DC On TV Superboy Flash Lois Lane

Continuing a look at various DC characters who have made the transition from comics to television screens....

....this time around, finishing off the major characters who made it to networks in the 20th Century, with Superboy, Flash and Lois Lane and Clark Kent!

Superboy

Superboy (also called the New Adventures of Superboy) came about due to syndication deals,with a little help from the Superman movies (though setting the stage a little earlier than that).  The first episode premiered on October 8th, 1988, with John Haymes Newton as Clark Kent/Superboy and Stacy Haiduk as Lana Lang, placing Clark and Lana at college (with Lex Luthor as a competing student).  This changed with the second season, with Gerard Christopher taking over as Clark/Superboy (but Stacy staying on as Lana) until the show ended in after its fourth season.  Along the way, they did revisit Krypton a little, and brought a few other villains to life, including Metallo, Bizarro and Mr. Mxyzptlk, as well as versions of Superboy foes Yellow Peri and the Kryptonite Kid (and even a few vampires, werewolves and magi along the way, as well as mad scientists, gangsters and a few losses of powers....including in the last of 100 half an hour episodes, with "Rites Of Passage, Part 2", which aired on May 17th, 1992.   

Superboy, in the comics, was phased out at the time (thanks to a change in his history thanks to the Crisis On Infinite Earths and the Man of Steel mini-series....a little more on this below), but just before the TV show, Superboy had been kicked out of his own title by the Legion of Super-Heroes, then got a title all his own, called The New Adventures of Superboy, which featured the adventures of the boy who would grow up to be Superman, in his town of Smallville, being a super-hero and keeping the world safe.  The New Adventures of Superboy #31 (July, 1982) was an average tale of that time, entitled "The Main Event: Smallville, U.S.A" by Gary Cohn, Dan Mishkin, Kurt Schaffenberger and Dave Hunt, with Superboy facing off against Pulsar, a super-villain created by his father, Robert Altus Sr., by stealing Superboy's power for his son, and Superboy fighting him to remain who he is.

Flash

Flash was the first DC character that had his own live action show (who wasn't one of DC's trinity of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman), that started with a two hour pilot on September 20th, 1990, with Barry Allen (played by John Wesley Shipp) being struck by lightning, and, with the help of S.T.A.R. Labs scientist, Tina McGee (played by Amanda Pays), becomes the Flash, using his speed to protect Central City from criminals and disasters.  The show eventually added super-villains (most notably Captain Cold, Mirror Master, and for two episodes, The Trickster), but sadly, it only lasted one season, ending with after an additional  21 one hour episodes, with "The Trial of The Trickster" (dealing with Mark Hamill's Trickster....and how Central City came to accept the Flash as its hero) on May 18th, 1991.

The Flash TV show did deal with Barry Allen as the Flash, but thanks to events that happened during the Crisis On Infinite Earths, Barry wasn't around in the comics at this time, with Wally West (who was Flash's sidekick, Kid Flash), taking over as the Flash (and, at least in the early issues of Wally's Flash series in the 1980s, working with Tina McGee of S.T.A.R. Labs to focus his speed).  Wally had been helping Barry for years before this, and Barry used a little bit of super-speed trickery in "The Flash's Sensational Risk" in Flash #149 (December, 1964, by John Broome, Carmine Infantino and Joe Giella), with Wally losing his memory and Barry pulling a fast one to help him remember (and defeat invading extra-dimensional invaders).

Lois and Clark

Superman came back to television on September 12th, 1993, with Lois and Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman, focusing on the relationship of Ms. Lane (Teri Hatcher) and Mr. Kent (Dean Cain)  and the staff of the Daily Planet (which included Perry White, Jimmy Olsen and Cat Grant) and Clark's still living Smallville parents, and corporate headhunter Lex Luthor, instead of entirely on super-heroics (though Clark did throw on the Superman clothes for a bit in the episodes).  Later seasons did have other foes, such as the Prankster, the Toyman, Metallo, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Ugly Mannheim (and Intergang), Deathstroke and even their own villain, time-travelling Tempus, as well as having Lois and Clark get married (which was reflected immediately in the comics).  The show ended with "The Family Hour", the last of its 87 one hour episodes on June 14, 1997 (dealing with the idea of giving the couple a child...).

