Before we proceed to our Tale of Trek, let's pause to take a look at Star Trek comics in the USA at that time. The year was 1973. Star Trek had been cancelled for 4 years, but the audience was continuing to grow around the syndicated show. The first movie was a half decade away, an animated series was in production from Filmation, and everybody was ramping up to sing Money!*
At Gold Key, we were getting new Star Trek adventures, but something seemed just a bit off about them...
You might notice that Captain Kirk looks rather un-Kirk-like. This is no fault of the artist, as he had never seen the show and the reference photos sent to him were of Jeffery Hunter - Captain Pike from the first pilot. This was a problem that undercut the book on a routine basis, even when playing with concepts like this which would not come into play until The Next Generation aired over a decade later.
Meanwhile, over in the UK...
Yeah, that Enterprise might spark more than a bit of concern. Inside, however, we find Eisner Award winner Jim Baikie is on, as far as i can determine, one of his first professional gigs. And he has clearly seen the show and knows the actors.
Even if the colourist is unaware of certain little things, like the meaning of tunic colours and the curse of the Red Shirt...
...but not even a red shirt can stop Captain Kirk. (Though Spock is doing all the heavy lifting)
Meanwhile, 10 years later, back at StarFleet...
Yeah... This is gonna get confusing.
At Gold Key, we were getting new Star Trek adventures, but something seemed just a bit off about them...
You might notice that Captain Kirk looks rather un-Kirk-like. This is no fault of the artist, as he had never seen the show and the reference photos sent to him were of Jeffery Hunter - Captain Pike from the first pilot. This was a problem that undercut the book on a routine basis, even when playing with concepts like this which would not come into play until The Next Generation aired over a decade later.
Meanwhile, over in the UK...
Yeah, that Enterprise might spark more than a bit of concern. Inside, however, we find Eisner Award winner Jim Baikie is on, as far as i can determine, one of his first professional gigs. And he has clearly seen the show and knows the actors.
Even if the colourist is unaware of certain little things, like the meaning of tunic colours and the curse of the Red Shirt...
...but not even a red shirt can stop Captain Kirk. (Though Spock is doing all the heavy lifting)
Meanwhile, 10 years later, back at StarFleet...
Yeah... This is gonna get confusing.
What Is This Thing Called Spock? by Jim Baikie for TV21 (1973), Star Fleet by Mike Noble for Look-In (1983)
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I actually think the first two Gold Key pics of Kirk look more like Shatner than Hunter, but the likeness is far from spot-on. Did you get the IDW books of the UK Star Trek strips? They're great. (Yeah, I know - worst Tony the Tiger impression you've ever 'heard'.) Your blog's now added to my list, a bit later than intended.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI was wondering if perhaps Giolitti was modifying the look to something more between Hunter & Shatner here. By this point he'd been drawing the book about 4 years and had probably seen some correct photos but perhaps was maintaining consistency?
ReplyDeletePurely theoretical supposition.
I should also note, after my earlier comments, that the Gold Key comics only started getting the uniform colours correct earlier that same year.
I've seen some of the newspaper strips, and indeed enjoyed them greatly. It was rather odd seeing them late on - going back to the movie universe in comic strip form. But, no - I hadn't seen the collection from IDW. That seems like a good acquisition. Either way, i'll have to run some here so My Fellow Americans can see what we're talking about.
And, no worries on the listing. I only got my update on so quick due to the spiffing & polishing going on yesterday. (ooOOOooo! He's got a portrait pic now! And FINALLY got dynamic blog listings!)