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In a world gone mad, Scotty and Dr. McCoy fight for their lives — against each other!

"A World Gone Mad" was a Star Trek comic book story published by Gold Key Comics in 1973, the 20th issue of their TOS series. It was the 18th comic drawn by Alberto Giolitti and the fourth written by Arnold Drake.

In this story, the USS Enterprise escorted a young prince to his home world in the year 2267 amid cases of random insanity which threatened to destabilize the planet's government.

Description[]

One by one the citizens of that once proud and happy world were becoming homicidal maniacs! Brothers against brothers, mothers turning upon their very own children! Captain Kirk and the crew of the starship Enterprise found themselves in a race against total and annihilating bedlam in ... A World Gone Mad!

Summary[]

Captain's log, star date 3427.2 – I have dispatched Mr. Spock and Scotty on a strange but vital mission...

Starfleet has sent the USS Enterprise to Nukolee to help a power transition go smoothly between a regent and a returning, democratically-minded prince. Prince Raviki is picked up at a boarding school where he's been since his parents' deaths three years earlier, and James T. Kirk updates him on local politics. Kirk, Spock, Leonard McCoy, Scott and Raviki land in the Galileo at a spaceport on Nukolee, where two attempts are made on the prince's life. En route to the palace, an officer commits suicide, and at the palace Raviki's loving sister tries to kill him. Temporary bouts of insanity have been popping up all over the planet. Spock determines that these incidents began shortly after Sanduy's Comet deposited unusual gases into the planet's atmosphere. The regent, General Vlas, convinces Raviki to sign a martial law edict in the morning, but it isn't soon enough for the general, who leaves to organize a coup.

Captain's log, star date 3427.5 – We have a solid lead now on what has driven the entire planet of Nukolee to violent madness! But General Vlas and his co-conspirators are already on the march!

Vlas' troops scour the palace looking for Raviki and the Starfleet officers, who have safely hidden within a sculpture. Scott and McCoy leave to investigate the comet. Raviki refuses to leave with them, saying that his place is on his planet. Raviki makes a live broadcast from a nearby television studio, but the transmission gets cut off.

GK20-comet-tail

Collecting samples

The Enterprise parallels the comet. Scott and McCoy leave the ship in spacesuits, using vacu-lators to collect samples from the comet's tail. McCoy is exposed to the gas and attacks Scott. Scott knocks out McCoy, and shortly afterwards the doctor creates an antidote.

Raviki's studio is surrounded by a mob peppered with Vlas' snipers. In a bold move, Raviki appeals directly to the rioters and momentarily quiets them. Scott sprays McCoy's antidote overhead from the Galileo. It cures the crowd, dispersing them and preventing the coup. Raviki thanks Scott, offering him the title of baron or duke if he stays.

References[]

Characters[]

KillayJames T. KirkLuloLeonard McCoyNazinoRavikiMontgomery ScottSpockSubomarHikaru SuluVlas
Referenced only
BandoWinston ChurchillDjanDjurnoW.C. FieldsHladThomas PaineSpuzz

Starships and vehicles[]

USS Enterprise (Constitution-class) • Galileonucle-cycle

Locations[]

Furanthy SchoolNukoleeSanduy's Comet
Referenced only
Gobi Desert

Races and cultures[]

HumanNukolee nativeVulcan

States and organizations[]

FederationNukolee Customs Health AuthorityNukolee Supreme Council

Science and technology[]

beakerbombbrainbrakophonecommunicationsgasglare filterlavamedi-analyserspacesuitvacu-latorvacuum cleaner

Ranks and titles[]

admiralbaroncaptainchief medical officercomediancrown princedukeemperorgeneralimperial highnesslion tamerpsychologistroyal physicianspace commandersub-captain

Other references[]

20th centurybanji fruitcaptain's logdemocracyfruitcakegas company • "The Girl from Planet 192-B" • knifelionmartial lawmedalmeteor showerpalaceparliamentpolicespace ballspaceporttelevision studioterminaltrack-and-field

Chronology[]

2264
Prince Raviki's parents died in an accident, and he was sent off-world to Furanthy School.
2265 (2 years, 4 months 3 days prior to stardate 3247.2)
When Sanduy's Comet passed close to Nukolee, it triggered meteor showers which expelled gases into the atmosphere, triggering random occurrences of madness among the population.