Superman was undergoing changes, taking him back to his basics (thanks to DC realigning its history during the Crisis On Infinite Earths), with the Man of Steel limited series defining Superman as the sole survivor of Krypton, Lois and Clark having the start of an office romance at the Daily Planet, and Luthor being an evil corporate businessman in society instead of an evil scientist on the run as been previously established.  Luthor used his Lexcorp corporate resources in Superman #2 (February, 1987, by John Byrne and Terry Austin), figuring out that Clark Kent was Superman in "The Secret Revealed"!  Yet, Luthor, being an ego-maniac couldn't believe someone with the powers of Superman would ever hide his powers behind another identity!


Hopefully, all this gives you an idea how the comics influence the television shows (and how the shows return their influence on the comics).  All these shows helped ready television audiences of the 21st Century to be ready for more shows, like Birds of Prey, Smallville, the Human Target, Constantine, Gotham, Arrow, the Flash, Supergirl and the Legends of Tomorrow!  

DC On TV Superman Batman Wonder Woman

With a group of amazing heroes like they have at DC Comics, they seemed a natural fit for television audiences....


....here's a quick look at some of the earliest attempts to put Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman on your TV screens!

Adventures of Superman

Superman was the first, starting a television series "Adventures Of Superman" on September 19, 1952 and the half an hour episode of "Superman On Earth", which summarized the destruction of Krypton, Clark Kent growing up, and coming to Metropolis to work at the Daily Planet.  After that, for the first two seasons in black and white, Superman had much more of a noir feel, fighting gangsters (and switching from season 1's Phyllis Coates to Noel Neill for the rest of the show), with George Reeves filling out the role of Superman (and Clark Kent, with a wink and a smile) through all 6 seasons.  As the show was in color starting with season three, there were more fantastic menaces, and threats were more accidents caused by professors than anything else, until the show ended with its 104th episode on April 28th, 1958, with "All That Glitters" (and Lois and Jimmy getting in on the super-powered fun!).

In the comics at this time, Superman used a mental image viewer he found to check out history of Krypton (luckily, the viewer he found was his father, Jor-El's, viewer). 

In Superman #113 (May, 1957), with "The Superman Of The Past" by Bill Finger, Wayne Boring and Stan Kaye (and the last two also providing the cover of this full length tale), Superman found his father was an adventurer on Krypton, saving the planet from the queen of the Vergoans, Latora, and her plans to destroy Krypton (Latora wasn't totally evil, as she chose Krypton because it was already doomed....so, after defeating her and her robot army, Jor-El was able to return home to warn his people, though that didn't do any good, unfortunately!).

Batman

Batman was next on people's TV screens, with the series of "Batman", starting on January 12th, 1966 with the half-hour episode of "Hi Diddle Riddle" (followed by its conclusion the next day, "Smack In The Middle").  Batman and Robin pulled double duty their first two years, having two episodes a week, with the first usually involving a cliffhanger, to be resolved the next night (at the same Bat-time, same Bat-channel).  Adam West's Batman was a much lighter hero than Superman, and he had Burt Ward as Robin and Alan Napier as Alfred to confide in.  Batman also fought villains from the comics, including the Riddler, Penguin, Joker, Catwoman, Mr. Freeze and the Mad Hatter, as well as creating a few of it's own criminals like Egghead, King Tut, Shane, the Bookworm and more.  In it's third season, it was reduced down to one night a week, but added Batgirl (Yvonne Craig) to the mix, before the show ended its run with the episode of "Minerva, Mayhem And Millionaires" on March 14th, 1968, having 120 episodes (and one theatrically released movie in between seasons one and two).

