The Voodoo Planet
Stardate: 24:17.9
Comic: Star Trek #7
Publisher: Gold Key
Date: March 1970 (Reprinted in #45, July 1977)
Synopsis:
Writer: Unknown / Artist: Alberto Giolitti
On the other side of the galaxy, the crew of the Enterprise comes across a perfect replica of Earth. When they beam down to investigate, they are surprised to discover that the streets are empty of people and vehicles and that the buildings are made of papier-mâché. As Kirk and Spock investigate the fake Eiffel Tower, a beam lashes out, striking the tower, which collapses. Back on the Enterprise the two officers discovers that at the exact time the fake Eiffel Tower fell, so did the real one back on Earth. McCoy and Spock surmise that it is some sort of "deep space voodoo." A crewman gets a track on the source of the destructive beam, and the Enterprise follows it to a nearby planet. Beaming down, Spock, Kirk and McCoy discover that the scheme is the work of Count Dressler, a mad former ruler of a tiny kingdom on Earth who was forced to flee and is now taking revenge on his home planet. Dressler, using voodoo dolls, turns his arcane skills on Kirk and Spock and captures them. They are rescued by McCoy and beam back to the Enterprise. Spock remembers a cult similar to Voodoo on Vulcan and, after some research, discovers the rituals of the Vulcan Pain Casters. Spock and Kirk put themselves through the Pain Caster ritual to make themselves immune to Dressler’s voodoo. Once back on the planet surface, they turn the tables on Dressler and capture him. Kirk then decides to maroon Dressler on a deserted planet where he can do no more harm.
The Youth Trap
Stardate: 31:09.4
Comic: Star Trek #8
Publisher: Gold Key
Date: September 1970
Synopsis:
Writer: Unknown (Dick Wood?) / Artist: Alberto Giolitti
While exploring Galaxy Zekbran, the Enterprise sights an uncharted planet and goes into orbit to investigate. While in orbit the number two engine is attacked, burning out all the "filament parts." Spock reports that to rebuild the filaments they will need a source of Zutotanium. An engineering team is sent down to look for the ore, and is attacked by a mysterious beam that reduces them to small boys. Spock, Kirk and McCoy beam down to investigate, whereupon they are also fired on by two aliens. The strange beam hits McCoy, who is transformed into a teenager. Suddenly the two aliens start fighting each other and one is pushed off a cliff. The Enterprise crew gets to the injured alien, who tells them that he has invented a de-aging machine and that they had hoped to use it to freeze their ages until a rescue ship could arrive. They had been testing it on the Enterprise crew, but the other alien had decided to use it to gain power. After capturing the landing party, the evil alien decides to use the Enterprise as his ride home and forces Spock to beam him onboard. He then uses the de-aging ray on the whole crew by transmitting it via the ship’s closed-circuit TV screens. Meanwhile, back on the surface, Kirk and the friendly alien use trickery to escape and beam back up to the Enterprise. Once onboard they overpower the evil alien and use the aging machine to reverse the process. With everything restored, the Enterprise crew mines the Zutotanium, repairs the engines and returns to their mission.