Appendices[]

Related media[]

Background[]

  • This story has been released six times in English. It has also been translated into Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Serbian and Spanish.
  • The reprint in The Enterprise Logs, Volume 3 is missing pages 4 and 14. On page 4, Kirk gives Raviki a primer on local politics, and then Raviki plays space ball with Kirk and McCoy outside the ship. On page 14, Raviki and the landing party emerge from their hiding place within a sculpture. McCoy is assigned to study comet gases.
  • It is not discussed why Raviki is returning home at that particular time. Possibly he had graduated from boarding school or reached an age where he was supposed to become emperor.
  • Nukolee's population wears attire similar to that seen on 19th century Earth, particularly the military uniforms, whereas the society has developed spaceflight at least to an interplanetary level.
  • Furanthy School seems to be located on a planet in the same system as Nukolee, or a nearby system.
  • The television studio technology on Nukolee resembles that of 1970s Earth.
  • Hikaru Sulu appears in one panel, reporting on the ship's course to Scott and McCoy.

Images[]

Connections[]

Gold Key Comics stories and publications
Issues "The Planet of No Return" • "The Devil's Isle of Space" • "Invasion of the City Builders" • "The Peril of Planet Quick Change" • "The Ghost Planet" • "When Planets Collide" • "The Voodoo Planet" • "The Youth Trap" • "The Legacy of Lazarus" • "Sceptre of the Sun" • "The Brain Shockers" • "The Flight of the Buccaneer" • "Dark Traveler" • "The Enterprise Mutiny" • "Museum at the End of Time" • "Day of the Inquisitors" • "The Cosmic Cavemen" • "The Hijacked Planet" • "The Haunted Asteroid" • "A World Gone Mad" • "The Mummies of Heitius VII" • "Siege in Superspace" • "Child's Play" • "The Trial of Captain Kirk" • "Dwarf Planet" • "The Perfect Dream" • "Ice Journey" • "The Mimicking Menace" • "Death of a Star" • "The Final Truth" • "The Animal People" • "The Choice" • "The PsychoCrystals" • "A Bomb in Time" • "One of Our Captains Is Missing!" • "Prophet of Peace" • "Furlough to Fury" • "The Evictors" • "World Against Time" • "The World Beneath the Waves" • "Prince Traitor" • "Mr. Oracle" • "This Tree Bears Bitter Fruit" • "Murder on the Enterprise" • "A Warp in Space" • "Planet of No Life" • "Destination... Annihilation!" • "And a Child Shall Lead Them" • "What Fools These Mortals Be.." • "Sport of Knaves" • "A World Against Itself" • "No Time Like the Past" • "Spore of the Devil" • "The Brain-Damaged Planet" • "To Err Is Vulcan" • "The Empire Man!" • "Operation Con Game"
Additional stories "James T. Kirk: Psycho-File" • "A Page From Scotty's Diary" • "Spock: Psycho-File" • "From Sputnik to Warp Drive"
Games "Voyage of Discovery" • "The Tunnel of Death" • "... Wild Goose Chase!" • "A Hint of Life" • "Space Chase" • "Escape from the Clinging Dags"
Collections Star Trek Annuals (1969197019721973197419751976197719781979198019831986) • The Enterprise Logs (Volumes 1234) • The Key Collection (Volumes 12345) • Gold Key Archives (Volumes 12345) • Gold Key 100-Page Spectacular
Related media "The Exile" • "The Red Hour" • "Colouring Book" • "Eye of the Beholder" • "The Menace of the Mechanitrons" • "Trial by Fire!"

Timeline[]

Published Order
Previous comic:
#19: The Haunted Asteroid
TOS comics (Gold Key) Next comic:
#21: The Mummies of Heitius VII
Previous story:
The Haunted Asteroid
Stories by:
Arnold Drake
Next story:
The Mummies of Heitius VII
Chronological Order
Previous adventure:
Eye of the Beholder
New Visions
Memory Beta Chronology Next adventure:
The Hijacked Planet
Previous comic:
Eye of the Beholder
New Visions
Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), Year Two Next comic:
The Hijacked Planet
Production history[]
September 1973
First published by Gold Key Comics.
August 1976
Printed in the omnibus The Enterprise Logs, Volume 3. (Golden Press)
June 2004
Printed in the omnibus The Key Collection, Volume 3. (Checker Book Publishing Group)
September 2008
Included on The Complete Comic Book Collection DVD. (Graphic Imaging Technologies)
August 2014
Remastered in hardcover in the omnibus Gold Key Archives, Volume 4. (IDW)
9 November 2017
Remastered in hardcover in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection #23. (Eaglemoss)
Translations[]
13 March 1974
Serbian: In TV 3AБABHИK.
1974
Dutch: As "Een Waanzinege wereld" in b/w in Star Trek #2. (De Vrijbuiter)
1974
Finnish: As "Hullu Maailma" in Avaruusmatka Star Trek #8. (Apulehti)
1975
German: As "Teufelsstrahlen aus dem All" in Enterprise #3. (Koralle)
1970s
Spanish: In Aventura #915 Viaje a las Estrellas. (Editorial Novaro)
2005
Italian: In the omnibus The Gold Key Collection, Volume 5. (Free Books)

External links[]

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