Batman comics at the time had a "new look" that had started in Detective Comics #327 (May, 1964), with a much more exciting art style by Carmine Infantino, replacing the Bob Kane look from earlier years (and adding a yellow circle around Batman's chest bat-emblem). 

This proved important in the second story of Batman #183 (August, 1966) with "Batman's Baffling Turnabout" by Gardner Fox, Sheldon Moldoff and Sid Greene (under a cover by Carmine Infantino and Murphy Anderson), as a crook tried to take advantage of Robin to get into the Batcave by disguising himself as Batman, not knowing he was using the old costume design!   Holy costume malfunction, Batman!

Wonder Woman

Wonder Woman arrived on TV with her original look on November 7th, 1975, as "The New, Original Wonder Woman" (differing itself from an earlier attempt with a blonde Wonder Woman earlier), and moved from telemovie to a series, with Lynda Carter as Wonder Woman, who saved World War II pilot, Major Steve Trevor (played by Lyle Waggoner, who was almost Batman in the 1960s series), and returned him to Man's World from her Paradise Island, taking on the persona of Wonder Woman to fight crime, Nazi spies and aliens (while working with Major Trevor as Yeoman Diana Prince), with a very comic book looking series (at least for the first season).  The series moved to a different network for its second and third season, with the immortal Wonder Woman returning to Man's World to help Steve Trevor Jr. (still played by Waggoner), with Diana and this Steve working for the IADC (Inter-Agency Defense Command), but still fighting leftover Nazis, criminals, aliens, and even a few mad scientists (though never any of the many foes Wonder Woman faced in the comics) to the end of her 60 one-hour episodes, ending with the "Phantom Of The Roller Coaster, Part 2" on September 11th, 1979.

Wonder Woman had been renewed a few times in the comics even in the 1970s, and by the time of the 1980s, Wonder Woman had lost her powers, watched Steve Trevor die (twice), and had him returned to her twice (and regained her powers along the way).

With all this revamping of Wonder Woman, her foes needed a little help as well.  Kobra (a cult leader villain who briefly had his own title in the 1970s, and was more famous for having fought Batman, Aquaman and Superman before this), took Deborah Domaine, the niece of Priscilla Rich (the original Cheetah, who was dying), and transformed the girl into the new Cheetah, with a slightly new look and hoping she's be more than a match for Wonder Woman (but, it didn't work out that way) with "One Super-Villain: Made To Order" in Wonder Woman #274 (December, 1980) by Gerry Conway, Jose Delbo and Dave Hunt, under a cover by Ross Andru and Dick Giordano.

Comic book TV shows evolved, just as the comic books did over time...and more television shows followed, based on your favorite DC characters (and more looks in on them are coming soon!).  

Must There Be A Superman?

That is the question....must there be a Superman?


One has to wonder why Superman does what he does.  It doesn't seem to be appreciated by those around him....


....a look back at problems Superman had over the years.

Superman #247

In "Must There Be A Superman?" in Superman #247 (January, 1972) by Eliot S! Maggin, Curt Swan and Murphy Anderson (under a cover of accusations by Swan and Anderson), the Green Lanterns' bosses, the Guardians of the Universe, find Superman guilty of crimes against humanity...that of holding back the progress of the human race, by doing everything for them.  This doesn't sit well with the man of steel, who then is helping out a group in a migrant camp (but then only helps them to a point, letting them find the rest of the way out of their trouble on their own).

This proved a popular story, and was reprinted many times, including in both softcover and hardcover versions of The Greatest Superman Stories Ever Told (1987); Superman in the Seventies of October, 2000; Superman: The Greatest Stories Ever Told of August, 2004; and in Superman: A Celebration Of 75 Years from November, 2013. 

