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Post by rom on Sept 27, 2021 16:08:13 GMT -5
As a kid in the late '70's, I remember having one of the early Star Trek Gold Key Trades reprinting numerous issues of the series; it was the first Collected Edition (CE) Trade I got reprinting older comics that I ever remember getting. These were excellent stories w/great writing and art - and really captured the feel/tone of the original ST TV series. I disagree that the art was poor; though it wasn't stellar, I actually thought it was better than a lot of other comic art I've seen - and the artists did try to depict the ST characters with some level of accuracy. In late 2014, I considered starting to collect some of the ST Gold Key reprint Trades by Checker - but decided not to based on the poor reproduction. In 2017, I got some of the IDW Gold Key reprints. Very nice - these had, overall, fantastic reproduction, and obviously the HC aspect was a plus. Unfortunately, the line stalled & they only released 5 volumes (I'm still missing Volume 2). So, the bulk of this 61-issue series has never been reprinted by anyone - at least not yet. Prior to doing research on the series, I hadn't realized that it ran from 1967-1979 - so, it began as TOS was still on TV. Interesting, given that I had initially thought this was a purely '70's comic series. Also, the covers in the first several years of this series were unimaginative, and just had production?! photographs from the series itself. It wasn't until 1971 that the covers used original cover art, which IMHO was exceptionally well-done. www.startrekcomics.info/goldkey.htmlI know Eaglemoss is reprinting all of the Star Trek comics, but I don't like reprints like this because they're not reprinting the different series by the different companies (Gold Key, DC, Marvel, etc.) all at once & back to back. I've heard only 1-2 GK ST comics are included in some of these volumes, and they're mixing this in with other ST comics from other companies. Plus, these UK books are not easy to get ahold of for us in the U.S. |
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Post by rom on Sept 27, 2021 16:09:52 GMT -5
In 2020, I re-watched all of the original Star Trek films (featuring the original cast) and also TNG films, for the first time on Blu-ray. Some of the movies are obviously better than others, but that's a discussion for another thread. What these re-watches led to was a re-interest in the DC comics that came out in 1984-1988 & 1989-1996, featuring the original cast & primarily set during the time period we see in the 1979-1991 Trek films. I remember reading a handful of these issues back in the '80's, but never really got into the series. However, from what I can remember (of the few that I read) - these were exceptional. And, these DC issues seem to be held up by fans as some of the best Trek comics - of which there are many. I don't believe DC has ever really reprinted many (if any) of these issues. Too bad, because I would definitely be all of for a comprehensive series of either color Trades or Omnis reprinting both series in their entirety. Again, I have no interest in the Eaglemoss volumes reprinting these comics: www.startrekcomics.info/dc1tos.htmlwww.startrekcomics.info/dc2tos.html |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 27, 2021 21:02:18 GMT -5
In 2020, I re-watched all of the original Star Trek films (featuring the original cast), for the first time on Blu-ray. Some of the movies are obviously better than others, but that's a discussion for another thread. What these re-watches led to was a re-interest in the DC comics that came out in 1984-1988 & 1989-1996, featuring the original cast & primarily set during the time period we see in the 1979-1991 Trek films. I remember reading a handful of these issues back in the '80's, but never really got into the series. However, from what I can remember (of the few that I read) - these were exceptional. And, these DC issues seem to be held up by fans as some of the best Trek comics - of which there are many. I don't believe DC has ever really reprinted many (if any) of these issues. Too bad, because I would definitely be all of for a comprehensive series of either color Trades or Omnis reprinting both series in their entirety. Again, I have no interest in the Eaglemoss volumes reprinting these comics: www.startrekcomics.info/dc1tos.htmlwww.startrekcomics.info/dc2tos.htmlDC had a few Star Trek trades, back in the day, but, since they don't have the license, they can't print the material. I recall one relating to their sequel to the whole "Mirror, Mirror" concept, and some others out there (don't ask me for specific titles after 8 hours at work). The even numbered volumes are the good ones!  |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 27, 2021 22:41:38 GMT -5
In 2020, I re-watched all of the original Star Trek films (featuring the original cast), for the first time on Blu-ray. Some of the movies are obviously better than others, but that's a discussion for another thread. What these re-watches led to was a re-interest in the DC comics that came out in 1984-1988 & 1989-1996, featuring the original cast & primarily set during the time period we see in the 1979-1991 Trek films. I remember reading a handful of these issues back in the '80's, but never really got into the series. However, from what I can remember (of the few that I read) - these were exceptional. And, these DC issues seem to be held up by fans as some of the best Trek comics - of which there are many. I don't believe DC has ever really reprinted many (if any) of these issues. Too bad, because I would definitely be all of for a comprehensive series of either color Trades or Omnis reprinting both series in their entirety. Again, I have no interest in the Eaglemoss volumes reprinting these comics: www.startrekcomics.info/dc1tos.htmlwww.startrekcomics.info/dc2tos.htmlDC had a few Star Trek trades, back in the day, but, since they don't have the license, they can't print the material. I recall one relating to their sequel to the whole "Mirror, Mirror" concept, and some others out there (don't ask me for specific titles after 8 hours at work). The even numbered volumes are the good ones! IDW, who currently has the Star Trek comic license, put out a few trades of the DC material (both TOS and TNG) circa 2013 under the Star Trek Classics title. Neither sold well enough to get a second volume published. -M |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 28, 2021 0:19:50 GMT -5
