A complete collection of Star Trek comics all in one small package, readily available and inexpensively–is it possible? The answer coming from Graphic Imaging Technology this Fall is a big yes, with a DVD-ROM with scans of every Trek comic book released from 1967 to 2002 in an easily browsable archive. TrekMovie has an exclusive first look at Star Trek The Complete Comic Book Collection.
This September, GITCorp (Graphic Imaging Technology) is releasing the first of three DVD packages containing archives of the Star Trek comics. This first release, due September 1st, has an expected retail price of $49.99, and contains every single published Star Trek comic book from the first Gold Key Comics in 1967 through to the Wildstorm comics published up until 2002*. The only comics not included in the DVD archive are those from the current Trek comic licensee, IDW. All told, there are over 500 individual issues, comprising one-shot graphic novels, full series, mini-series, and more.
Each issue is being scanned by the company, cover to cover, including all of the advertising, and stored in individual PDF archives. GITCorp is using an interface similar to their prior DVD comic collections to access the PDFs in the collection. The DVDs can be used on both Windows and Macintosh computers.
From the first Gold Keys to the last Wildstorms, all in one box
Putting together a collection spanning four decades has not been an easy task, especially due to the fact that Trek comics have been produced by so many different publishers over the years. According to Ray Pelosi from GITCorp, it has been a daunting to get all the comics and to sort out all the licensing issues required to bring it to market and he thanks CBS Products for all the help they provided to make it all happen.
Every Trek Comic in one box (click to enlarge)
Box Artwork for the first release has just been finalized and TrekMovie has an exclusive first look. The cover, seen above, is based on the cover of the third issue of the original Marvel Comics series (the adaptation of the first Motion Picture). Unfortunately, the original artwork was unusable, but Mike Collins, the original artist, agreed to redo the image for use on the DVD set.
DVD Box inside flap and back (click to enlarge)
More to come from GIT
Once this first collection is released, two more are planned to tie in with the upcoming Star Trek movie release. The first of these is an Original Series set, that will contain all of the comic books based on the crew of Captain Kirk, including crossover issues, and will also contain the “Early Voyages” series featuring Captain Pike in the stories that take place not long after the events of the original pilot, “The Cage”. This set is expected to be released around the time of the new movie, and has a suggested retail price of $29.99.
The third collection on the agenda is a movie related set, possibly including images, trailers, and so forth from the new movie. The suggested price would be $9.99, and the set would be available in movie theatres. The precise details have not yet been confirmed, but when they are, we’ll let you know.
Get your collection
Star Trek The Complete Comic Book Collection DVD works with both Windows and Macintosh computers. It arrives September 1st and is available for preorder now from Amazon for $49.95.
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* according to both Memory Alpha and the Star Trek Comics Checklist, the Wildstorm Star Trek publishing license ended in 2001 (and not 2002). TrekMovie is inquiring as to the discrepancy.
Cool deal. I have some of those original Gold Key issues.
This is really cool.
Only thing that could make it better would be being able to play them on a standard dvd player with some of the original actors reading the lines.
CPELC
yes and maybe have pamela anderson in your room as well, dream on! there is a world outside you know!
Suh-WEEEEET!
I anxiously await the day when all major comic book runs are available in such a format. I can’t wait!
Looks pretty cool. I know Rolling Stone recently did this for there magazines. I wish a similar product of all the Nintendo Power magazines would be released!
hhmmm
maybe we could get all the original comic artists and have them draw live in front of you
pppppppppllllllllllleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaassssssse
maybe one day the actual enterprise will land in my back garden
wow wee
gee wizz
#3 no need to be rude to people
mr spock
warning for trolling…i suggest you move on
I’m all over this.
It doesn’t look like this collection features the “Star Trek/X-Men” crossover comic. Why wouldn’t that one be included? It’s a classic!
“Unfortunately, the original artwork was unusable, but Mike Collins, the original artist, agreed to redo the image for use on the DVD set.”
Sorry, but the original artist on that far superior cover version of Marvel’s Star Trek #3 was Bob Wiacek, not Mike Collins. Wiacek is still working in the field (I just picked up Justice Society of America Annual #1 which he inked) so I don’t get why Collins was asked to redraw it instead.
This cover art is just awful. I think it would’ve been much better to commission fan-favorite cover artist Jerome Moore who produced dozens of the best covers for DC and Malibu in the 80’s and 90’s. Mike Collins only ever contributed to about ten issues of Star Trek-related comics (and his work there was far better than the coloring book-like illustration seen here).
HOWEVER! This is a brilliant idea and I’m pleased as can be that this is being released! I’ll just probably toss the box out.
3 words:
YABBA. DABBA. DOO!
Wow. That’s pretty impressive. I have a similar collection of Mad Magazine on CD roms, and makes for real easy reading. Can’t wait to read some of the old Gold Keys again, and I won’t need my reading glasses to do it!
Oh my God! is it possible? Unlike Marvel or DC i was under the impression that no one was really tracking all the comics published! I´m truly amazed!