Superman #240

It would seem Superman isn't allowed to fail, but fail he did in Superman #240 (July, 1971) in "To Save A Superman" by Denny O'Neil, Curt Swan and Dick Giordano (under a stunning Neal Adams cover).  Due to a recent loss of power, Superman was unable to stop a building from collapsing, and the world turned against the Man of Steel for failing this one time.

This story was part of a larger arc running through the Superman titles of the day, trying to make Superman more relevant, running from Superman #233 to Superman #242, which involved Superman getting involved with people a little more, as well as losing Kryptonite as a weakness (because scientists made it inert on Earth...but they released the Quarrmer, also known as the "sand Superman", who weakened Superman....).  This story was collected in the DC Comics Classics Library: Superman: Kryptonite Nevermore of January, 2009.

Superman #423/Action Comics #583

The ultimate end of Silver Age Superman came about with "Whatever Happened To The Man of Tomorrow?" in Superman #423 and Action Comics #583 (September, 1986) by Alan Moore, Curt Swan and inks by George Perez in Superman, and Kurt Schaffenberger and Murphy Anderson in Action Comics.  With a little introduction in each issue to summarize the publishing history of the titles, the adventures of Superman were coming to an end with these issues (really just getting a little face lift....being revamped after the Crisis on Infinite Earths and getting a new editor as Julie Schwartz was retiring after starting editing the Superman books with getting rid of Kryptonite attempting to make Superman relevant in Superman #233....and editing the above stories as well). 

A somewhat haunting look through the last days of Superman and his friends and foes on Earth, with the majority of them not surviving the tale, with rather nasty endings for Luthor, Brainiac, Bizarro, Jimmy Olsen, Lana Lang and more...


...as Lois Lane related to another reporter as she settles in for the evening with her husband, Jordan Elliot, a quiet, unassuming man she found after Superman disappeared...nothing super about him at all, said with a wink (as the only way Superman and Lois could live happily ever after was if there was no more Superman....).

A popular tale at the time, and reprinted many a time, including in Superman: Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow? of 1997; DC Universe: the Stories of Alan Moore of 2006; and Superman: Whatever Happened To The Man Of Tomorrow? The Deluxe Edition of 2009...all of which proving that Superman would survive, in spite of his mistakes, and perhaps be good for humanity, as long as he was allowed to join it as well.

Remembering H.G. Wells

Author H.G. Wells (Herbert George Wells) was born September 21, 1866 (and passed on August 13, 1946)....and, among many other works, wrote The Invisible Man and The Time Machine (two concepts that have played out in comics time and time again...)

With these classic covers from Classics Illustrated, we remember H.G. Wells!

The Time Machine

From Classics Illustrated #133 (July, 1956), comes the tale of the Time Machine, with a cover from George Wilson, Lorenz Graham handling the adaptation, and Lou Cameron working on the interior pencils and inks of this book...


...relating the tale of the author, his travels in time with a machine of his own invention, going forward into danger, and meeting with the Morlocks and the Eloi (as well as friendly native Eloi girl, Weena, whom the narrator of this tale grows quite fond of....) in the future...

....and of the author's final fate!

The Invisible Man 

From Classics Illustrated #153 (November, 1959), there is the story of the Invisible Man, with a cover by Geoffrey Biggs, and interior art by Norman Nodel (though no one is listed as taking credit for the adaptation of the story, so whomever adapted this is an invisible man)...




...this story deals with a man named Griffin making himself invisible, then he terrorizes the countryside as the formula that made him invisible slowly drives him mad.

Gotham Guide with Penguin, Riddler and Two-Face

With the Secret Origins Special #1 (1989), under a cover by Brian Bolland (who had success with Joker in Batman: The Killing Joke), Batman tried to discourage documentary film maker Steve Jones from making a movie about Batman's villains (in the linking story of "Original Sins" by Neil Gaiman, Mike Hoffman and Kevin Nowlan)...and what follows was suppose to be 3 stories about the origins of Batman foes Penguin, Riddler and Two-Face (as well as why Batman warned off the filmmaker.....with a behind the scenes appearance of the Joker for extra emphasis, no less).