DC had a few Star Trek trades, back in the day, but, since they don't have the license, they can't print the material. I recall one relating to their sequel to the whole "Mirror, Mirror" concept, and some others out there (don't ask me for specific titles after 8 hours at work). The even numbered volumes are the good ones! IDW, who currently has the Star Trek comic license, put out a few trades of the DC material (both TOS and TNG) circa 2013 under the Star Trek Classics title. Neither sold well enough to get a second volume published. -M That was a joke about the conceit that only the even numbered Trek films are good. |
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Post by rom on Sept 28, 2021 10:21:56 GMT -5
In 2020, I re-watched all of the original Star Trek films (featuring the original cast), for the first time on Blu-ray. Some of the movies are obviously better than others, but that's a discussion for another thread. What these re-watches led to was a re-interest in the DC comics that came out in 1984-1988 & 1989-1996, featuring the original cast & primarily set during the time period we see in the 1979-1991 Trek films. I remember reading a handful of these issues back in the '80's, but never really got into the series. However, from what I can remember (of the few that I read) - these were exceptional. And, these DC issues seem to be held up by fans as some of the best Trek comics - of which there are many. I don't believe DC has ever really reprinted many (if any) of these issues. Too bad, because I would definitely be all of for a comprehensive series of either color Trades or Omnis reprinting both series in their entirety. Again, I have no interest in the Eaglemoss volumes reprinting these comics: www.startrekcomics.info/dc1tos.htmlwww.startrekcomics.info/dc2tos.htmlDC had a few Star Trek trades, back in the day, but, since they don't have the license, they can't print the material. Yes, I remember reading somewhere that DC had published some Trades reprinting their ST comics, but IIRC these are haphazard & minimal. I have no interest in something like this. What I would like to see is a chronological reprinting of all of their ST comics. However, I don't see that ever happening. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 28, 2021 10:29:37 GMT -5
DC had a few Star Trek trades, back in the day, but, since they don't have the license, they can't print the material. Yes, I remember reading somewhere that DC had published some Trades reprinting their ST comics, but IIRC these are haphazard & minimal. I have no interest in something like this. What I would like to see is a chronological reprinting of all of their ST comics. However, I don't see that ever happening. Well since Dc no longer has the rights to those comics, it would be up to the current license holder (IDW) if they wanted to do those collections not DC. The rights aren't a tangled mess like say ROM or Micronauts, so that would be one obstacle IDW wouldn't have to deal with, but until COVID shortages and obstacles to printing and shipping are cleared up, you are not likely to see publishers doing collections of older material that are marginal sellers like the older Trek material would be ( article on delays and obstacles in printing and shipping facing the comics industry). DC has absolutely no interest in doing this because they cannot do collected editions of the Trek material. IDW is cash strapped, so they are not going to invest in marginal sellers to a niche market within the niche market they serve because there just isn't enough or a return on investment for them to do it. Perhaps at some point when/if IDW gives up the Star Trek license and someone else grabs it, you could see that, but until then, you're probably right that it isn't going to happen. -M |
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Post by SJNeal on Sept 29, 2021 16:14:35 GMT -5
Eaglemoss (in cooperation with IDW) has released the majority of DC's 80's/90's stuff under their Star Trek Graphic Novel Collection series. The quality of the reproduction varies from okay to bad, however. I've been meaning to cancel my subscription for like two years, but I'm a sucker for a complete set...  |
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Post by tonebone on Sept 29, 2021 16:19:19 GMT -5
I don't think anyone has mentioned the Bantam Fotonovels, which were published in the 1970's. They were paperbacks that told, in comics form, episodes of the original series, using stills from the show with word balloons and captions. I am not sure if they did original stories but I would guess they just stuck to the episodes. It seems there were 12 in all.   Over the past few years, John Byrne's series New Visions has done much the same thing, using screen shots from HD video, and Photoshop. His stories are basically an extension of the original series, and the stories read very much like classic Star Trek.  What's interesting, is that even though he is collaging together backgrounds, characters, etc. you can still tell it's John Byrne's art style, with his familiar panel compositions, etc. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Sept 29, 2021 17:23:24 GMT -5
