Star Trek #39

Gold Key's Star Trek takes a genuinely unsettling turn with this 1976 entry, where cover artist George Wilson conjures a deep-space nightmare: a gaunt, wild-eyed alien figure looms large against the void while two figures in red suits drift helplessly in open space, one sealed inside a transparent pod. The tagline "Frozen Sleep in the Depths of Space!" sets a tense, eerie mood that feels a world away from the hopeful optimism of the Enterprise crew — whose familiar faces, Spock and Kirk, appear in a photo inset at the top. Writer Arnold Drake and artist/inker Al McWilliams bring the interior story "Prophet of Peace" to life, promising the kind of bold, strange adventure that made Gold Key's Star Trek run a distinctive chapter in the franchise's history.