Star Trek: Gold Key Archives Volume 1

Star Trek: Gold Key Archives #1

by Dick Wood (Writer), Nevio Zaccara (Illustrations), Alberto Giolitti (Illustrations)

Boldly going... where it all started! Presenting the first comic book adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew! Fully remastered and under a new throwback cover, Star Trek: Gold Key Archives Volume 1 collects issues #1-6.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Comics, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Graphic Novels Comics, Comic Book

168 pages, Hardcover

First published April 1, 2014

Reviews

[Scott Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was kind of a fun little treasure that I wasn't even looking for, but I'm glad I found it.

Back in September 1966, Gene Roddenberry introduced the world to his science fiction TV show "Star Trek", and the world was never the same afterwards. At least, for nerds.

In July 1967, Gold Key Comics (Remember them? Only people of a certain generation remember this comic book company, and it makes me feel pretty damn old that I do...) published the first issue of "Star Trek", the comic book, written by comic book legend Dick Wood.

In 2014, IDW published the first volume of Gold Key Archives, collecting issues #1-6. Apparently, Gold Key initially only published an issue every six months, so the first six issues were separated by two years.

Here's the thing: While the stories are fun, they are not really "Star Trek", and part of the reason is because the writers and publishers of the comic book hadn't watched a single episode of the show before publishing the first issues. They were basing the look and feel of the show solely on publicity stills of the actors and sets. What they got wrong was really wrong. For example, in one issue, the Enterprise---at the command of Captain Kirk---destroys an entire planet of sentient plant-creatures because it "potentially" posed a risk to the rest of the universe. Prime Directive, anyone?

Despite all the continuity errors and whatnot, these are still fun to read. Targeted mostly for kids, the stories aren't profound or prone to deal with controversial subjects, as the TV show did.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ab 1967, ein Jahr nach dem Start der Fernsehserie STAR TREK, erschienen die ersten gleichnamigen Comics, geschrieben von Dick Wood und gezeichnet von Navio Zaccara (#1 u. 2) und Alberto Giolitti (#3-6). Da die Zeichner nur Fotos der Serie kannten und Wood mit der Terminologie der Serie nicht vertraut war, dürfte der Sammelband für echte Trekkies eine Enttäuschung sein. Die Figuren haben nur entfernte Ähnlichkeit mit den Schauspielern und sprechen anders.



Sehr gut getroffen ist hingegen die unbedarfte Naivität, mit der die Troubleshooter des Alls durch die unendlichen Weiten des Raums fliegen und zumeist Welt um Welt vor dem sicheren Ende retten.
Im ersten Abenteuer, K-G, PLANET OF DEATH muss sich die Crew selbst vor fleischfressenden Pflanzen retten, die die dominierende Lebensform auf Planet Kelly Green sind. Auch wenn das Heft den Geist von Star Trek noch nicht einfangen kann (am Ende wird die gesamte Vegetation vorsorglich von der Enterprise zerstört): In Sachen Sense of Wonder ist das Heft gelungen und ich schließe mich den Ausrufen der Crew an:
Howling Comets! Suffering Stardust! Great galloping Galaxis! Suffering Solar Showers! Great Gosh!
(Und grinsend denke ich an die alten Batman-Comics, in denen Robin für dergleichen Exklamationen zuständig war)


Im zweiten gerät man auf einen Gefängnisplaneten, der jederzeit zu explodieren droht, aber als diese Abenteuer überstanden sind, wird auch fleißig anderen geholfen: gigantischen städtebauenden Maschinen, kriegsbesessene Herrscher und kollidierende Planeten fordern die Crew um Captain Kirk und Spock zu kreativen und riskanten Höchstleistungen.

