Discuss: Gold Key Star Trek Comics

Karen: Even though I am a huge Trek fan, I've only encountered a handful of the Gold Key Star Trek comics. My uncle, who had a number of comics dating mainly from the 50s and 60s, had a couple of issues, and I recall being fairly puzzled by them. They didn't look much like the shows I saw on TV. The uniforms weren't the same and some of the characters looked completely different. I learned many years later that the artists who worked on the title were mainly based in Italy, and had never seen the show!

Karen: What I never realized until now was how long the title ran: there were 61 issues produced by Gold Key, from 1967 through 1979. I had thought they stopped turning out the title in the early 70s. The cover art was often quite fanciful -and sometimes if the words "Star Trek" hadn't been there, you wouldn't have known it had anything to do with the show. The earliest issues, by the way, had photo covers, not uncommon with Gold Key and Dell comics that were spin-offs of TV shows or movies.

Karen: I can't tell you much about the stories in these comics. From what I gather though, they were similar to the art, in that they didn't follow all that closely to the source material. A brief perusal of some plot summaries reveals mummies, space pirates, and the crew becoming giants, among other unique ideas.  I found two websites that provided a wealth of information on these comics: Curt Danhauser's Guide to Gold Key Star Trek Comics, and Star Trek Comics Checklist. You can find plot synopses and cover art as well as much deeper dives on these books on these two great sites. Based on what I read here, it appears that the series improved around the mid -1970s, with both art and story becoming much more faithful to the show.


Karen: Although I don't have any real connection to these books, I find them oddly fascinating. They're like a strange translation of Trek. But I could see if you grew up reading them, they would hold a special place in your heart. Has anybody collected these comics, or do you have any fond memories of them?

(Note how these two later issues - 49 and 56 - connect to the episodes "City on the Edge of Forever" and "Metamorphosis")

Buried Treasures: Walt Disney's Comics and Stories 275

Walt Disney's Comics and Stories #275 (August 1963)
"Necessity May Be the Mama of Invenshun..."
George Stallings-Dick Moores

"Ghostly Confession"
Pencils - Nat Edson

Doug: Totally out of my comfort zone today, friends! A couple of weeks ago as I was continuing the Great Purge that has been the reduction of my collection, I came across three comics that I'd forgotten I had -- primarily because I was given them only several years ago and cannot recall from whom! They never made it into my longboxes, but had been stored separately. So here is some new fodder for today, and maybe for future Monday reviews. And by the way, this has shaped up to be a "Buried Treasures" week, with three more posts in this category to follow. Enjoy your visit to your hosts' archives!

The Grand Comics Database was a wonderful resource to find out a bit more about this comic. While credits for the entire book's contents are incomplete, it did help to answer some basic questions. My first query was about the Ducks story -- and yes, it was by Carl Barks. It's a 10-page farce with Donald trying to make a million and failing miserably... until his nephews bailed him out and saved the day.

The second tale is 4-pager starring Lil' Bad Wolf, the Big Bad Wolf, and of course the 3 Little Pigs. It was a cute little story featuring a plot by Lil' Bad Wolf to thwart his pop's plans to eat the Piggies. In the end, the Big Bad Wolf is saved by the Piggies from being eaten by a gator!

After a one page text story featuring Mickey Mouse, we come to the first of two stories I'll feature today. I chose this one simply on the grounds of Disney's ban on the sale of Song of the South - to my knowledge, it was released on VHS in the 1980s and/or '90s but has never been pressed to DVD. Presently, it is available on YouTube. I recall seeing it in the theater as a child, and when my kids were little we had a Disney Sing-a-long Songs videotape that featured Zippity-do-dah. In later years Song of the South has come under heavy scrutiny for its use of racist stereotypes. The 2-page story below (read across the two scans - there are three full rows of panels in the story) features characters from that film. Personally, I found about as much enjoyment reading the dialect in this story as I did attempting to read Tom Sawyer in high school (which would be none!). But overall I don't see anything racially offensive in this strip (no Tar Baby... yikes!). Note: all scans used in today's post were enhanced with photo software. The comic book from which the scans were made is pretty faded!

