Above are two of this year's issues of Gold Key's Star Trek comic, 40 and 41. It's still not all it could be, but it's usually better than Charlton's very disappointing Space: 1999 comic and magazine. Interestingly enough, the story in issue 40 (above on the left) suggests the writer may actually know a bit about the show. One of the guest characters is McCoy's daughter, who was supposed to be featured in a D.C. Fontana story that ended up, in unrecognizably mutilated form, as the episode "The Way to Eden." Oddly enough, in the comic McCoy's daughter is named Barbara instead of Joanna.

A possible trend, and a disturbing one (if you like the comics, anyway): for the second time in two years, Gold Key did an edited reprint instead of a new issue. In the few years since the first printing, the page count in the average comic has dropped by several pages, so even if you missed the comic the first time around you aren't getting the whole story now.

And speaking of missing the comic the first time around... Gold Key has started a series of paperback reprints (well, cheap ones, on pulp paper) of the older comics, with a few little extra features along the way. The pure awfulness of the early comics is fascinating. Nothing looks right, because the art was done in Italy by an artist who had never seen the show and only had a few photos to work from. The stories are really simple, pulp stuff that might work for Flash Gordon or Buck Rogers, but they don't have that Star Trek feel at all. The comics really have come a long way. Still, these reprints have more than just historical value. It's strangely entertaining to revisit the early days of Star Trek tie-ins and see how far we've come.

Keep exploring the world of Stardate 7600!