Ganz kolonialherrschaftlich bezeichnet Kirk die Bewohner der anderen Welten als Aliens, obwohl es ja recht eigentlich die Crew der Enterprise ist, die sich fern der Heimat in fremde Belange einmischt. Aber man kann sich auf diesen fremden Welten auch zu gut heimisch fühlen, denn Raumanzüge und Helme brauchen unsere Helden nie (was auch praktisch ist, da der Leser so zumindest Spock und Kirk erkennen kann und die Frisuren nicht Schaden nehmen). Und auch ein Kometenhagel im All, der Löcher in die Hülle der Enterprise reißt, ist doch nur eine kleine dramatische Beigabe, die uns seufzen läßt ob der romantischen Vorstellung von Gesteinsbrocken, die quer durch die Kommandozentrale der Enterprise fliegen. Nein, unter physikalischen Aspekten war diese Serie schon in den 60ern eine mittlere Katastrophe.

Wo also liegt der Charm? Wer sich mit "Mighty Samson" oder "Magnus Robotfighter" anfreunden kann, wird auch hier seinen Spaß haben. Es sind unterhaltsame Abenteuer fern jeder Glaubwürdigkeit, die den älteren Leser in die Zeit seiner Kindheit zurück versetzen. Eine Zeit, in der Raumfahrt mehr als alles andere en vogue war und Gutmenschentum nicht nur bei "Bonanza" zelebriert wurde.
Erfreulich ist auch die Qualität des Reprint-Bandes: fester, optisch ansprechender Einband und knackig scharfe Wiedergabe der Comics, die frisch coloriert wurden.

[Gavin]

I started this, and in the intro, was told that the writer and artists never saw a single episode of Star Trek before penning these 6 stories...I started to read, just to give it a chance. But it was just so off tone, wrong characterization, I couldn't get over it. Also, there are green shirts and blue shirts. No red, and no gold. Spock was totally off, and in respect for the late Mr. Nimoy I just stopped there.

It might be decent 60s sci-fi if they just dropped the Trek link, but I just wasn't feeling it...

[Bob Fish]

Gold Key did Star Trek before they even saw the show ! Quite bizarre but fun.

A quick overview of my Star Trek comics collection over here :
https://youtu.be/CD7degm98Wg

[Mike K · Rating 3 out of 5]

This collection is hilarious. Any real Trek fan will probably hate it. The tone is all wrong, there's no continuity with the shows or movies, and the characters are decidedly not the characters we know.

That said, it's wonderful for the cheesy yesteryear sci-fi aspect that drew me to the original series in the first place. Think of it as some alternate timeline Trek stories, or forget that it's Trek at all.

[Brent · Rating 4 out of 5]

Written and drawn by people who had never seen the show, it's not exactly the crew or the Enterprise we are used to, but it is a pretty fun read.

Outlandish and sometimes silly but imaginative and sometimes clever.

[Jesse A · Rating 3 out of 5]

As Star Trek stories this left a lot to be desired. The authors had no real knowledge of the ST universe. I was entertained though.

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

This review originally published in Looking For a Good Book. Rated 3.25 of 5

I became a Star Trek fan in the early 1970's (just after the regular broadcasts ended) and searched for anything Star Trek that I could get my hands on. The Gold Key Star Trek comics were one of the only ways for a teen to keep the Star Trek adventures alive back then. I'd heard that IDW Publishing was going to bundle and reprint the old comics and I really liked the idea of being able to revisit these 'classic' comics.

What first strikes you, especially if you are at all familiar with Star Trek (and why would you be reading this if you weren't?) is the apparent lack of familiarity with Star Trek by the artists and the writers. This is addressed in the introduction and it turns out that in fact the creators of the comic were not familiar with the material. They'd been provided with a few simple publicity photos and a general run-down of the crew and the show's premise. Given this, the work is remarkably interesting.

This first volume, reprinting the first six issues of the comic book, represents some fairly generic sci-fi ideas in a barely identifiable Star Trek universe. This is mostly interesting as Star Trek memorabilia history.

I borrowed this book through the Amazon Kindle Unlimited program. This is one of the first comics/graphic novels I've done through the Kindle app (I read this using the app on my phone) and I was really impressed with the formatting. Amazon has managed to allow a comic reader to read each panel individually - and in the case of full page or large panels, zoom in to specific areas before showing the full page - so that the reader can easily see and read the comic. I had imagined that I would struggle to read a comic on my kindle, much less my phone, given the amount of art and dialog on a page of a comic. But this process was seamless and made for easy reading and enjoyment. I can definitely see myself reading more comics/graphic novels using this format.