And yes, the MALIBU series were the best regular series, but Chris Claremont and Adam Hughe´s “Debt of Honor” graphic novel so far is the best illustrated TREK ever!!
The cover art on the box is absolutely horrible. I’ll bet someone in the marketing dept. has a major ego to stroke and created that cover, or they just have no respect for the comics medium in general. There are a hundred trek comic artists out there who could have done a better job than that cheap looking crap they decided to use. I’m surprised they didn’t include the headline ‘WAM, POW, ZING! Comics aren’t For Kids Anymore!’ in the headline of their press release.
Comics have grown up. Too bad these guys are clueless.
Hold on, does that mean that the second set would rerelease stuff already on the first?
Amazing.
Will wonders never cease from CBS merchandising Star Trek? I’m incredibly happy with what’s happened since they’ve CBS has gottten this, frrom Remastered to the licensing.
18
Alex can clarify but I believe the answer is yes. There is going to be a lot of product coming out associated with ‘classic trek’ next spring and it appears GIT is just trying to get in on the action. The TOS only set will also be cheaper than the ‘complete’ set released in September.
thanks anthony-
I wasn’t going to give the guy the benefit of a response.
and honestly I own zero star trek comics and enjoy a nice life outside of my room….
plus this guy must be the one that doesn’t get out much…pamela hasn’t been hott since 1996…..unless your name is Borat
I just thought if you know leonard or bill read like one comic a piece it would be cool to have the audio.
I’ve ordered this. How cool is it that the Power Records comics are being included?
“* according to both Memory Alpha and the Star Trek Comics Checklist, the Wildstorm Star Trek publishing license ended in 2001 (and not 2002). TrekMovie is inquiring as to the discrepancy.”
WildStorm published it’s last one-shot, “Star Trek: The Next Generation: Forgiveness” in October 2002.
I made me own Star Trek comics… used copies o’ Pre-Raphealite paintings ta’ illustrate tha’ stories…
fur example, on one dire mission, tha’ Enterprize crew is knocked oot by an alien energy (I wuz eight- so I wuzn’t original then!) and I had Lord Leighton’s “Flaming June” snoozin’ in tha’ panel ta’ illustrate tha’ action (or lack thereof)…
then in tha’ next panel I had Poynter’s “Cave of tha’ Storm Nymphs” and a caption aboot tha’ aliens stealing all tha’ goodies on tha’ ship whilst it lists away in space…
When I started using cubist works, things got a wee little crazy…
however, this trend in DVD collections is very interesting… Could it be done fur Harpers magazine? How’s aboot Popeye? Ahhhh… I recall so many old Spider-Man adventures now… haven’t seen ’em in decades… and who can forget Rodney Rat, tha’ Blimey Limey who spoke in all Rhymey?
Arrrrrrr…
It would be amazing if they put together a collection like this of assorted other Star Trek publications, such as the technical manuals. I remember as a kid having a few and being upset when some if them got lost I’d damaged. Plus, there were, at least back then, more books and guides than you could possibly hope to afford (as a kid) and definitely more than you can find in stores today (as a, ehm, bigger kid, let’s say). ;-)
25. skeptik –
“It would be amazing if they put together a collection like this of assorted other Star Trek publications, such as the technical manuals.”
I agree. A collection of all the “Star Trek: The Magazine” issues from the late 90s (not to be confused with “Star Trek Magazine” currently being published) and the British “Star Trek Fact Files” combined with all the Pocket oversized non-fiction books (Encyclopedia, Chronology, the awesome out-of-print “Spaceflight Chronology” from 1980, the aforementioned Technical Manuals, etc) would be super-fantastic.
Could also include the old CD-ROM material which won’t play on more recent computers (the Omnipedia, TNG Technical Manual with the 3-D tour of the 1701-D).
Great idea. I never would’ve expected this comic book DVD collection so I won’t rule out the possiblity that this too could become a reality.
Incredible that all the comics rights issues were worked out to make this set. That must have been a lot of work.
Dear Santa…
Please bring me one of these for Christmas and I won’t spike the cookies with rat poison.
24. British Naval Dude –
“I made me own Star Trek comics… used copies o’ Pre-Raphealite paintings ta’ illustrate tha’ stories…”
Ha! That reminded me of some fan-fic I illustrated back in the late 80’s. I used Pre-Raphaelite works as the inspiration (mostly by Dante G. Rosetti) for a Troi/Riker romance story though I doubt anyone ‘got it’.
Yeah, I used to illustrate fan-fic… >hides<
“Unfortunately, the original artwork was unusable”
This is curious. The article states that everything in all these comics is included (including ads!) yet the cover to Marvel’s ST#3 was “unusable”? Must be some legal tangle but it still doesn’t explain why a new illustration wasn’t commissioned and someone else’s art was simply redrawn by a different artist (as I mentioned above Bob Wiacek was the original artist on that cover, not Michael Collins).
Redrawing another artist’s work without clearly labeling the new piece as an homage (by signing it “Michael Collins after Bob Wiacek” for example) is real comic industry faux pas. Comic book legend Jack Kirby ended his historic 1960’s run at Marvel after they had Herb Trimpe redraw a Kirby Hulk poster without crediting the original artist. I’m just sayin’, there’s a precedent and this could be seen as a kind of insult to Mr. Wiacek.
