Star Trek's Gold Key

Star Trek boldly went in the 1960s, but…how to take that experience home with you in the days before VOD, DVR, DVD or even VCR?

Well, it was the comics! For 61 issues from cover dates July, 1967 to March, 1979, Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scott, Sulu, Uhura, Chekov, Rand and Chapel were there in the funny pages for you to read, brought to you from the folks at Gold Key.

Space...the Final Frontier

The stories were simple (and usually featured things not seen in the TV show), and sometimes characters didn’t even look like their familiar versions (it wasn’t as though the comic creators could just hop on the internet to find reference….).

Even though Gold Key had access to all the characters, Uhura, Chekov, Rand and Chapel weren’t used much, and they only used Harry Mudd and Zefram Cochrane from the guest stars (once each, #49 for Cochrane, and #61 for Mudd), though they had McCoy’s daughter in a few issues (which the TV show was going to do, but never got around to), and had issues with Klingons, Romulans and the Guardian of Forever.

Though, a few comics looked like they belonged more to Irwin Allen’s Lost In Space than to Gene Rodenberry’s Star Trek…

Still, some of the stories were good, and they were all preserved in the Star Trek: The Key Collection, seven volumes that reprinted the new stories from Star Trek #1-61 (#29, 35, 37 and 45 were reprints!).

Len Wein wrote issues #9-16, George Kashdan and Arnold Drake alternated issues between #17 through 61, and interior art was by Nevio Zaccara (#1 & 2), and Alberto Giolitti (#3-27 and 30-37) and Alden McWilliams (#38-61), and painted covers by George Wilson.

These issues are in interesting look at our future…from the past! Then, Star Trek went on…to Marvel Comics!

These Are The Voyages

Star Trek: the Key Collection Volume 1 – issues 1-8 by Dick Wood, Nevio Zeccara, and Alberto Giolitti from July, 1967 to September, 1970

Star Trek: the Key Collection Volume 2 – issues 9-17 by Len Wein, Arnold Drake and Alberto Giolitti from February, 1971 to February, 1973

Star Trek: the Key Collection Volume 3 – issues 18-25 by Arnold Drake, John David Warner, Gerry Boudreau and Alberto Giolitti from May, 1973 to July, 1974

Star Trek: the Key Collection Volume 4 – issues 26-33 by John David Warner, George Kashdan, Allan Moniz, Arnold Drake and Albert Giolitti from September, 1974 to September, 1975

Star Trek: the Key Collection Volume 5 – issues 34, 36, 38-43 by Arnold Drake and Albert Giolitti and Alden McWilliams from October, 1975 to February, 1977

Star Trek: the Key Collection Volume 6 – issues 44, 46-52 by Arnold Drake, George Kashdan, Doug Drexler and Alden McWilliams from May, 1977 to May, 1978

Star Trek: the Key Collection Volume 7 – issues 53-61 by George Kashdan, Arnold Drake, John Warner and Alden McWilliams from July, 1978 to March, 1979