I don't think anyone has mentioned the Bantam Fotonovels, which were published in the 1970's. They were paperbacks that told, in comics form, episodes of the original series, using stills from the show with word balloons and captions. I am not sure if they did original stories but I would guess they just stuck to the episodes. It seems there were 12 in all. Over the past few years, John Byrne's series New Visions has done much the same thing, using screen shots from HD video, and Photoshop. His stories are basically an extension of the original series, and the stories read very much like classic Star Trek. What's interesting, is that even though he is collaging together backgrounds, characters, etc. you can still tell it's John Byrne's art style, with his familiar panel compositions, etc. There were others of those things, besides Star Trek. The Battlestar Galactica pilot film got one, I believe Buck Rogers got one, and there was a Cheech & Chong one, as well as TMP and Wrath of Khan. |
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Post by tonebone on Sept 30, 2021 6:46:57 GMT -5
Eaglemoss (in cooperation with IDW) has released the majority of DC's 80's/90's stuff under their Star Trek Graphic Novel Collection series. The quality of the reproduction varies from okay to bad, however. I've been meaning to cancel my subscription for like two years, but I'm a sucker for a complete set... I don't know what's up with IDW and their Star Trek reprints. The "omnibus" of the old Marvel stuff was outrageously bad (I think I posted about it in this thread). With a good scanner, and photoshop (both of which they obviously used) in the right hands, you could get some great scans from the originals. The IDW stuff looks like it's been put through so many filters, it burns the eyes and is sometimes just barely legible. |
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Post by wildfire2099 on Sept 30, 2021 7:00:21 GMT -5
I have trades of the gold key stuff from a while back...Checker, I think.
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Post by tarkintino on Sept 30, 2021 11:02:49 GMT -5
There were others of those things, besides Star Trek. The Battlestar Galactica pilot film got one, I believe Buck Rogers got one, and there was a Cheech & Chong one, as well as TMP and Wrath of Khan. One of the most interesting was the "video novel" based on The Incredible Hulk pilot from 1977--  it was able to capture the often grim story even in that format. |
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Post by brutalis on Nov 13, 2021 19:48:53 GMT -5
Warp Speed Trek Reviews
Quick thoughts and pondering upon Trek comics. As I cannot post pics, these will be my ruminations over Trek stories as I start reading through my digital collection once more.
Star Trek Gold Key issues 1. 1967. Photo cover spotlighting in the biggest image of the most famous Trek character Mr. Spock. It also shows 3 more images featuring the Enterprise as well as Kirk and Sulu. The interior artwork minimally looks like Trek with many panels you can see readily recognize as drawn/copied from photos or publicity stills. These panels stand out in resembling the cast making it all the more obtrusive when the cast is totally unrecognizable during the test of the comic. Yeoman Janice Rand is the only other crew member this issue but her hairstyle while correct from the show is mis-colored to appear she is wearing a red cap.
Only Spock receives the properly colored uniform in traditional light blue. Kirk and McCoy are in matching green tunic the few security (presumed) officers shown ate in red. The tech of phasers, tricorders and Enterprise all are spot on and look like the series version except transporter which simply uses blurry faded figure
s. A few panels utilize lines streaming from behind the ships nacelles to show "movement". As well as the beam down crew wear protective grey "onesies" never seen in the series.
The plot revolves around a planet of intelligent plant life but no giant walking talking carrot ala Lost in Space. The traditional ted shirt death takes a turn in that he becomes a plant that once fully transformed gives up his life to save the beam down team from another attacking plant. Turns out the veggies eat animal life on this planet to survive.
Spock acts out of character spouting a line "Thank a thousand star heavens! They made it!" as well as being rather violent inclined when stating the plant spores will drift through space to inhabited planets where the killer cannibal plants will devour for food all life on the planets. He states they must orbit the hideous little globe until all foliage upon it is decimated which the Enterprise does giving total destruction. Not very Starfleetish is it? Also Rand is referred to by her 1st name ONLY throughout, never her last.
So, overall it "feels" like Trek but not quite Trek with characterization. Points to being able to do a "bigger budget" story, but minus points for the major flubs. But, at a time when ANY Trek outside of the television show was watched for by us fans, it was a decent beginning in comics.
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shaxper
CCF Site Custodian
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Post by shaxper on Nov 15, 2021 11:36:17 GMT -5
Over the past few years, John Byrne's series New Visions has done much the same thing, using screen shots from HD video, and Photoshop. His stories are basically an extension of the original series, and the stories read very much like classic Star Trek. I remember seeing this as a total scam when it was first announced. There are a million Trek fans out there writing original scripts, and most can photoshop just as well as Byrne. It takes some gall to slap a standard price tag on this, as if Byrne should be compensated for this the same as he would be for penciling his own work and hiring an inker, letterer, and colorist. |
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