Hey everyone! How's it going? I'm doing pretty well. I'm back for another comic book review. Today I'm going to be reviewing Star Trek #25 published by Gold Key Comics in 1974 and written by Arnold Drake with art by Alberto Giolitti. So let's get into it.
In the past I've talked about how the Star Trek comics published by DC Comics in the 80s and 90s were a little on the weird side. Well, the Star Trek comics published by Gold Key in the 60s and 70s are even weirder. Mainly in the artwork and the way the sets are. That's because the writers and artists of this series were completely unfamiliar with Star Trek and I guess Desilu, which produced the series at the time (before it's merger with Paramount Pictures), didn't send out reference material for the artists and writers to use. Which makes for some weird inconsistencies. Like for example, Uhura is Uhuru and is Caucasian instead of black in this issue. In some issues she has blond hair, but in this one it's still black, so there's that. Also the interiors of the Enterprise look more like generic spaceship interiors from 50s Sci-Fi movies and TV shows rather than the elaborate and unique interiors seen on the TV show.
Story wise, this issue is also more like a generic Sci-Fi adventure rather than a Star Trek story. I mean they did the whole Gulliver's Travels where Kirk and the crew encounter a race that's almost microscopic in size. Right down to Kirk being captured the same way as Gulliver is captured by the culture in that story. Honestly there really isn't much to say about this issue. It's a Star Trek comic from 1974 that feels like a generic 50s science fiction comic book. Which in itself isn't bad, but when you're supposed to be producing a comic book based on Star Trek you need to have all the elements that makes Star Trek what it is. Star Trek comics have never been the epitome of the storytelling this franchise has to offer, but at least they did get better in the 90s with the Star Trek and Star Trek: The Next Generation comics published by DC Comics, and series like The Early Voyages published by Marvel in the late 90s.
The thing I find interesting about the Gold Key Star Trek comics is that they were published in a very unique time. It's the only Star Trek comic book series to be published when there was no franchise. It was simply a single TV show called Star Trek. There weren't even any movies yet at this point in the history of the franchise. It was just the TV show. Though the comics continued to be published after the show went off the air in 1969 and continued through the run of Star Trek: The Animated Series in the 70s. Every other Star Trek comic book series came out after the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture in 1979.
Something else I found interesting about this series is that the late legendary comic book writer and editor, Len Wein, had a seven issue run on this series from #9 to #16. So that was interesting to find out.
I know I'm not saying much about this comic itself, but like I said, there really isn't anything to really say about it. It's good just not alot happens. It isn't even the worst when it comes to the inconsistencies that this series provides. The story is good, and the artwork is decent, but that's pretty much it. I liked it even if Spock laughs at something Scotty says in the issue and Uhura is Caucasian.
That's all I've got for you for today. I'll be back tomorrow probably with my review of the third Percy Jackson book, The Titan's Curse. If not, I'll definitely be back on Friday with this week's movie review, which is going to be Toy Story. So until then have a great afternoon and I'll talk to you all later. Take care.
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