I also decided to include the full 5-page Zorro story. When I found the book and saw Zorro on its cover, I had hoped that I might stumble upon an Alex Toth production, but such was not the case. But the story was good, with an ending we've seen before and with quite a bit of action squeezed into such a short space. In a modern comic, this would have filled a six-issue arc and would be packaged as a trade paperback!

The book concludes with an 8-page Mickey and Goofy adventure and a 1-page Scamp feature. The Mickey and Goofy story features the boys on a mission to find Inca gold. Black Pete is along to complicate matters, and the story is actually continued to the next issue -- something I didn't expect. I guess I always viewed these humor mags as pretty much self-contained.

Below is a series of gags that readers could submit. This page immediately followed the Zorro yarn. While there aren't any knee slappers, there are a few in there that made me smile as if I was a little kid. But then, that's the mindset one may have to have when reading a comic like this. And when I could remind myself to do so, I had a pretty good time. It was good enough to make me want to, at some point, dig into the other issue of Walt Disney's Comics and Stories and the issue of Bugs Bunny that were "found" alongside today's book.

The Return of Tarzan -- Dueling Pencils

Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan of the Apes #156 (February 1966)

Gaylord DuBois-Russ Manning

Tarzan #s 219, 220, 221, 222, and 223 (April, June-September 1974)

Joe Kubert

Doug: A long time ago I got the crazy idea to showcase one Conan story, "The Tower of the Elephant", but drawn by two Bronze Age masters: Barry Windsor-Smith (inked by Sal Buscema) and John Buscema (inked by Alfredo Alcala). People got a kick out it then, and lo and behold if the crazy idea didn't hit me again. Today we'll also look at the work of two masters, this time Russ Manning and Joe Kubert, both men inking their own pencils. Manning and his scribe, Gaylord DuBois, adapted the ERB tale "The Return of Tarzan" in a single issue; Joe Kubert took five issues (!) to tell his version. Today we'll check out a 100-Word Review of the basic plot, so those not in the know can consider themselves... in the know. Then we'll look at some key scenes as told by these two wonderful artists. Enjoy!

Thrown overboard from a steamer, Tarzan swam toward the African coast. As fate played out, he took shore a short distance from the cabin where he was born. Searching for arms, he encountered a Black warrior and saved the man from Numa, the lion. Welcomed to the tribe, Tarzan soon became their chieftain. Tarzan led his troops in search of a lost city – Opar! There he found danger in the form of the 50 Frightful Men and La, their high priestess. He also found gold beyond imagination, which he later plundered for his own benefit. And he won Jane’s heart…

Doug: I have to say that 100 words wasn't really enough to do the plot justice, but darned if that ellipsis didn't land after the 100th word - nailed it! Joe Kubert spent 2 1/2 issues to get to the spot where DuBois and Manning began their adaptation. Kubert gave quite a bit of backstory in regard to Tarzan's "rejection" by Jane Porter in her favor toward William Cecil Clayton, Tarzan's cousin and Lord Greystoke. Tarzan's friend, Lt. D'Arnot had gotten Tarzan a position as an international spy (just suspend your disbelief, OK?), and our hero encountered a certain Nikoklas Rokoff. Rokoff was a dangerous Russian criminal intent on all manner of do-badding. It was Rokoff and his assistant who assaulted Tarzan unawares on the ship's deck. But before that had happened, Tarzan had by chance met Hazel Strong, the best friend of Jane Porter. What a coincidence - to be sailing near the southern tip of Africa with an American woman from Baltimore who just happens to be friendly with the forbidden fruit of your dreams. Man... And then when she tells that Jane doesn't want to marry Lord Greystoke but some Tarzan fellow she'd met in the jungle... Of course, being chucked into the sea sort of put all that on the back burner.

