Star Trek #12

This 1971 Gold Key issue pulls you straight into deep-space danger, with a menacing bearded pirate looming large over the action while two figures in spacesuits tumble helplessly through the void near a stricken, ornate spacecraft. The cover tagline — "Kirk betrays Spock and Scotty to divert the suspicions of a space pirate!" — sets up a deliciously tense scenario, perfectly complemented by photo insets of Spock and Kirk in the upper corner. George Wilson's painted cover work gives the whole thing a rich, cinematic quality that made these Gold Key Star Trek issues genuinely distinctive comics of their era.