The Bridge Between Films
Marvel Comics Vol. 1 (1980–1982)
Marvel’s first Trek run arrived at a specific and genuinely useful moment. The Motion Picture had just been released, the franchise was alive again after nearly a decade away from screens, and there was a gap between that film and whatever came next that comics could occupy. Marvel had the licence and eighteen issues to use it.
Unlike Gold Key, which had to invent Trek from almost nothing, Marvel entered with something to work from: a fully realised film, a recognisable cast, and characters whose voices had been established on screen for twelve years. Kirk reads like Kirk. Spock reads like Spock. After Gold Key’s parallel-universe versions of these people, that fidelity is not a small thing. The series opens with a Motion Picture adaptation, then strikes out into original territory from issue five onwards. Variable in quality, short-lived, and better than its obscurity implies.
No collected editions exist for this run. All 18 issues and the Marvel Super Special are back-issue only. Generally available at modest prices through comic retailers and secondary market sellers.
Start with Marvel Super Special #15 — the 1979 Motion Picture adaptation — then issues #1–4 of the ongoing which expand on TMP before the series moves into original territory from #5 onwards.
You’re reading Trek comics in publication order and want no gap between Gold Key and DC. Worth the time, not essential on its own terms, but historically important and more readable than its obscurity implies.
Review coming.