Star Trek 55th issue from March, 2016.

DC had 2 Star Trek series, the first with Kirk, Spock and McCoy beaming down from the Enterprise-A in the 55th issue from October, 1988, the second, with Sulu and Kirk fighting Klingons disguised as Klingons from December, 1993.

More info on Spock here, some special Star Trek issues here, Next Generation and Deep Space Nine here, and on all the Star Trek comics from a 50th Anniversary article here!

Remembering Gene Roddenberry

Remembering Gene Roddenberry (August 19, 1921 - October 24, 1991) on what would have been his 100th birthday.

Gene created Star Trek, then, brought Star Trek: The Next Generation to syndicated TV screens in the 1980s.

Star Trek #26 (December, 1991) was the last original Star Trek comic book to come out before Gene passed, "Where's There's A Will...", by Howard Weinstein, Gordon Purcell and Arne Starr, with cover by Jerome K. Moore, with the original crew working together.... and you can find out about more of the Star Trek comic series here!

 

Star Trek: The Next Generation #25 (November, 1991) was the last TNG book to come out before Gene's end, and "Wayward Son" by Michael Jan Friedman, Peter Kraus and Pablo Marcos (with cover by Jerome K. Moore) dealt with Worf, his son Alexander, parents Sergey and Helena Rozhenko, as well as the outrageous Okona!

Losing Gene Roddenberry was like losing family....

...but, as Bones said about Spock, "He's not really dead...as long as we remember him".

Remembering James Doohan With Scotty Star Trek Covers

Remembering James Doohan (March 3, 1920 - July 20, 2005), most famous for his portrayal of Montgomery Scott, chief engineer of the USS Enterprise of the original Star Trek.

True, he didn't get the number of covers of Kirk or Spock, but he did make many of the group covers, as well as the movie covers.

Too busy studying technical manuals on shore leave to pose for covers!  It's how he keeps his reputation for being a miracle worker.

Remembering Ricardo Montalban With Khan Covers

 

Remembering actor Ricardo Montalban on what would have been his 100th birthday (November 25, 1920 - January 14, 2009).

Known for many roles including the enigmatic Mr. Roarke on Fantasy Island, as well as a pair of appearances as Armando in Escape From The Planet Of The Apes/Conquest Of The Planet Of The Apes...

...he was better known as the genetically enhanced man from the 1990s, Khan Noonien Singh, from the 1967 Star Trek episode "Space Seed" and the movie, Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982).

 

 

While Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest have had many of their exploits told in comics...

 

...Khan has only recently had his adventures told in the funny pages, thanks to IDW.

 

 

 

Major appearances of Khan in the comics include the two mini-series, Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (June-July, 2009) and Star Trek: Khan Ruling In Hell (October-January, 2010/2011) , as well as the recent one shot Star Trek: Hell's Mirror from August, 2020, detailing the adventures of the mirror universe Khan. 

Fans of Star Trek will always remember Montalban's portrayal as Khan: "He tasks me. He tasks me and I shall have him! I'll chase him 'round the moons of Nibia and 'round the Antares Maelstrom and 'round perdition's flames before I give him up!".

Star Trek 54 Years

Star Trek had its first episode premiere on September 8th, 1966, and with "The Man Trap", boldly took viewers where they had never gone before.

Over that 54 year span, multiple comic book companies published adventures of the Enterprise crews, and here is a look at the few titles that happen to have a 54th issue.

Sport Of Knaves

In Star Trek #54 (August, 1978) by George Kashdan and Alden McWilliams (and a painted cover by George Wilson), a rare focus on Scotty (though, as you can see by the photo inset, the adventures were usually those of Kirk and Spock), as the Enterprise's chief engineer had to face off against an alien and his killer birds!

 

Gold Key was the first company to have had Star Trek comics, focusing on the original crew, and they ran from 1967 until 1979, lasting for 61 issues (more info on the Gold Key run here!). 

 

Old Loyalties

DC had the next Star Trek #54 (September, 1988), by Peter David, Gordon Purcell and Ricardo Villagran (with cover by Jerome Moore and Keith Wilson), focusing on the movie era crew, with Kirk having a chance to face off against his old Starfleet Academy rival, Finnegan!

 

 

James T. Kirk (as Captain, Admiral or even ensign) was often the focus of Star Trek comics over the years, as this article will clearly show! 

Hidden Agendas

The only series not featuring Kirk to make it past 54 issues was TNG, with Star Trek: The Next Generation #54 (Late November, 1993) by Michael Jan Friedman and Pablo Marcos, with a cover by Rod Whigham and Carlos Garzon, is the third part of a story, where Captain Picard has to run through a holodeck program as Dixon Hill in order to save Worf and Deanna Troi.

 

The Next Generation had one of the longer lasting runs of any Star Trek comic, going for 80 issues from 1989 to 1996, and even their final episode and first two movies were covered in a comic book!

Time Crime, Part Two: Nightmares

The other longest lasting Star Trek series was DC Comics second run with the original crew, with Star Trek #54 (November, 1993) by Howard Weinstein, Rod Whigham and Arne Starr (with cover by Rod Whigham and Carlos Garzon), with Kirk and crew dealing with a timeline where the Romulans have been wiped from existence, and, in this second part of five, Kirk and Colonel Worf (from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country), going back in time to make sure a great man is assassinated (to fix the timeline).

DC handled the adaptations of the third through sixth Star Trek movies, and look here for the covers of them (as well as a little history of Spock in the comics). 

