Covers For Star Trek Countdown Movie Prequel Comics

In just about a month the first story related to the new Star Trek movie hits comic book shelves. The four issue "Star Trek Countdown" comic series links the TNG era to the movie and is the most anticipated Trek comic in years. Artist David Messina has released high resolution versions of the first two covers, check em out below. 

 

Bridging TNG and Star Trek 2009
The Star Trek Countdown comics will show the progression from the Next Generation era after Star Trek Nemesis to the new Star Trek movie. The series is ‘presented’ by Star Trek director JJ Abrams with a story by Star Trek co-writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. Even if you are not a regular reader of the Trek comics, this series looks like a must buy for Trek fans who want to see how this new movie ties in with the Trek we already know.

New covers
Messina has put up the final covers for the first two issues as well as a black and white and full cover version showing the design progression. Covers courtesy of Spider Behind the Mirror, Dave Messina’s blog

Star Trek Countdown #1


Nero cover (Click to enlarge)

  
Design progressions (Click to see full size at Messina site)

Star Trek Countdown #2


Data, B4, Lore? cover (Click to enlarge)

    
Design progressions (Click to see full size at Messina site)

Pre-order Star Trek Countdown now

Individual Issues
at Thing From Another World – tfaw.com

Star Trek Countdown #1

Star Trek Countdown #2

$3.19
(Pre-order – Jan. 28)

$3.19
(Pre-order – Feb. 25)

Issues #3 & #4 are not yet available for pre-order

Trade Paperback
at Amazon.com (note, not final cover)

Star Trek Countdown
(Trade Paperback – compiling all 4 issues)

$12.23
(Pre-order – April. 29)

More on Star Trek Countdown

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wow Nero with hair…guess he mustve had shaved it when he noticed his hairline receeding…well it saves $ on propecia and rogaine

Still looking forward to this. It’ll be nice to see some new TNG era stuff.

Nero has hair, no pointy ears and no tattoos… Interesting.
I suppose it’s possible Nero and B4 could exist together, What’s the lifespan of an android? I assume it’s B4 as it looks like he’s wearing a starfleet uniform.

data is wearing command red uniform . . . fascinating

I’m sorry, is that Data, Lore, B-4 or yet ANOTHER android brother?? Sorry, but that was a HUGE reason why I hated “Nemesis”. The whole B4 subplot was LAME! If you’re going to kill someone off and have it have an emotional impact, don’t make it so GLARINGLY OBVIOUS how you’re going to bring him back. At least with Spock’s “remember” line in Trek II, it left it open for him to return but not in a smack in the face “see we’re killing him off, but not really, so don’t get mad at us” kind of way. Will be interesting to see just who is shown on the cover. Hmmm… maybe he’s the final Cylon???

I can’t wait for these comics to come out. It will answer some of my questions, as well as raise some more! Is it May yet?

My only gripe is that B4 should have been B9, then Picard’s line would have been apropos. Still, I am looking forward to the comics. I wonder how many pages will it have?

#7–B4 was originally supposed to be B9 but they had copyright issues regarding Lost In Space having already had a robot named B9

Folks, this is obviously B4 the events of Nemesis when Data was “alive.” Nero was younger. I’d say at the end he is in Rura Penthe and that;s when he is shaved, tattooed and his ear injured,

But he escapes in the movie and goes back in time somehow, in the “current day” TNG timeline.

So, that is probably Data.

#3

Looks like he has pointy ears to me.

B4 should have been Lore, end of story. Nemesis really blew a potentially interesting storyline with that.

You can also order a subscription now from the publisher.

http://store.idwpublishing.com/product_info.php?products_id=1525

Unless… Data wearing red goes back to his days when he defeated the Romulan invasion of Vulcan. We don’t know if that very important event could be see in flashback. If this is about Nero going over great Romulan defeats, that would surely make an impact on him.

But that’s a First Contact uniform he’s in, so post-TNG. And both times during TNG he featured in command of a ship with something to do with Vulcans or Romulans (“Redemption” and “Gambit”) he stayed in Ops gold. He only wore Command red in “Chain of Command” which was dealing with Cardassians.

#13 Cuphes, if true, why would Data be wearing a uniform from First Contact/etc.?

They should have used LIS Robot B9, it would have made the movie much more enjoyable..

Look close at the Nero image, as I do not think that is hair but a detailed tattoo.

B4/Data in red as he’s Picard’s new first officer.

I guess..

I am so confused! Is it Data? Is it B4? Is it Lore?

Orci’s already said that in the new film–while still canon–there are some significant divergences from the “prime” timeline that we’ve always known.

Perhaps in the future of the Universe in which JJ’s Star Trek exists, Data didn’t die from ‘cancer of the plot point,’ has moved up in rank (or at least position), and thus wears Command red.

Just a thought…

#19

Yeah, but the way I understood his explanation was that the starting point for all of this was the ‘prime’ original timeline, and changes only occur post-Nero’s incursion into the past. Not that I’d be offended if he ignored Nemesis…

TNG rubs me the wrong way, it’s so…so…anti-TOS…everything about it seems wrong when put side by side with the original…truly a different bird…but I’ll grab these anyway, just to get up to speed for when the new movie hits the screen.

I was kind of hoping LORE was the other Data in Nemesis

Would have made more sense that way

Lore would have been great in Nemisis, and Sela should have shown up as one of the Romulans supporting Shinzon, or just eliminate Shinzon and have Sela as the opponent.

Didn’t Spock already expose Sela in the series? How could she have come back?

She was left alive and well, he just neck-pinched her into submission. She was a member of the Romulan military, she wasn’t under cover or anything.

seems highly unlikely it would be Lore in a starfleet uniform. Wouldn’t he need to go to be in Prison if he showed up?

