I'm going with DC... the Gold Key stuff is fun but only vaguely Star Trek... DC had PAD and Michael Jan Friedman writing

Marvel had it's moments but just didn't have the license that long.

The current stuff has had a few great things (I LOVED year five) but alot of it is fan service's dreck too.

I can't say anything about that... no interest. I'm talking more about the endless mirror universe stuff... or the recent 'Defiant' series.

I voted based on overall entertainment value and capturing the feel of the source, which I will explain a bit later. First, while DC's mid-1980s run (post-Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan stories) was entertaining and very much in the spirit of the Original Series films released in that period, the various writers (Barr, Kupperberg, Wein, et al.) ended up falling into the same owner mandate traps shared by many adaptations: namely, trying to build dozens of new adventures (with major consequences) and force them into a film timeline that could not work at all. Certain characters, ships and events simply do not fit in-between Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982) and Star Trek III:The Search for Spock (1984), but we the reader were supposed to accept the in-between movie stories as being a part of the film's continuity.

It's one thing if a comic creates a spin-off coming after a definite end to the film with no sequels on the horizon (e.g., Marvel's Logan's Run), or exists in another timeline with all-new characters (e.g., Marvel's Terror on the Planet of the Apes), but DC's Star Trek force-fit its stories into a very tight film story, leaving it wide open for readers to spot endless continuity problems.

I voted for Gold Key (HORRORS!), already setting aside the fact that the various writers (e.g., Wein, Dick Wood, Warner, Arnold Drake, Kashdan, et al.) and artists (Nevio Zeccara, Alberto Giolitti, Alden McWilliams, et al.) initially did not have much in the way of reference photos, series bibles or production notes to use as the structural support of their adaptation, similar to some pieces of Star Trek merchandise produced in the 60s, where the lack of reference material led to art departments / manufacturers falling back on adding some very old-school Buck Rogers-esque visual elements to Star Trek merchandising.

Gold Key's biggest advantage was the criminally underrated, realism-leaning adventure art of Alberto Giolitti, who illustrated the lion's share of Gold Key's 61 issues, moving toward the look of the source more than endless movie and TV adaptations which were either anchored with amateur-level art, or forced a garish superhero style on worlds readers experienced with live-action (Perez on Marvel's Logan's Run being a notable exception). Leaning into the space-opera style of storytelling often, Gold Key's Star Trek felt like sweeping adventure, yet managing to retain some essence of the TV series. By the final few years of the Gold Key run, it was clear Alden McWilliams had a greater amount of reference materials to use, which gave exposure to costumes, ships, weapons and characters straight from the TV series. This, and the scripting of the legendary Arnold Drake, George Kashdan and life-long Star Trek fan turned illustrator, make-up artist Oscar-winning visual effects artist and more--Doug Drexler--all brought a genuine aura of the source to the comic.

The Gold Key comic was so successful that the publisher first reprinted several stories in digest form as part of the Dan Curtis Giveaway (1974) and later going on to produce one of the earliest comic book TPB reprint collection series with Star Trek - The Enterprise Logs in 1977 (not to mention the UK annuals). By no means do all of the above make the Gold Key comic perfect--no TV or movie adaptation has that kind of record--but it was in many ways, the best, "Trek-ian" adaptation. I'd say the UK serialized strips published in Joe 90 Top Secret, TV21, etc. run a close second, more for certain artists absolutely stunning work in capturing actor likeness than the sometimes shaky scripts.

I think New Visions is a good idea, which has been around since the 70's "Photo-Novels"... pocket-sized adaptations of classic Star Trek TOS episodes, created with photos.

I think Byrne's version is a bit more creative, featuring new stories... I do find it somewhat dry and hard to get into... sort of lifeless.

It is interesting, I think, that you can tell Byrne actually "penciled" the stories, and then found photos to match his layouts.  His layouts LOOK like Byrne layouts... figure placement, panel arangements, etc.  That had to be a hell of a lot of work, doing it that way.

If you are a die hard TOS Trekkie, give it a try.  The TPBs are plentiful and often discounted at cons, etc. 

Some Star Trek Comics tidbits:

I did love the Marvel run in the 70s-80s... I had an actual subscription from the first issue, through the duration of the run. When it was cancelled, Marvel "graciously" substituted a different series to make up for it. So I got the first four issues of --- Team America. Thanks a lot, Marvel.

A few years ago, when I was working on a Star Trek videogame, I saw Klaus Janson at a con, and bought a copy of the first issue of the TMP adaptation, and asked him to sign it. He looked at me like I had a third eye. He didn't remember (but I did) that he inked Cockrum's pencils. He kind of did that little head turn/nod to say "Whatever, weird guy", and kindly signed it.

After the release of the Trek video game, I was shocked to open up the first issue of IDW's new ST ongoing series (following the release of ST Beyond)... and the ship I designed for the game was now the new replacement for the enterprise!!!  It lasted for a few issues, until they came up with a plausible reason for them to have a new Enterprise.

Spock, ever-so-slightly in need of justification : "We drove a flivver."

Sarek, deadpan : "I have no doubt".


Peter David wrote a brilliant Star Trek comic.

I was actually thinking of Marvel's 2nd time.. the first one is before my time... I have 'Early Voyages' and some of the 'Unlimited', which is decent, but that 2nd Marvel run they seemed to be content to stay away from the main characters as I remember it.