Doug: I'm going to choose several examples of Manning and Kubert telling the same parts of this story. I think you'll see how illustrative Manning's work was, and how raw Kubert's was. Manning's work sort of feels like the Ron Ely Tarzan television show; Kubert's feels more like the Christopher Lambert film, Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes. I'd also say that Manning's women evoke the glamour girls of 1940's Hollywood. When necessary, I'll tell you what's going on, or where the two men parted company in just how they told this story. You can imagine that with Manning using 24 pages and Kubert exercising his prowess over 90 pages there were some differences. However, what really interested me were some details that I felt were important to the story that Kubert skipped altogether, and how each penciler put certain events in a different order. Doing this post makes me want to reread the Burroughs novel!

Scans today are coming your way from the Tarzan Comics Library, Volume One (Dark Horse Comics 1999) and Tarzan: The Joe Kubert Years, Volume Two (Dark Horse Comics, 2006).

Manning gets after it right away; it took Kubert almost three full issues to get to this scene below!

Interesting how the creators handle this scene with the lion. In the Manning issue Tarzan loses his balance and needs to be saved by the African; Kubert has the ape-man ever dominant. We can infer that Tarzan intended to kill the African for his weapons, but Kubert's jungle lord thinks to himself that he could never kill to steal -- Kubert's scene shows a more skillful and noble Tarzan.

Here, Tarzan -- apparently no environmentalist, agrees to go on an elephant hunt with his new friends. Kubert presents the scene as a rogue elephant has endangered the compound and must be dealt with.

In both stories, Tarzan learns of a lost city filled with gold. A member of the Waziri tells him the rumors, so Tarzan selects 50 strong warriors to accompany him on his search. However, stereotypical "savage" superstitions get in the way of the mission.

I'm always digging the 50 Frightful Men -- Burroughs painted such a picture in my mind that artists' renditions always fall a little short in comparison to the way I'd originally "seen" these brutes... sort of like the Seven Dwarfs as craggy cave men.

La. I think Manning got it "right" moreso than did Kubert. Of course, many artists have tried their hand at depicting the high priestess -- click here. In the scene below, Tarzan protects La from a mad suitor.

The great escape. This is another scene that Burroughs did a great job of painting for me. It's interesting that Manning has Tarzan find the gold right away; in Kubert's version Tarzan leaves to meet up with the Waziri and then comes back and discovers the gold later.

Of course, what would a Tarzan epic be if there wasn't a scene where Jane Porter fell into mortal danger? Here she is captured by the 50 Frightful Men and taken to Opar. Again, Manning and Kubert tell this scene a bit differently, and spaced differently in the order of events.

William Cecil Clayton, deceiver of many, meets his ending -- and title of Lord Greystoke:

Tarzan weds his lady. Jane nee Porter becomes Mrs. John Clayton, Lady Greystoke.

I hope you enjoyed our joint tour of these two tellings of The Return of Tarzan. I found it fascinating as I read each story how the creators chose to tell certain parts, to take artistic liberties with Burroughs' original writing, and even to reorganize major plot points. I hope you had a good time looking at the samples I've provided today.

Doug: I actually saw this on Thursday (3/24/16), but didn't want to hijack Martinex's $1 Challenge. Those of you who have found pleasure in my various reveals of the IDW Artist Editions may recall that I've pre-ordered the Jack Kirby's Thor book that is supposed to ship in May. Here's a link to a site offering glimpses of the book -- spectacular stuff! 

Guest Post - If I Had a Buck... Marvel and DC? Never Heard of 'em!

Doug: Welcome to another comic book covers challenge. Today it's not Mike S. (aka Martinex1) steering the ship, but Edo Bosnar. Edo has a nice riff on multiple ideas, so take it away!

