1985: STAR TREK DC COMICS GALLERY - PART TWO

To mark STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS weekend, I'm rerunning the covers from DC's first stab at adapting Trek into the four-colour world.

I'm vaguely aware that these don't have a terribly good reputation.  Which comes as something of a surprise.  I've not sat down and read an extended run for years (I'm sure if IDW ever get around to an omnibus edition I'll take the plunge) but I enjoyed them at the time and every time I've dabbled since I've found the odd issue that I have reread to be a good stab at getting the Kirk era into print.  Certainly more so than the two previous incarnations.

These issues saw the Excelsior crew (yup, this fits in the period between Treks III and IV) run into their Mirror Universe counterparts again (this became a not uncommon event later but - as far as I know - was something of a first back in 84/85 although I'm sure it was regular territory for fanzine - and possibly Pocket Books - scribes) followed by several solo adventures.  Issue nineteen's was penned by none other than Chekov himself, supplementing his actor's wage.

Bearclaw, mentioned on the cover of issue 17, was one of the new supporting cast created for the book.  He was - if my memory doesn't fail me - a prejudiced soul who stood out in Roddenberry's utopian future... but opened up a whole bunch of new storytelling opportunities.  I plan on revisiting DC's secondary cast in a future post.

- TO BE CONTINUED -