A little on the beginnings of these villains as presented in this issue (and a little more as well!).

Penguin

Oswald C. Cobblepot first appeared in Detective Comics #58 (December, 1941) by Bill Finger and Bob Kane, and was drawn in the DC Who's Who (packet 5 of the looseleaf version of 1990) by Jim Aparo.

In "The Killing Peck", Oswald was getting revenge on an old nemesis from earlier in his life, who tortured the boy who loved books and birds, making him eat fish and wear a suit, leading him down the route to becoming the Penguin in this story by Alan Grant and Sam Keith. 

Riddler

Edward Nigma came to be in Detective Comics #140 (October, 1948), by Bill Finger, Dick Sprang and Charles Paris, but didn't become a bigger Batman villain until the 1960s, with the DC Who's Who (packet 5 of the looseleaf version of 1990) by Kieron Dwyer and Dennis Janke).

When is an origin not an origin?  When it's "When Is A Door" by Neil Gaiman, Bernie Mireault and Matt Wagner, with the film crew following the Riddler through an old warehouse full of oversized novelties (once a feature of Batman comics in the 1950s), and the Riddler making odd commentary on it all, leaving his origins a question.

Two-Face

Harvey Dent flipped into Batman's life in Detective Comics #66 (August, 1942) by Bill Finger and Bob Kane  (though he was Harvey Kent back then), and was rendered in the the DC Who's Who (packet 11 of the looseleaf version of 1991) by Chris Sprouse and Dick Giordano.

Two-Face was almost portrayed as a hero in the untitled story in the Special, by Mark Verheiden, Pat Broderick and Dick Giordano (and he is only a coin flip away from being one, after all).  Still the district attorney who had acid thrown in his face by Boss Maroni, this story explored how Two-Face could be a hero, saving Grace (who was the one telling this Two-Face story to Steve Jones), and how he saved her from Dalton Perry (a criminal who was looking for revenge against Harvey, by kidnapping Grace).

A nice collection of tales, featuring some of Gotham's greatest criminals, which, when they first appeared in the Golden Age, only had Batman in common, but this Special started a slight link between them....something that has been built on upon the years, and continues to this day! 

Star Trek: The Next Generation End And Begin

Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek, the original series, ended with little fanfare after its 79 episodes (counting "The Cage"), but it survived, growing into a movie franchise that became quite successful.  So successful, that the idea of Star Trek: The Next Generation happened, leading to 7 seasons of going where no one has gone before....then four movies involving that cast as well, and quite a few comic books as well.

Star Trek: The Next Generation also had a few adaptations, that of the two hour season finale of it's show, and of two of its movies....and here's a little more information on those!

All Good Things

The last two episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation written by Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga dealt with Picard being bounced through time by Q, to just before the first episode of The Next Generation ("Encounter At Farpoint"), the current time of the series and about 25 years in the future.

The comic adaptation came out in June, 1994, being written by the regular comic series writer of Michael Jan Friedman, with art by Star Trek newcomer of Jay Scott Pike (creator of Dolphin, so he was at least an experienced artist, but one who had given up on the monthly comic grind) and inker Jose Marzan Jr., and a beautiful cover by Sonia Hillios.  Sadly, the adaptation lacked a little depth, and was the only episode adapted into comic book form.

Generations

The Next Generation made their first foray into the movies with Star Trek: Generations by Rick Berman, Ronald D. Moore and Brannon Braga, this followed the crew of the Enterprise-D past the season finale, and also chronicled the last days of Captain James T. Kirk (both in the 23rd and 24th Centuries), including a battle against Soran (and the android, Data, getting emotions).