Edo Bosnar: The inspiration for this one is the recent “Suggestions Unboxed” post about non-Big 2 comics. So today we’re going to be spending that hypothetical buck on a selection of Bronze Age comics not published by Marvel or DC. But additionally, no “kiddie” stuff, either: so no Archies, no funny animals, no friendly ghosts or sad sacks and especially NO Richie Rich. Nope, just serious and sophisticated fare for us today, the super-hero, action, horror, etc. comics vying for our attention on the spinner racks of the Bronze Age in that veritable sea of titles put out by the Big 2.

So here are your choices – since I’m sure many are not very familiar with these titles, I included some details on the contents obtained at the very useful Grand Comics Database. As usual, the price you pay is the one featured on the cover:

E-man (Charlton) no.2, $0.20, December 1973. Cover by Joe Staton, “The Entropy Twins” by Nicola Cuti and Joe Staton; back-up feature: “Enter Killjoy” by Steve Ditko.

Red Circle Sorcery (Red Circle) no. 9, $0.25, October 1974. Cover by Gray Morrow. “If I Were King” (by Marv Channing and Alex Toth), “The Devil’s in Borley!” (story and art by Pat Boyette), “The Goal is Death!” (by Marv Channing and Vicente Alcazar), “Come In and Meet the Piano Player” (by Marv Channing and Carlos Pino), and a text story, “The Journey” by Marv Channing, illustrated by Gray Morrow).

Destructor (Atlas/Seaboard) no. 1, $0.25, February 1975. Cover by Larry Lieber and Wally Wood.“The … Birth of a Hero” by Archie Goodwin, Steve Ditko and Wally Wood.

Phoenix (Atlas/Seaboard) no. 3, $0.25, June 1975. Cover by Frank Thorne. “The Day of the Devil” by Gabriel Levy and Sal Amendola; Back-up feature, starring the Dark Avenger: “The Rat Pack!” by John Albano, Pat Broderick and Terry Austin.

Tales of Evil (Atlas/Seaboard) no. 3, $0.25, July 1975. Cover by Rich Buckler. “Man-Monster!” by Tony Isabella, Rich Buckler (co-plotters), Gary Friedrich (script), Rich Buckler (pencils) and Mike Vosburg (inks). Back-up feature: “Vampire Killer Still at Large” by Gabriel Levy and Romero.

Tragg and the Sky Gods (Gold Key/Western) no. 2, $0.25, September 1975. Cover by Jesse Santos.“The Day the Earth Thundered” by Don Glut and Jesse Santos.

Demon Hunter (Atlas/Seaboard) no. 1, $0.25, September 1975. Cover by Rich Buckler.“The Harvester of Eyes” by David Anthony Kraft and Rich Buckler.

Magnus, Robot-Fighter (Whitman/Western) no. 42, $0.25, January 1976 [complete reprint of Magnus, Robot Figther no. 19 from August 1967].Cover by Vic Prezio (at least that’s who’s credited with the 1967 cover, which looks exactly like this one). “Fear Unlimited” by Russ Manning; back-up feature: “An Alien Phobia” by Russ Manning.

The Occult Files of Dr. Spektor (Gold Key/Western) no. 24, $0.30, February 1977. Cover by Jesse Santos.“Dragon Fire” by Don Glut and Jesse Santos.

Doomsday +1 (Charlton) no. 10, $0.35, January 1979. Cover by John Byrne. “Hidden Empire!” by Joe Gill and John Byrne (reprints the story from Doomsday +1 no. 4 from 1976).

Doctor Solar, Man of the Atom (Whitman/Western) no. 29, $0.50, October 1981. Cover by Dan Spiegle. “Li’Rae” by Roger McKenzie and Dan Spiegle; back-up feature: “The Steel-smashing Return of Magnus, Robot Fighter” by Roger McKenzie and Frank Bolle.

Charlton Bullseye (Charlton) no. 4, $0.50, November 1981. Cover by Larry Houston. “The Vanguards” by Larry Houston (art and story).