1986: STAR TREK DC COMICS COVER GALLERY - PART FOUR

Back to 1986 and STAR TREK's 20th anniversary for another gallery of covers from DC Comics' first crack at the franchise.

Although this seems like relatively recent history to me (a sure sign of getting old me thinks) I was suddenly struck by how much simpler the franchise was back then.  There was just the two TV versions (live-action and animated) and the occasional feature film (plus a back issue box of comics and paperbacks from Pocket Books).  As these books were being prepared and published, THE NEXT GENERATION was just gearing up on the Paramount lot.

There's a lot of loose-ends being tied-up in these issues as the creative team resets everything in time to tie everything into STAR TREK IV (which slots-in between 36 and 37).  Basically, the crew had to be deposited back onto Vulcan and Spock returned to his unstable state-of-being (courtesy of a space virus that also wiped-out his former supporting cast from his science vessel) to match the beginning of the fourth flick.

The team also continued to mine Trek's back-catalogue of good ideas.  Issue 30 gave Uhura a solo outing during the Enterprise's original five-year mission, the Romulans turned-up in 34-35 followed by Harry Mudd from 39.  The post ST IV Enterprise crew also added Arex and M'Ress from the animated series.

BTW - I did indeed go and see the new Trek at the weekend and whilst you'll find no spoilers here (don't you hate it when people inadvertently blurt stuff out?) I can confirm that it's jolly good.  Purists may bitch and moan (a bit) but were it ever so?  I thought it was stonking!

- TO BE CONTINUED -