One of the many licenced properties that Gold Key published in the late 1960s was NBC's new science fiction television show, Star Trek. Even though the show only last three years before cancellation, its success in reruns helped promote this first Star Trek comic series which debuted in September of 1967, and lasted for thirteen years. Italian artist Giovanni Ticci drew the first issue followed by Nevio Zeccara for the second in his loose cartoony style, before fan favorite Alberto Giolitti took over the pencilling with the help of his studio for the next ten years. With just a handful of stories based on the original TV series, the writers and artists at Gold Key created new adventures for Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and the valiant crew of the Starship Enterprise. Gerry Boudreau, Arnold Drake, and Len Wein were just some of the talented writers to work on the feature, showcasing Giolitti's exciting aliens, savage landscapes, and weird architecture before he eventually left the title for other projects. George Wilson's did many of the outstanding painted covers as strip artist Alden McWilliams finished out the run, ending with issue #61 in March of 1979. Surprisingly, Alberto never saw an episode of the television show, but used stills for reference that the editors provided, which might explain the flames coming out of the Enterprise engines in some of the panels. As the first of many Star Trek related comics to be published by different companies over the years, this definitive version is still a favorite to Gene Roddenberry's legion of fans.
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