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A friendly reminder regarding spoilers! At present the expanded Trek universe is in a period of major upheaval with the finale of Picard and the continuations of Discovery, Lower Decks, Prodigy and Strange New Worlds, the advent of new eras in Star Trek Online gaming, as well as other post-56th Anniversary publications such as the new ongoing IDW comic. Therefore, please be courteous to other users who may not be aware of current developments by using the {{spoiler}}, {{spoilers}} or {{majorspoiler}} tags when adding new information from sources less than six months old. Also, please do not include details in the summary bar when editing pages and do not anticipate making additions relating to sources not yet in release. 'Thank You

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DC-Comics-logo

Logo of DC Comics (19762005).

DC Comics is a comic publisher based in the United States, well-known for their superhero and science fiction genre books published continuously since the 1930s.

History and specifics[]

Taking their name from an abbreviation of a flagship title, Detective Comics, DC was a giant of the comic book industry in the 20th century. In the 1980s, DC became the third comic publisher to take on Star Trek, beginning their run of Star Trek: The Original Series comics in 1984, taking over the rights from Marvel Comics, their primary competitor at the time. The first series of TOS adventures began shortly after Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan up to the events of Star Trek V: The Final Frontier. After a year-long hiatus in 1988, they restarted, producing more TOS stories and the first Star Trek: The Next Generation comics. DC was the sole publisher of Star Trek comics until 1994, when an unprecendented move by Paramount Television gave the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine license to Malibu Comics. The two companies published simultaneously until DC finally lost the TOS and TNG license in 1995.

Printing formats[]

DC began their Star Trek line printed at the same size and quality as most of the rest of their publishing line, what is now known as "modern-age" comic size (trimmed slightly from the larger size of books in previous decades), and printed on newsprint format paper.

With the re-launch of Star Trek titles in 1989, DC changed the quality to what they referred to as "New Format", featuring a brighter white paper and a better printing resolution for solid colors. The line was marketed as a higher quality under the New Format name, with a slightly higher cover price, about 25¢ more than their newsprint offerings. Experimental at first, used only for certain licensed, creator-owned or mature reader properties, the quality improved and eventually this format became more standard and was no longer called out as "new" in solicitations.

DC also used the Star Trek line to showcase another higher-quality printing format which was marketed as "Prestige Format". This format allowed a comic with a large number of pages to be printed "perfect bound", with a square spine similar to a paperback book. The cover was a glossy cardstock rather than standard paper weight, and the interior pages had a nicer texture than even the new format books. The Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country comic adaptation was available as a variant printing in this format.

Another first for Star Trek comics, DC also produced graphic novels, full-length volumes longer than a standard 22-to-24 page comic issue. Debt of Honor was among the first, printed closer to magazine size rather than in the modern-age comic size. The Ashes of Eden was another graphic novel, this time an adaptation of a novel from the Pocket Books line (see Pocket TOS). This was the only example of a prose Star Trek work being adapted for comic format, and was printed in comic size in a trade paperback format.

DC originated the concept of the miniseries for Star Trek comics, as all previous uses of the license had been to create ongoing series. Who's Who in Star Trek and the first TNG comics were the first non-ongoing Star Trek comic miniseries. DC later used the miniseries format to do an indirect TOS-TNG crossover with the two The Modala Imperative miniseries, one for TOS and one for TNG. Other miniseries were all part of the TNG line.

The Landmark Crossover was another unique offering, as DC and Malibu Comics collaborated to do a crossover story between TNG and DS9 despite the limitations offered by their respective licenses. Two issues were published by DC and two issues were published by Malibu, but all four components of the series were branded with the logotypes of both series.

Star Trek: The Original Series[]

First Series[]

DC's first run of TOS comics ran from 1984 until 1988. A monthly series ran for fifty-six issues with three annuals.

Second Series[]

After a hiatus in production DC started a second series of TOS comics running from 1989 until 1995. A monthly series continued for eighty issues. There were six annuals and three specials, a miniseries The Modala Imperative and two one-shot graphic novels, Debt of Honor and an adaptation of William Shatner's novel The Ashes of Eden.

Star Trek: The Next Generation[]

DC began production of TNG comics with a six issue miniseries in 1988. The series then began in a monthly format in 1989 and ran for eighty issues until 1995. Additionally there were six annuals, three specials and four miniseries.

Appendices[]

Connections[]

Star Trek comics
By series DSCEVTOSTNGDS9VoyagerSA
By publisher Gold KeyMarvelDCMalibuWildStormTokyoPopIDW
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