Looking for a good book? For a sense of nostalgia and a reminder of the early days of Star Trek, reading this compilation of comics, Star Trek: Gold Key Archives Vol. 1, is a great deal of fun.

I borrowed this book using the Kindle Unlimited program.

[Carmelo Rafalà · Rating 4 out of 5]

When you understand the artists from 1967 had only a few stills from the series to go by, you can get beyond the incorrect use of terminology and weird characterisations. They used terms like "rockets", and Kirk says some weird expressions, Spock is not so logical and the Enterprise is going from galaxy to galaxy rather then exploring our own.

Despite all this, it is a fun romp and these comics possess a nice pulpy feeling. (Not that TOS was pulpy, but I kinda of like these early comics, regardless.)

I actually have the original comics, not in great form. But I was five and it was my introduction to Star Trek, as much as seeing it for the first time on TV in reruns was in 1975.

For me it is a bit of nostalgia, and I like that.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is interesting as a historical study of what the early Trekspanded Universe looked like. These stories were written by someone who hadn't watched the show, and it shows. As such, these stories feel odd. Kirk and Scotty sometimes don't REALLY look like Kirk and Scotty. Heck, Scotty was wearing green. What's up with that? A couple of these stories have endings that feel too bleak for The Original Series, and there is some reliance on destruction as a solution.

[Erika Mulvenna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this on a total whim, as I'm not a huge comics reader (or is it graphic novel now?). Not exactly what I expected, as these stories are a bit of a departure from TOS, but I did enjoy the stories and the graphic nature and colors of the art. Will definitely read again!

[Letande D'Argon · Rating 1 out of 5]

This volume collects the first six issues of the very first comic in Star Trek history. The one that was published by Gold Key in a period between the October 1967 and March 1979. For the original show it meant the period when the original broadcast ended and the show, which was originally cancelled, became a surprise hit in syndication. Naturally, with the show getting more and more popularity, getting an official comic series felt great, but there was a problem. Pretty huge one too.

See, while James Blish, who was writing the official novelization of the existing TV episodes, had full access to the original scripts (including Harlan Ellison's legendary The City on the Edge of Forever), people who worked on comic, had absolutely no idea about what they were dealing with. They saw some pictures and therefore knew how the Enterprise, Kirk and Spock should look like, but aside from that - it was nothing.

Naturally, they've treated Star Trek like any other heroic Sci-Fi, in which brave captain with a help of his crew defeats all sorts of baddies. Which didn't felt right for those, who knew what the original show was all about. See, Star Trek was never about "pew-pew-pew!" stuff. Most of the time, there was no action at all. The idea was to let us face the problems of our own existing society.

Racial problems, moral dilemmas, problems that don't even have proper solutions... Despite what some of the people may think, Star Trek was always "woke" and that was the entire idea. Now, here comes Gold Key and... Let's just say that in the very first issue Enterprise destroys the entire civilization, together with pretty much everything on planet's surface. Can you imagine Captain Kirk starting a bloody genocide? Without it being a part of the Mirror Universe? Well, here's your chance to see something like that.

Gold Key created their own Star Trek. With its own lore. And in that lore, Enterprise has a regular thrust engine with the maximum speed of 100,000 miles per second. What's with the Warp nacelles, you may ask? Well, those are just nozzles here. Enjoy the view. And trust me, there'll be more. We'll see things like infra-red periscope, universal language called "Esperanta" (* sigh *), teleportation chamber, which totally isn't transporter room and so on.

And guess what? It's not just writing. Artwork and colors are often off too. For example, it looks like artist never saw real Scotty (the first two issues were drawn by Nevio Zaccara, but even when Alberto Giolitti joined in the third issue, things didn't change much until later issues) and therefore drew him more like Perry Rhodan, while colorist, who never saw Janice Rand, thought that heir legendary beehive haircut was a hat and painted it accordingly. That's what these early issues are known for. Ridiculous writing and Yeoman Rand's red "hat".

