I'm pretty happy with my introduction, but the real treats are the Star Trek comics by Dick Wood with Nevio Zeccara and Alberto Giolitti. It's doubtful Wood had seen many - if any - episodes of the series before writing these stories. Zeccara and Giolitti were working from production stills. This made for Star Trek comics that weren't quite as accurate as those that would follow. Even so, the stories are entertaining and of historical import.
No Star Trek fan should be without this book.
ISBN 978-1613779224
This collection is a fantastic way to see how Star Trek was viewed in the late 60's and early 70's. I bought many of the original issues and read them as a child and I still love them. Though not accurate and faithful to the TV show, the scripts were like they were written by Irwin Allen. They were all spectacle, monster of the month tales. Much like the plots of Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. I pretty much think this is how Star Trek might have been had Irwin Allen had been in charge of the production. I don't think Shatner and Nimoy would have stayed if the stories in the comics were actually like this on TV. But I digress, the stories were good, clean fun and I love to re-read them. If you want to see the crew of the Enterprise battle plant people and other galactic entities, then this is a fun series.
ReplyDeleteI just have to add my favorite, sure to be in an upcoming edition was "The Space Mummies". They were very much like the Borg and were automatons that followed orders. I don't remember why or how they became mummies, however it was very similar to a Lost in Space episode I saw years ago as a kid.
DeleteThe entire look of the comic was Star Trek as envisioned by a 1950's futurist. The computers had reel to real tape. The transporters looked like they came from a Flash Gordon set from the old movie serial. The bridge had huge monitors and buttons that looked like they were stolen from "Forbidden Planet". I'm sure the artist, who was not a Star Trek fan, grabbed every 1950's photo reference he could find. There was even a story where the shuttle strongly resembled the pods from 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's a potpourri of anything goes in terms of set design and costumes. Some issues Scotty looked like Scotty and others where he was just a guy on the bridge. I don't know if fans wrote in and complained, but even with Kirk, Spock and McCoy the likenesses were hit or miss. All in all, it's pure fun to read and research because this was how comics were utilized to keep the name of the property called "Star Trek" alive in the minds of young fans.
I recall reading that the artist for the book lived in Rome and had to be sent reference photos but the deadline often required him to use whatever source material he had at the time.
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