If it’s B4, then he somehow got copies of Data’s memories and starfleet gave him his rank.

If it’s Data, somehow plucked out of time ie. FreeJack style, then cool…

If it’s Data pre Nemesis death, that goes against what Orci already said I believe.

Interesting indeed.

OMG How old are you to remember Freejack?

Totally gnarly, dude!

I say Nemesis never happened….

I hear Gene calling from beyond the grave… Nemesisssss issss not canon…

This will be the first time ever that I’ll buy a Star Trek comic.

What about Lore? Was he destroyed back on Enterprise D? Or was he put in some starbase (or Area 31, Indiana Jones style)!
I mean, can’t they just erase Lore’s memory, put Data’s from B4 and whoala… We have Data back on the track with his old post as Picard’s first officer.

Those of us over 50 bought the Star Trek comics when GOLD KEY existed. Then it was Marvel, then DC when the Spock Trilogy happened.

I know they’re still out there, but I stopped reading the comics after Voyage Home. BTW, the comic adaptation of ST:V:FF was the way Shatner intended, rock monster and all. No budget restrictions and no flying past the same decks 4 or 5 times. Should have just left those doors unpainted, Shat

Merry Shatmas, and to all a good Spock!

#26 – Yes, B4 has Data’s memories. There was a scene in engineering when he’s transferring his memories to him. Hence the writer’s LAME way out for killing Data. I’m hoping that they have better script writing abilities than the last film’s writers did. I enjoy JJ’s team’s writing so far. I have confidance that they’ll do Trek justice. =) And thanks to Paramount for FINALLY spending money on a Trek flick!

It’s already been said here by Orci (or maybe it was JJ) that the events in this comic series take place AFTER Nemesis. Am I the only person who read this? It could be the mad cow but I don’t think so. Also, why are people hung up on the “red” uniform. It’s just a black and red print and doubt it has anything to do with his rank here. His skin is red too. Does this mean he’s embarrassed or boiling mad?

“If you’re going to kill someone off … don’t make it so GLARINGLY OBVIOUS how you’re going to bring him back.”

I thought in Generations it was obvious how Kirk would be brought back. The Nexus had no time, no beginning or end…. A live Kirk would always exist in it. Picard could have gone in a bunch of times and brought out an army of Kirks to fight Soran.

OK I retract what I said about the red stuff. Was looking at the all red and black version.

Does it really matter if it’s “B4” or “Data”? Once Data was “dead”, all they had to do was transfer his “positronic” memory and knowledge into “B4” and ….BAM!…it’s Data.

Right?

35. Yes! As some of us have been saying, Data already did that in Nemesis before he was blown to tiny positronic bits. It just didn’t take right away until B4 started to remember that song at the end.

B4 is a retard

To be honest, at least in regard to Data’s uniform, it very well could be yellow because if you look at the picture, everything is red.

They just need to find Data’s head in the wreckage a la Times Arrow and attach it to B4’s body. Not my idea, but if they have to bring Data back then that’s the best way I’ve heard for doing it, IMHO

The artwork leaves osmething to be desired.

#39
I thought Data disintegrated, but perhaps I’m wrong.

Anyway, IMO Data is gone fo-eva.

Starfleet was never that mad about Data anyway. At the start of TNG he had been in Starfleet for 26 years and had only got to Lt. Commander/2nd Officer/Ops Officer, granted on the Federation Flagship. But he stayed in THAT role for, what, 14 years before becoming a Commander/1st Officer. Whatever you think of Data’s manner of death or the obvious way they could bring him back, I seriously doubt Starfleet would just shrug and let an inferior/older version step into his shoes, no matter that B4 had Data’s memories and every upgrade Geordi could throw at him after 14 years’ experience of patching Data up. It’d be nice if there’d been a TNG film showing how in fact such a set of circumstances would arise whereby he DID regain his position, however Search For Spockish it was – but it was not to be. But to just assume that such a thing had in fact happened to help promote a new film which has little/nothing to do with TNG, why, that’d be as thoughtless as making one of the sequel shows’ finales all about TNG. Oh, wait. . .

I agree that Data’s death would have been more poignant without the B4 storyline, but IMO, the thing that needed to be seen is the deleted scene with Geordi and Worf cleaning out Data’s quarters and showing all the things that Data had held onto over the years and ending with Geordi picking up the emotion chip and Spot jumping into Worf’s arms. That and get a different actor for Shinzon. Seriously, did anyone buy that guy as a younger Patrick Stewart? I thought not.

Anyway, I’m really intrigued about these comics now.

NEMESIS is rubbish, yes. But what they’re clearly trying to do with the Data/B4 plot is create a sense in which Data reproduces, so that he can leave something *of* himself that is not his whole self behind when he goes.

That’s what human beings do, generally speaking. We’re born, we live, we die and we leave someone who is a lot like us but not us behind by reproducing. B4 is the last bit of Data’s human jigsaw, the final piece of his succesful quest to become human. The film completely muffs it, but that’s the idea..

Every major character in Star Trek that died (1. not counting Tasha Yar, 2. ex. Spock, Jadzia, Kirk…) left something (a hope he would return, if you will) behind.
We can as well accept that Data, like Jadzia isn’t coming back in the form we know him.
Too bad.
What about Wesley.
I know it’s off topic, but I would really like to know what are Paramount’s plans with him…
Is he going to save Kirk or something, or at least help Spock travel back through time, or save Data for that matter…

I still think these images make Nero look like REM’s Michael Stipe… :)

i mess two tng film to come after this film to show how the 2009 film happed like this on the last film they make and the one beffore that picard get married to doctor crusher

they have to do more tng now that this films out to make it all fit in to star trek canon