Somewhere around ninth issue, things will start getting a little bit better. We'll get some of the proper terms and even the warp speed will become a thing eventually, but these early issues, all of which were written by Dick Wood? It's Gold Key at its very worst. Hence our problem. For historical purposes? This volume is a pure gem. I really admire the fact how IDW, while doing the restoration, decided not to change the old mistakes. Including the infamous "hat". Remember the alterations in those Alien comics re-releases that were made just because publisher wanted for them to stay true to new canon? Nothing like that here. This volume? It's a pure history. You need history? You got it.

At the same exact time, though, if you want a good comic? You won't find it here. The issues you'll find here are all about painfully generic developments that often appeared in comic books from late sixties, mixed with made up terms and lore that has absolutely nothing with the real Star Trek. For casual reader, it'll feel pretty bad. But for Trekkies? It'll feel like a cringeworthy disaster. This volume? It's the very bottom of Star Trek history. Remember Star Wars Holiday Special? For Trekkies, it'll feel even worse than that. You have been warned.

[Paul Spence · Rating 3 out of 5]

When the original Star Trek TV show ran between 1966 and 1969 it was a moderate success, only increasing popularity after going into syndication, running constantly throughout the 1970s and developing a devoted fanbase. A comic series ran almost a decade after the show’s cancellation, yet only six issues were released during the show’s entire run. Published between July 1967 and December 1968, they are gathered in this first Star Trek Gold Key Archive.

These stories are cracking little space opera yarns, but occupy an odd position in the hearts of Star Trek fans as the earliest ones bear little resemblance to the TV version. That’s because Dick Wood had not seen the show when commissioned to write the comics, and both he and Italian artists Nevio Zaccara – and later Alberto Giolitti – received only the briefest of outlines and scant reference materials from the producers. You’ll notice strange sights and apparent contradictions, but all derived from sensible assumptions by creators doing their best with what meagre information they had.

If you’re likely to have your nostalgic fun spoiled by wrong-coloured shirts or “Lasers” rather than “Phasers”, think alternate universe or read something else. Ultimately, you are the only one missing out.

The quirky collation of cosmic questing commences with ‘The Planet of No Return’ as the Enterprise enters a region of space oddly devoid of life and encounters predatory spores from the planet designated Kelly-Green. It’s a world of horror where vegetative life contaminates and transforms flesh. After the survivors of the landing party escape deadly doom and return to the safety of space, there is only one course of action Captain Kirk can take…

‘The Devil’s Isle of Space’ finds the ever-advancing Enterprise trapped in a space-wide electronic net. The technology is part of a system used by an alien race to pen death-row criminals on asteroids, where they are eventually to be executed in a truly barbarous manner. Sadly, it’s hard not to interfere in a sovereign culture’s private affairs when the doomed criminals hold Federation citizens hostage and want Kirk to hand his ship over to them.

Bombastic and spectacular, ‘Invasion of the City Builders’ has the legendary Alberto Giolitti take the artistic reigns. Prolific, gifted and truly international, his work and the studio he created produced a wealth of material for three continents. His gritty linework adds a visual terseness and tension, as seen when the Enterprise crew land on a planet where automated machines programmed to build new homes and roads have been out of control for a century, forcing the organic population to the edge of extinction.

Social commentary gives way to action and suspense when ‘The Peril of Planet Quick Change’ finds the crew investigating a world of chimerical geological instability, only to see Spock possessed by beings made of light.

‘The Ghost Planet’ has the Enterprise encountering a world ravaged by radiation rings. The twin rulers are eager for the star men’s help, but don’t want them hanging around to help rebuild the devastated civilization. A little investigation reveals that most of the carnage is due to eternal warfare.

Wrapping up this first hardback is ‘When Planets Collide’. It’s a classic conundrum involving two runaway worlds inexorably drawn to each other and mutual destruction. What might have been a simple observable astronomical event becomes fraught with peril when the Enterprise crew discover civilizations within each world that would rather die than evacuate their ancient homes.

Bold, expansive and epic, these are great stories to delight young and old alike and well worth making time and space for. There’s more in Volume 2.