29 Ahhh… Rosetti makes sense… what pic wuz it, “Beatrice”? that she gots stars in her head…
and tha’ real odd painting he did called “Warp-Driven Space Chariot Visits the Virgin Mary”…
Arrrrrr…
BND-
I think it was “Paolo and Francesca”. And another one called “Dante and Virgil on Romulus”.
Does this set include the Marvel and DC stuff as well?
26/Izbot: How about the Star Trek: The Magazine issues from the 1970’s? They folded out into large posters: Spock on the Bridge, a close-up of the E from “Tholian Web.”
…though I guess “Dante and Virgil Travel the River of Blood in Gre’thor” would’ve been a better title…
33. AJ –
I seem to remember a set of Star Trek Blueprints from the 70s (with many non-canon designs included) as well as Rick Sternbach’s TNG Blueprints that I bet we could also include in our hypothetical collection.
And yes, the above set apparently includes all the DC and Marvel titles.
I’m not too much a comic book guy, but I do have some of the Gold Key™ comics and the movie comics and this is very intriguing. I think that the completionist in me must have this. Very exciting.
THE WOMEN!!
=h=
#12 –
Keep in mind there was more than 1 Star Trek/X-Men crossover –
There’s the TOS version:
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Star_Trek_-_X-Men
and then the TNG “Second Contact”:
http://www.memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Second_Contact
and then the Book!
http://www.amazon.com/X-Men-Planet-Star-Trek-Generation/dp/0671019163
These aren’t too difficult to find online or in a well-stocked comics shop.
I actually own them but they lay about mid-way through a pile of Trek-related reading I plan to get to “eventually….” (how many of you share that problem with me????)
Uh Yes! The Gold Keys…have a few myself. Glad to see that there is a new media outlet for Star Trek comics. Have to admit, putting all them together like this is very fresh and look forward to getting them! I wonder though if they can make them smell like old comic books…….what a cool deal that would be :)
The box art… who cares, any image of the Big E is a good one in my book :)
This is awesome, I’ll definitely be picking this up!
I am really stoked for these! I really just want the original series stuff, so that second set sounds like the one for me. Here’s a tech question for you guys:
Are there any portable readers for this type of stuff? I’d love to be able to just load up all of these to a reader and be able to read these whenever and wherever I might be without having to go to a computer or boot up a laptop.
Already pre-ordered :) Can’t wait for this!
39. Lyle –
“The box art… who cares”
Well, I care but that’s speaking as a comic collector of thirty years and a guy with two art degrees. Maybe for Star Trek fans it’s no big deal but for comic fans a cover is pretty important and with the huge inventory of artists involved in Star Trek comics over the decades to choose from it’s a little puzzling and disappointing that the producers of this collection apparently don’t ‘get’ what’s important to comics fans.
A minor quibble, I’ll admit, but the completist in me would’ve loved seeing a new Jerome Moore cover for the box art.
Take a look at these examples:
http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=49336&zoom=4
More from J. Moore:
http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=49213&zoom=4
http://www.comics.org/coverview.lasso?id=53791&zoom=4
Re: Izbot (various)
I may have been a bit unclear when I noted that “the original art was unusable” — from what I understand, the original artwork was actually lost, and they only had the actual cover version, with other stuff on it.
I’m told that CBS would not approve that particular art, and that their marketing peeps requested an Enterprise with nothing else on it. Mike Collins (who did, as noted, several Trek covers and issues — I was under the impression he did that cover originally, and my bad, I was wrong :) ) was asked to redo the image for the cover. As I understand it, he redid the original cover almost exactly, and then they had to remove the image of Earth that was visible behind (for CBS), and a few other things. It is possible that the (new) original version of the cover will be available on the DVD as a bonus though.
Also, I’m told that the two X-Men crossovers _are_ in the set, just not listed in the inside flap.
Finally — Forgiveness published in late 2002? Mine has a cover date of “November 2001”, and an interior copyright of “2001” (no month listed).
I picked it up about a year ago, so don’t know the original release timeline — was it delayed for a year or more or something?
Never got into Trek comics, but this is a great idea!
Extremely cool.
Now, about sets containing digital files of all the Trek novels. . . .
Well, a man can dream, right?
Will these discs be region coded, or will they work just fine on UK Macs?
Just would like to know before I order from the U.S.
Does “complete” include the comic strips by Angus Allan and Harry F Lindfield that appeared in the UK comics “TV21” and “Joe 90” from 1969 onwards?
Does anyone know?
Fabulous! I’ll buy the TOS disc for sure!
I’m surprised they didn’t get someone like Alex Ross to do the cover! Hopefully they will for the TOS set!
I wonder if they’ll include the audio files from the record sets? I have the records (but no record player) and was unaware that there was a comic version that went along with them… I got mine at a second-hand store years ago and there was no mention of comics being included in the set. Very cool!