The comic adaptation came out at the time of cover dates of January, 1995, being written by Michael Jan Friedman, and art by Gordon Purcell, inks by Jerome K. Moore and Terry Pallot, and a cover by Sonia Hillios.  While looking more like the regular comics, the adaptation also suffered (most notably by the lack of Kirk on the cover.....as the only team-up of Kirk and Picard, one would have wanted to see that....then again, not the comics fault, as the Next Generation was being positioned to take over from the original cast; the comic followed the movie, and any faults in this book were more from the overworked Star Trek offices, who were producing all this too quickly).  There was a regular version of the comic, and a deluxe (pictured at left)...

....look for the deluxe, as it also includes cast information and a little on the difficulties of comic book adaptations! 

This also makes one wish for adaptations of episodes "Unification" (with Spock), and "Relics" (with Scotty)....but, such has yet to happen (though the Modala Imperative did tease a little, with the original Star Trek cast facing an unknown menace in a four issue mini-series, to be followed by the Next Generation dealing with that menace in its time, with a little help from Spock and McCoy.....perhaps more of the original/Next Generation team up the fans would have liked to have seen!). 

 

First Contact

By the time of Star Trek: First Contact, Marvel had the rights to Star Trek comics (under the Paramount Comics banner), so they produced the last movie adaptation of Next Generation.  Star Trek: First Contact had all the elements popular to Star Trek....time travel, the Borg, Data, Picard, even tying into the original series with Zefram Cochrane and the early days setting up the Federation (with the first meeting of humans and Vulcans and Earth's first Warp flight), all written by Rick Berman, Brannon Braga and Ronald D. Moore (a little less under deadline doom than when making Generations).

The comic adaptation was written by John Vornholt, with art by Terry Pallot and Rod Whigham, inked by Phillip Moy, and a cover by Jeff Pittarelli and came out in November, 1996.  The only real problem with this issue, was that by this time, VCRs were quite popular, and the need for comic adaptations were lessening (as one could now bring the movie home easily...

.....a process even made easier by DVDs, cable and digital downloads....and shown by a lack of adaptions for Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis, though to be fair, it may have been because of Star Trek comics jumping license at the time...perhaps IDW might go back to revisit these voyages of the Next Generation....or go....beyond!).

Happy 50th Anniversary Star Trek

"Space...the final frontier.

These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise.

Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations;

...to boldly go where no man has gone before."

50 years ago, this started Gene Roddenberry's adventure....and it's continued on TV, in movies....and in comic books!

Let's boldly look back at the comic book history of Star Trek!

Gold Key

Gold Key was the first company to make Star Trek comics, based off of the only series that was available at the time, starting during the original series run with Star Trek #1 in July, 1967, and lasting 61 issues until March, 1979.



For a look at all the classic Star Trek Gold Key covers, and how they were once collected, try here!

Marvel Comics

Star Trek returned in movie form in 1979, and Marvel had it's first Star Trek #1 in April, 1980, with an adaptation of Star Trek: The Motion Picture over its first 3 issues, then 15 issues of stories to follow, ending with Star Trek #18 (February, 1982).  One of the problems with this series was that Marvel only optioned the rights to the movie, so they were limited in characters and mythology of what they could present, and this series is covered here. 

DC Comics

DC Comics boldly went into Star Trek, between Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.   Better still, DC got the rights to all the Star Trek (TV, movies and animated characters even), so they were able to present the entirety of the Star Trek universe at the time (all 79 episodes, all the animated shows and the first two movies, as well as adapting Star Trek movies up to and including Star Trek: Generations, featuring the next generation of Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation), starting with their Star Trek #1 in February, 1984.  The original DC run would last 56 issues (until November, 1988, and a look at a few of their special issues here), along with 3 Annuals, 2 issues of a Who's Who In Star Trek and adaptations of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.

DC Comics: The Next Generation

DC Comics went to the next level with Star Trek, making Star Trek: The Next Generation comics, first as a 6 issue mini-series in 1988, set during the first season, then as a regular series, working concurrently with the show, and starting in The Next Generation's second season, with Star Trek: The Next Generation #1 in October, 1989, and going to Star Trek: The Next Generation #80 (February, 1996) along with 6 Annuals in it's first run. 