[James Crawford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is rather hilarious at times. The writers hadn't even seen the series and the stories show it. The Enterprise is driven by rockets, apparently. Each story also has them entering a different galaxy which we know is not possible due to the barrier around our galaxy. (Where No Man Has Gone Before.)

First Story: Kirk calls Yeoman Rand 'honey.' A crewman gets changed into a plant. There are giant cannibal plants. There's a 'blast ray' instead of a phaser. Spock calls the planet a 'hideous little globe.'

The second story involves the Enterprise finding beings on a planet. It turns out there are prison planets which explode. The story is actually fairly good.

The third story involves a 'galaxy minute.' Whatever that is. There's also a reference to 'thousands' of crewmen on the Enterprise. The story is about huge machines that no one can control. They keep building cities that will eventually cover the entire planet. The Enterprise has a rather unusual solution to the problem.

Then there's a story about the Federation needing titanium (instead of dilithium) and a planet that has it. Problem is, there's people on the planet.

The next story is about the Enterprise encountering a space oddity which just happens to be a tie-in to an alternative reality with its own Enterprise. The gender of everyone is the opposite to the Enterprise from our reality.

Then there's one about a sentient planetoid and its projection of someone onto the Enterprise who basically melds with the ship. The planetoid plans to kill all the people on the ship.

On another planet the group finds bones and a huge creature that attacks them. This all links back to a 1972 event involving a secret moon base.

[Rocky Sunico · Rating 3 out of 5]

I knew this book was going to be a bit of a struggle to get through given how dated it is, but it has its own unique charm as well. It's the classic example of an effort to expand the media coverage of a new show as written by writers who have little chance to study the source material in question. And the introduction of this compilation helps to contextualize things and all those weird factors.

Despite the inaccuracies with respect to what we now refer to as canon, it's oddly charming in its own way. It's wildly inaccurate but it speaks its own unique language. This includes rocket plumes coming out of the Enterprise's nacelles and the transporter being referred to as the teleportation room. I don't even know what they mean when it comes to things like "galactic minutes" and other similar concepts.

On the whole, it's very silly but still a lot of fun. It's what happens when you reduce Star Trek characters and concepts to something akin to caricatures of their former selves. I can only wonder if things get better once the creative team gets to actually watch the show - I still have a few more volumes of this in my collection, so we'll see how that goes.

[Shannon Schmelzle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Looking for good Star Trek? Look somewhere else. Looking for an collection of asinine and absurd sci-fi stories from the 60's that just happen to have a starship you recognize and some names that are familiar...you found the right place.

Alright, elephant in the room, this collection is bad. Really bad. However I would contest that it is so bad, it is actually good. I had a good time reading through these stories. Some of them name no sense, some of them a little i you squint your eyes just right.

Where else are you going read stories involving the planet Numero Uno and twin leaders Justin I and Justin II who are at war with each other. Or a planet where biomes are constantly shifting and trees are shooting out of deserts and lakes out of volcanos and a bunch of spirit people take over Spock. Or they stumble upon a planet of carnivorous plants that are very slowly invading the rest of the universe.

I think with managed expectations someone can jump into this and have a good time. Just don't expect good Star Trek.

[Andrew Lake · Rating 3 out of 5]

Silly but fun.

For completists only. Kirk's Green tunic is a cool reminder that the artist never watched an episode (the tv lights made the lime green material look gold so colour photos will show it as green). The rocket propulsion, exploring different galaxies, characterisation are all way off making the animated series appear well researched and authentic. This would never get approval now. But it was a good romp.

[Jean Sanderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fair…and very annoying.

Unless Mr. Spoke has an idea,invention or strategy to save the day no one else can. Captain Kirk, McCoy and Scotty are all present but obsolete. Props in Mr. Spoke’s show. Don’t know why this aggravates me so much. Guess it’s because Spoke is Vulcan 🖖 and this illustrates that they are genius compared to humans. Aggravating. They should rename the comic “Mr. Spoke saves their butts again!”