Reunion, Part 2

The most recent series to go for any length of issues was from IDW, and their issue of Star Trek #54 (February, 2016) by Mike Johnson and Tony Shasteen, focuses on Lt. Gaila, the Orion roommate of Uhura, who was forced to go back and marry a Pacari leader by a rebel Orion leader, with Kirk and the Enterprise crew risking galactic peace to save her!

IDW's Star Trek series mostly focused on the newer versions of the original crew, but mixed some original casts in over their 60 issue run.

Sadly, Deep Space Nine and Voyager never had any series that lasted over 50 issues, Enterprise doesn't seem to make it into comics much, and Discovery and Picard are only really starting comics, but, so long as people boldly go, there will be Star Trek comics!

Remembering DeForest Kelley With McCoy Covers

I'm going to click my heels and jump for joy, today's the birthday of the actor who played Dr. McCoy!


Remembering DeForest Kelley and his role as Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy from a few of the Star Trek comics over the years, born January 20, 1920, and passed at age 79 on June 11, 1999.

DC Comics

Crossover 

Marvel Comics and IDW Publishing

Kirk and Spock both had more Star Trek covers, but at least McCoy had a few....and, today he gets the last word!

Happy 51st Anniversary Star Trek

51 years ago, Star Trek began its life on NBC, with a little episode called "The Man Trap".

Since then, Star Trek has continued on, with multiple movies and spin offs....as well as a few comic books.

DC had two comic book series about the original cast and crew that lasted past 50 issues, so here's a quick look at them.

1980s DC

This Star Trek #51 (June, 1988) has the title of "Haunted Honeymoon", and is by Peter David, Tom Sutton and Ricardo Villagran, with a cover by Mike O'Connell.



The crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise 1701-A faces off against a telepath who has fallen ill...


...projecting nightmarish visions for the crew, including Captain Kirk, who sees visions of the good ship Enterpoop, crewed by the characters of Bloom County.


This story does continue into the next issue of this series...

1990s DC

DC's other Star Trek #51 (August, 1993) features the story "Renegade" by Dan Mishkin, Deryl Skelton, Steve Carr and Arne Starr, with a cover by Rod Whigham and Carlos Garzon.

This issue focuses on Saavik, with her tracking down a Federation scientist, Professor Erickson, on a Romulan Outpost, as the scientist was planning to share a major breakthrough of his with the Romulans!


Two very different issues, showing some of the infinite diversity of Star Trek!

Covering Star Trek's Captain Kirk

Captain James T. Kirk had a long history.....and quite a bit of it was covered in comic books!

Here's a look back at the various looks (and comic book incarnations) of James T. Kirk over the decades, celebrating the long life of William Shatner...


....one of the best covers is the cover for Star Trek Annual #2 (1991) by Jerome K. Moore, for an issue that focused on Kirk's time at Starfleet Academy (but also showed his evolution over the decades).


Let's cover a few more....

Gold Key

Gold Key had the license from the time of the original series, and it lasted for 61 issues, from October, 1967 to March, 1979, with a couple of Captain Kirk covers like #33 (September, 1975) by George Wilson, and #38 (July, 1976) also painted by George Wilson.

Marvel 1

Marvel was next to have the Star Trek series, based on Star Trek: The Motion Picture, and since it only lasted for 18 issues from April, 1980 to February, 1982, it didn't have as much time to cover then Admiral James T. Kirk, with covers here from #4 (July, 1980) by Dave Cockrum and Klaus Janson and #14 (June, 1981) by Ed Hannigan and James Sherman.

DC 1

DC Comics got the Enterprise crew next, with their first series running for 56 issues from February, 1984 to November, 1988; it had many covers with Admiral Kirk, including #6 (July, 1984) by Tom Sutton and Sal Amendola, and #54 (September, 1988) by Jerome K. Moore and Keith Wilson.

DC 2

DC ran a second series based on the original Star Trek characters, running from October, 1989 to February, 1996, with stories of Kirk from all over his career, including #10 (July, 1980) by Mark Bright and Keith Wilson, and #73 (July, 1995) by Jason Palmer, for what ended up being Star Trek's longest running series, lasting 80 issues from October, 1989 to February, 1996, by which time the original Star Trek cast had moved on from Star Trek, leaving the movies and television shows to new generations....

Marvel 2

That didn't stop addition adventures with the original crew from happening....Marvel had multiple Star Trek series during the 1990s under the Paramount Comics imprint, and Kirk was featured in more than a few of the issues, such as Star Trek: Early Voyages #14 (March, 1998) and Star Trek Unlimited #8 (March, 1998), but sadly, neither issue credits their cover artists. 

IDW

The Star Trek characters have ended up at IDW Publishing, with Captain Kirk being the feature of many covers and stories, including Star Trek: Year Four Enterprise Experiment #3 (June, 2008) cover by the Sharp Brothers...


....and even Star Trek #59 and #60 (covers by Tony Shasteen in 2016), where William Shatner's Kirk met Chris Pine's....

....proving Captain Kirk will indeed live long and prosper (more of Captain Kirk's individual history is in Who's Who In Star Trek #1 from 1987; and a story co-written by William Shatner in 1995 called Star Trek: the Ashes Of Eden with cover by Nicholas Jainschigg) and for more Star Trek covers, for one's featuring Spock, and more here for Star Trek's 50th Anniversary).