Issue 36 of Gold Key Comic’s Star Trek series continued in March of ’76. The previous issue, 35, was a reprint of issue 4, The Peril of Planet Quick Change. A Bomb in Time was written by Arnold Drake, featured art by Alberto Giolitti and Alden McWilliams, and a fun cover painting by George Wilson.

The splash page hints at a big adventure between the covers; Captain Kirk is riding a chariot on a California highway! He’s chasing another chariot, and firing his phaser at its driver. In a nearby car, the driver is shocked at what he is seeing! Looks like the Enterprise is off on a time travel adventure, buckle up.

The Enterprise arrives at Research Satellite-5, which looks uncannily like the space station orbiting Earth in 2001: A Space Odyssey. They are there to examine the facility’s latest discoveries. I’m a little worried that all their research has done is create a metal detector, a variation on a wind tunnel, and a living lantern – a glowing spider. That doesn’t sound like any great advancements or research.

Kirk follows up because he knows they’ve done some interesting work with explosives, including a new N-Cycle bomb. An alert comes over from a lab comm system, and it is revealed that this one lab is working on time travel. Kirk, Spock, Scotty and their guide discover the doctor there, Dr. Lax, has been murdered!

The man who discovered him says that his last words were ‘find the bomb,’ and Professor Andres seems to be missing. A vid message is delivered from a Dr. Njam. He has sent Andres into Earth of the past with the dangerous N-Cycle bomb, which was created by Andres. The plan is to detonate it sometime in the next twenty four hours if Njam isn’t handed 24 billion credits!

The Earth could be wiped out, and change the face of the galaxy forever!

Spock and Kirk, thanks to an effort made by the late Dr. Lax, have a solid guess about where Andres is. They have two possible dates, 3 April, 1855 or 3 April, 1955. The location that Andres went matches Southern California. So who’s going back in time? Scotty heads to 1855, and Kirk leaps to 1955, while Spock remains to work the problem from the ‘present.’

Scott finds himself on a stagecoach about to be robbed by outlaws, known as the Clancy Gang. He overhears rumours of a new doctor in town, but before he can follow up he is forced to pull his phaser on the baddies. He’s able to pal up with them by claiming he’s a gunsmith, and he rides away with them.

Meanwhile, Kirk makes his own leap. To 1955. But something has gone wrong. Instead of California 1955 he ends up in Ancient Rome! How could that happen?!

Surprise! He’s on a movie set! And he finds himself mistaken for the new stuntman. They think his uniform is for some sci-fi flick, so they send him back to wardrobe.

The director walks him through the stunt, which is supposed to be pretty tough, but there’s a new special effects guru who will make it look incredible – could this be Andres?

In 1855, Scotty is hiding out with the gang before the trip to town, but they’re eager to get their hands on his phaser to perform another robbery. Scotty refuses, of course, but when a time travel vertigo renders him unconscious, they steal it. Scotty has to stop the robbery, and reclaim his phaser… and is he in the right time period for Andres?

Scotty clashes with the gang, and eludes phaser fire, until the charge dies, rendering the phaser useless. He saves the wagon train, and heads into town only to discover the doctor is nothing more than a flim flam man. Not Andres…

Kirk, meanwhile, is performing the stunt, and when it’s over Kirk goes to see the special effects man, it’s Andres! The villain runs and grabs a chariot to escape in. Kirk grabs one of his own. The chase is on!

In the 23rd century, Spock is able to capture Njam.

Kirk, back in 1955, leaps aboard Andres’ chariot intent on disarming the bomb. And it’s all getting shot on film for the movie! As Kirk and Andres fight and converse, Andres realizes that Njam has betrayed him and killed Lax, all for money. Andres was trying to keep the bomb away from Njam, who used it all as a blackmail opportunity. The bomb is recovered, and Kirk saves the day (and maybe the film?).

Somehow, Scotty and Kirk return to the 23rd century… that’s never explained, and the Enterprise continues on its way, and the human adventure continues with… One of Our Captains is Missing.