[Apostolos · Rating 2 out of 5]

As a piece of cultural history this was OK. Some interesting stories, but they read more like the off-brand Kirk, Spock, and McCoy... Perhaps think of them as Kork, Speck, and McKay of the series called "Star Blazing" and you're good to enjoy without feeling weird about "space esperanto" and going to a different galaxy in every story ;-)

[Michael Keerdo-Dawson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is wonderful. Written by writers who'd never watched an episode and only had promotional stills to work off for the visual. Everything about these first comic adventures is either just slightly off ("To the teleportation room!") or completely off ("Let's destroy all life on this planet, Captain." "Yeah, okay").

It's fascinating, a real anomaly in the Trek Literary Universe.

[Jeff Mayo · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is just a colossal failure. The stories were written by people with no understanding of science, fiction, or science fiction. The artwork is amateurish, often you can't tell one character from another if they don't have pointed ears. Gold Key put out a few good titles, but this isn't one of them.

[Rubin Carpenter · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not really star trek

This attempt to showcase star trek
During it's tv debut is more
50's Sci- Fi
the writing on the series is no where near Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek but my understanding is the writers had not seen an episode and only saw some production stills and concepts but still a waste of time

[Lynn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not Good

I have two stars for posterity but these stories are terrible. The characters are all white and one character who should be Uhura is white. Thanks for releasing these classics but the stories in this comic is really bad.

[Travis James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great old time Star Trek!

Sadly, Uhura and Sulu are barely even in any of these stories. Rand was only in just one (so far). I'm still gonna give these comics five *****'s!!!!!!!

[Alicea · Rating 2 out of 5]

As the introduction warns, these comics do not align with the TV series so the characterization is really off as well as a lot of the terminology used (transportation room? rocket booster?). But if you're into 1960s era comics then this could really be your jam.

[Brian Kirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

Basic stories, but missing a lot of details that make star trek work

The stories are ok, but the writers don't really have much idea about star trek. So many details are off I found myself laughing at the story in many parts.

[Kent Archie · Rating 2 out of 5]

OK if you want to see some early Star Trek material after the TOS was cancelled.
The art is weak and features flames shooting out of the nacelles on the Enterprise.
It has Kirk saying things like "great jumping galaxies"

[Eddy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Read as individual issues.

[James Crabtree · Rating 4 out of 5]

I remember the first time I saw these... the artwork is decent but the writing is awful. Someone who never watched Star Trek wrote the dialog (Spock: "Thank a thousand star heavens!" Kirk: "Great Novas," Scotty: "Bejabbers!") and some plot devices (lunar hours and galaxy minutes) but it they're still worth looking at.

[Joanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly, these were not that great. I love old comic and old sci-fi, so none of the cheesy or dated stuff bothered me. Instead it was the obvious lack of Star Trek knowledge of the writers that just ruined the stories for me. I understand, as per the introduction, that it wasn’t the writers’ fault: they got only the barest of information to work off of, but that doesn’t make it any less painful to read. None of the jargon was correct. Spock’s ears at times looked more Vorta than half-Vulcan. Half the favorites (Uhura, Sulu, and Chekhov) never made an appearance. The characters that do appear are not true to their tv counterparts, save on some superficial levels. Spock commits genocide in the first comic without considering ANY OTHER ALTERNATIVE! And Kirk claims a planet is a complete waste of galactic space just because it doesn’t appear to have life on it. These aren’t the explorers that I know and love. And while Star Trek is by no means 100% scientifically accurate, these stories didn’t even seem to try to adhere to proper science. Meteors come crashing through the bridge and we just conveniently forget that the vacuum of space would’ve sucked everything out through those holes, killing everyone on the bridge. It was altogether too much and pulled me out of the stories. Instead of enjoying the adventures and escapades, I was wincing at the inaccuracies.

So as to not end a completely negative note: I thoroughly enjoyed every “galloping galaxies” or “great comets” and other exclamations, and many of the plots were intriguing if not entirely plausible or well played-out.

In summation, read if you’re a fan and love to gobble up all things Star Trek, but try not to hold it to too high a standard.

*

I read this a second time and changed my rating from 3 stars to 5 because honestly the absurdity and blatant disregard for science and Star Trek canon just made me giggle this time around. These are a trip and a half and if you want to enjoy them you just have to not take them seriously.