STAR TREK #3

Cover shows strong gloss and bright colors with a visible UPC barcode indicating newsstand edition. There is a noticeable crease/wrinkle running diagonally near the ship's beam and some minor surface waviness in the black background, along with slight corner softness at the top corners. The book is housed in a protective sleeve, which limits full assessment of edges; interior and back cover were not evaluated. No major tears, stains, or color breaks are visible in this photo.

Star Trek #3 is the closing chapter of Marvel's 1980 adaptation of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, the publisher's first ongoing Trek license following the franchise's theatrical revival. Dave Cockrum pencils and Klaus Janson inks the full ensemble cast he Chief Ilia included en McCoy, Nyota Uhura, Montgomery Scott, and Christine Chapel, with a Bob Wiacek cover, John Costanza lettering, and Marie Severin color guiding the issue's finish. The book carries the franchise pedigree of Gene Roddenberry's creation and ties to Alan Dean Foster's novelization of the film, but it is a continuation issue rather than a first appearance, origin, or landmark artistic statement, and it is not cited as a key by standard price guides.

The series was printed in substantial quantities for a licensed movie tie-in riding the wave of the 1979 film's release, and that volume shows in the modern market: raw copies in low and mid grades circulate as commodity back-issue stock rather than sought-after scarcities, and CGC populations for the run are deep at the top end, keeping 9.8 premiums modest relative to true Bronze Age superhero keys. Demand is driven less by comic-specific key status and more by Star Trek franchise collecting s assembling complete movie-era adaptation runs, nostalgia buyers, and crossover fans of the Cockrum/Janson art team.

This issue functions as a set-build piece rather than an investment-grade key. Reading and lower-grade copies move cheaply and in volume, mid-grade raw copies are readily available to collectors filling out the 1980 Marvel Star Trek run, and CGC 9.8 slabs draw a modest but real premium from condition-census chasers and Trek completists rather than speculative buyers. Pricing across grades should be expected to track general Bronze Age common-book trends and franchise sentiment more than any issue-specific scarcity.