The Legacy of Lazarus
Stardate: 10:26.3
Comic: Star Trek #9
Publisher: Gold Key
Date: February 1971
Synopsis:
Writer: Len Wein / Artist: Alberto Giolitti
The Enterprise is sent to planet Gamma Alpha V to verify readings from a probe sent 10 years earlier. Although the probe classified the Class M planet as uninhabited, the Enterprise sensor readings show an occupied city. When the landing party beams down, they are amazed to find the city populated by famous people from Earth history. Spock becomes separated from the landing party and is captured. He finds out that the man at the center of the mystery is Earth historian Alex Lazarus, who fled Earth with his psi-androids years before. On the planet, he transferred his knowledge of historical figures to the androids. But now he wants to learn the history of Vulcan by tapping into Spock’s brain. When Sulu discovers the entrance to Lazarus’ headquarters, he orders the androids to attack the landing party. The besieged landing party beams up, while Spock, who has freed himself from Lazarus, is still below ground. Scotty doubles the power of the transporter and manages to beam Spock up just as Lazarus’ cavern explodes
Sceptre of the Sun
Stardate: 12:48.6
Comic: Star Trek #10
Publisher: Gold Key
Date: May 1971
Synopsis:
Writer: Len Wein / Artist: Alberto Giolitti
En route to Starbase 10 the Enterprise suddenly comes to a stop and appears to be in the grasp of a giant genie. McCoy, Spock, Scotty, and Kirk are mysteriously transported to an ornate palace. There they are coerced by a sorcerer named Chang into recovering the so-called "Sceptre of the Sun" that he needs in his war against another sorcerer named Xanadu. The crew heads out on its quest and meets a group of barbarians, who claim that they are in fact humans who left Earth in suspended animation during the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s. Chang was originally one of them, but turned against the others. The crew and the barbarians find the Sceptre guarded by a giant robot that Spock disables. With the Scepter in their control, the Enterprise crew storm Chang’s castle. Spock shows all Chang’s tricks to be illusions, and the "genie grip" turns out to be a tractor beam. Unable to disable the beam, the officers radio the Enterprise and have it destroy Chang’s castle with its phasers
The Brain Shockers
Stardate: 11:26.1
Comic:[[b]/b] Star Trek #11
Publisher: Gold Key
Date: August 1971
Synopsis:
Writer: Len Wein / Artist: Alberto Giolitti
In orbit around the planet Pollux II while investigating the disappearance of several ships in the area, the Enterprise is subjected to attacks from the surface. The attacks rock the ship, breaking a collection of sacred Vulcan artifacts that contained the bottled emotions of Vulcan’s founders. Those emotions are set loose among the Enterprise crew. On the surface, Spock discovers a bored immortal called Malok who has been luring passing starship crews to his jungle maze so that he could experience their terror through his telepathic powers. Malok tries to ensnare the Enterprise crew but is overwhelmed by the hidden Vulcan emotions. With their composure restored, the crew return to the Enterprise and leave Malok to wrestle with these newfound emotions.
The Flight of the Buccaneer
Stardate: 32:46.3
Comic: Star Trek #12
Publisher: Gold Key
Date: November 1971
Synopsis:
Writer: Len Wein / Artist: Alberto Giolitti
Spock, McCoy, Scotty, and Kirk go undercover as interstellar pirates to uncover a stash of stolen dilithium crystals. They make contact with the notorious pirate Black Jack Nova, who agrees to team up with Kirk to find the stash. Nova’s first officer discovers that Spock and Scotty are Federation spies, but before he can tell his captain, Kirk denounces them. Nova pushes the two out of an airlock and then leaves in search of the crystals. The floating Spock and Scotty are rescued by the Enterprise, under the command of Sulu, which has been waiting nearby using a captured Romulan cloaking device. The Enterprise warps to the planet where the crystals are hidden, arriving before Kirk and Nova in Nova’s ship Windjammer. Here they find Ben Cannon, the original captain of the Windjammer, who helps them against Nova. Kirk and Nova face off in an electron-cutlass duel which ends when Kirk throws his cutlass at the escaping Nova, hitting an engine generator tube on his shuttle, which explodes. With Nova destroyed, Cannon gives the Enterprise crew a stash of dilithium crystals that he had dug up earlier.
NEXT POST: 2263
Previous Entries
– 1953
– 2056
– 2063
– 2250
– 2251 – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4.
– 2253-2259
– 2262 – Part 1, Part 2
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NOTES:
(1) This timeline covers Star Trek comics published in the USA and UK between 1967 to 2007 (i.e. from Gold Key to TokyoPop) – it does not include any stories from current Star Trek comics publisher IDW.
(2) Go to the first post in this series for the Time Line Introduction explaining the background, definitions and considerations for this Star Trek Comics Time Line project.
(3) For more information on the history of Star Trek in comics check out my book STAR TREK: A Comics History. now available in stores.