I know absolutely nothing about Trek comics. Are there done that are generally considered to be among the best or otherwise must reads? Sort of starting to exhaust the good Trek novels I think so looking to see what else is out there... Fan of any series so anything goes, just looking for quality.
http://startrekcomics.info/ I'll put in a vote for "Once a Hero...". DC Comics, second run #19. Anything by Peter David is usually pretty entertaining.
John Byrne's stuff is good. I like most of the stuff Marvel did in the 90s, and tge Wildtorm stuff. If you can find the complete comics dvd there are hundreds and hundreds to choose from.
The two DC runs are solid, as is Star Trek: Early Voyages (Enterprise under the command of Pike) from Marvel. DC Annual #2 (first run) tells the story of the end of the five year mission and a return to Talos IV. DC #10-12 (second run) covers the Trial of James T. Kirk. Star Trek: Countdown sets the stage for Star Trek (2009). There is lots of good stuff out there.
I'll always hold a special esteem for "The Trial of James T Kirk," which played a big role in making me a serious Star Trek fan instead of a casual one.
Chime in with 'All Those Years Ago' the first DC Comics Annual showing the first voyage of Captain Kirk and the Enterprise. Much better than the novel 'Enterprise: The First Adventure'. I'll also add 'Retrospect' by Peter David also by DC Comics and IDW's 'Star Trek: Year Four', by D.C. Fontana.
The Diane Duane two-parter, featuring the Grond vs Ajir ("Double Blind") is hysterical - and her original Starfleet characters also appear in her Trek novels! "The Last Word" is also good. http://dianeduane.com/outofambit/star-trek-double-blind-part-2-large-cover-image/ Duane Trek by Ian McLean, on Flickr Above: Naraht the horta; Harb Tanzer, Chief of Recreation; Nurse Lia Burke; linguist Janíce Kerasus; and Doctor Tom Krejci (DC Comics TOS Series I: the "Double Blind" two-parter, #24-25, and "The Last Word", #28). All of these characters have appeared in Diane Duane "Star Trek" novels, and most also in the old, text-based, computer game, "The Kobayashi Alternative". Harb's hair is miscoloured; it should be silver/white. Other Duane novel/game characters who get mentioned by name in "The Last Word" comic include Athende (the tentacled Sulamid), and Avoca.
I wasn't too keen on "Double Blind", but "The Last Word" was great. For the OP: issues #9-36 of the first DC run take place between The Search for Spock and The Voyage Home. With Kirk and most of his crew on Excelsior, with Spock commanding the science vessel Surak.
I haven't read many, but I really liked Howard Weinstein's two-part DS9 comic "Risk", where Sisko and crew encounter a powerful race that devoted its resources to scientific projects at the expense of its people.
I haven't read a ton of Trek comics, but there are a few I'd recommend. I read about the first 30-50 issues of the first DC Comics run on the Comics DVD, and I don't remember my thoughts on specific issues, but I have enjoyed the series overall and would recommend it. I loved Marvel's Pike era TOS series Early Voyages, and their Starfleet Academy series is really good to. Star Trek: Unlimited, a series where most of the issues were split in half between TOS and TNG also had some good stories. One that really sticks in my mind was a story where Q and Trelane switched Picard's and Kirk's places.
My favorites over the years have included the Mike W. Barr-written early years of DC's Star Trek series, especially "The Mirror Universe Saga" and the first two Annuals detailing the first and last missions of the 5YM. Peter David's runs are good too, but he does get too cutesy at times. The art in the DC graphic novel Debt of Honor is gorgeous. The story by Chris Claremont is rather fanfic-y, though. I quite liked Marvel's Early Voyages series from the 90s, which detailed Pike's time as Captain of the Enterprise (the first few issues bracket "The Cage"). The Wildstorm one-shot All of Me is a quite good TOS story. It's written by Tony Isabella and Bob Ingersoll with art by Aaron Lopresti. More recently, I've quite enjoyed the Trek stories that John Byrne has been doing for IDW. He's done mini series about the Klingon/Romulan alliance, the arc of Number One's career, Dr. McCoy's adventures between TOS and TMP, and Gary Seven. All are available in trade paperback. Currently, he's doing New Visions, a bimonthly series of TOS adventures that he's creating using repurposed stills, Photoshop, and 3D modeled backgrounds, spaceships, and aliens. Fun stuff!
This thread inspired me to pop the comics DVD into my computer, and pick up where I left off on DC's first TOS series. I read #31 Maggie's World, and it was pretty good. I did get a kick out of the stuff in the back talking about The Voyage Home being in the future.
Reading the letters page is definitely part of the fun of going through those old DC comics. I'm about half way through Volume 2 right now.
i had been doing a read through starting with the old DC books, i stopped around issue 30 of DC's second run. I got burned out. So I might start over, they are such fun books to read. Very nostalgic for me, first comic i ever got was Star Trek: The Next Generation #1 of the 6 issue mini-series. It's when i also discovered that DC was also doing a TOS comic. At the age of 9.
Star Trek : Crew by John Byrne is one of my favorite series. I'm also a sucker for the Star Trek Early Voyages run with Pike and crew. It's very pulpy sci-fi in parts, but a lot of fun.