Star Trek: The Next Generation also featured a quick look at Spock and McCoy, who had survived until the 24th Century, with Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Modala Imperative four issue mini-series of 1991.


Spock, Bones and even Scotty got checked again in later Next Generation era stories...

....as these characters survived well past the first five year mission, and kept boldly going in the Star Trek universe....and expanding beyond Gene Roddenberry's vision, even creating new series after Gene had passed away.

Malibu

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine was that first post-Roddenberry series, and was set on a space station in the land of Bajor, and had it's first run at comic book newcomer company, Malibu, with 32 issues (and a large number of specials) starting in August, 1993, and ending with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #32 in January, 1996 (Malibu was also fond of cover enhancements, at least for issue #1...).

Even though the two series were at separate companies, a deal was worked out where both DC and Malibu would make 2 issues of a Next Generation/Deep Space Nine crossover, making a four issue mini-series where these two crews met and worked together....with DC putting out parts 1 and 4 cover dated December, 1994 and January, 1995, and Malibu putting out parts two and three cover dated October and November, 1994.

Paramount Comics

Paramount tried its own hand at comics, working in conjunction with Marvel, starting its own Star Trek: Deep Space Nine comics, Star Trek: Unlimited comics (with stories with the original cast and Next Generation), an adaptation of Star Trek: First Contact and Star Trek: Voyager in November, 1996...and adding titles, including Star Trek: Starfleet Academy in December, 1996, a one-shot Star Trek: Mirror, Mirror in February, 1997, Star Trek: Operation Assimilation in April, 1997, and a few other one shots and specials, including Star Trek: The Telepathy War in November, 1997 which crossed over a few of the series.

They even started the trend of looking back in regular series, with 17 issues of Star Trek: the Early Voyages featuring Captain Pike and his crew, starting in February, 1997, and 5 issues of Star Trek: Untold Voyages, featuring Kirk and crew between Star Trek: The Motion Picture and Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, starting in March, 1998.

Wildstorm

DC got Star Trek back into comic books briefly, from April, 2000 to September, 2002 to doing the work as mini-series and specials under its Wildstorm brand, and covered all four Star Trek properties of the time as well with a freedom not enjoyed in the comics for a while...but limited by only being short run series and one-shots, insuring there will be few issues with #50 on a Star Trek cover.

IDW 

Star Trek comics still boldly go thanks to IDW!

Star Trek has even had a few odd crossovers with other worlds, like Planet of the Apes during IDW's run on Star Trek.

IDW focuses on the original cast, but has gone beyond that, following characters from the original series in places readers hadn't seen before..

...as well as giving them depth and interest that was already there, just not being explored....

Some of those areas were explored in alien spotlights, looking at the world of Star Trek through the aliens that were encountered by the Enterprise during its original five year mission, and before, like the Orions, the Gorn, the Andorians, the Vulcans, the Klingons, the Borg and the Romulans, the Q, the Tribbles....

...in other cases, readers were treated to continuing adventures of folks like Gary Seven in the 20th Century with Star Trek: Assignment Earth, or what happened to Khan after Kirk dropped him off with the contents of the Botany Bay in Star Trek: Khan Ruling In Hell....

...and so many more...

IDW even worked with a current series that was set in the time of the current movie universe, exploring Kirk, Spock, McCoy and the rest with their more modern look....starting with Star Trek #1 (September, 2011), including an encounter with Q and the Deep Space Nine crew, exploring the Legacy of Spock...

 

...and ending its five year mission with meeting the original Star Trek crew in Altered Encounters with Star Trek #59  and #60 (July and August, 2016).  (But IDW has more exploring of the Star Trek universe planned......).





So much more than a five year mission for Star Trek, a very happy 50 years.....and discovery to come!