IDW Announce 5 New Comic Series + Plan on Movie Tie-In

More TOS & TNG + New Frontier, Mirror Universe & Gary Seven!
In 2007 IDW ended a six year drought in Star Trek comic books. Last week IDW announced a new TNG comic series to debut in January and today the company announced an aggressive slate of four additional series to premiere over the following 5 months. These include a TOS ‘Year 4’ series written by D.C. Fontana, a New Frontier series written by Peter David, a Gary Seven ‘Assignment Earth’ series by comic legend John Byrne plus a series set in the mirror universe. There are also plans afoot for an adaptation for the new Star Trek movie later in the year.

IDW ramping up Star Trek production
IDW are calling the four new series of Trek comics (following the TNG release in January) ‘Star Trek: Second Stage’ and each book will have a special ‘Second Stage’ logo (see below). IDW Publisher and Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall notes “In the first year, we took the IDW starship on its shakedown cruise. For 2008, we’re taking the storytelling beyond the Final Frontier.” 2008 is of course Star Trek’s big comeback with the new movie coming out in December. IDW which already have some series running over from 2007 will be moving up to a total of 4 issues per month. "This will really be an epic year for Star Trek, and we want to make sure our books do justice to the scope of it all,” says IDW Star Trek editor Andrew Steven Harris.

Below are the official synopses and cover/promo artwork from the five new series:

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Intelligence Gathering (January) [note: not part of ‘Second Stage’]
Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise-D will return with five new journeys as told by the hit team that created Klingons: Blood Will Tell-writers (and brothers) Scott and David Tipton, and artist David Messina. The new miniseries Intelligence Gathering promises to feel like a slice of the hit series in its prime, reading like "lost" episodes that fans never saw.

Set toward the end of the show’s fifth season, Intelligence Gathering from IDW Publishing examine as yet unexplored sides of the Star Trek: Next Generation characters who meant the most to fans. There’s plenty of action and suspense as the familiar crew faces both old adversaries and new threats-all in self-contained stories that are connected by a broader, unfolding plot.

Preview:
Kicking off the series is an issue that revolves around one of the Federation’s mission-critical facilities-a four-dimensional database that amasses all Federation data storage but is beginning to act erratically. Has it become sentient? And must the Federation shut it down? [CLICK TO SEE PREVIEW AT IDW]

 

Star Trek: New Frontier (March)
New York Times
Best-Selling novelist Peter David, author of the first Star Trek series designed exclusively for print, celebrates the 10th anniversary of the New Frontier saga with its first-ever comic book series. The five-part epic, debuting in March with artist Stephen Thompson (Beneath the Valley of Rage), features all-new stories and the official continuation of the runaway hit novels by Pocket Books.

In "Turnaround," the most dangerous experimental vessel in the galaxy—a prototype time ship—has vanished, and it appears that the man who stole it is none other than Starfleet Admiral Edward Jellico. Only Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the crew of the Excalibur have a hope of finding him before the ship, intended purely for scientific exploration, is used to disrupt the space-time continuum.

Star Trek Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment (April)
D.C. Fontana, who started her career as Gene Roddenberry’s assistant during the Original Series, went on to write some of Star Trek’s most memorable episodes, including ground-breaking episodes of that first series, as well as the pilot for Star Trek: The Next Generation®, and contributions to the Star Trek animated series and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine®. Now Fontana adds Star Trek comic books to her literary legacy, continuing IDW’s successful Star Trek Year Four saga with co-writer Derek Chester (Star Trek: Legacy) and longtime Star Trek artist Gordon Purcell. Fan-favorite illustrators The Sharp Brothers will also contribute special covers for the five-part series, which debuts in April.

The Star Trek Year Four series has chronicled the untold fourth year of the U.S.S. Enterprise’s legendary five-year mission, depicted for just three seasons on the original Star Trek show. For The Enterprise Experiment, Fontana and Chester craft a sequel to Fontana’s celebrated Star Trek episode "The Enterprise Incident," in which Kirk famously posed as a Romulan to capture a new state-of-the-art cloaking device.

In this all-new story, Federation efforts to fully adapt the cloaking device to Starfleet ships leads to an experiment gone awry, trapping Kirk and Spock on an Enterprise out of phase with space itself. At the same time, Romulan forces close in on the starship, intent on claiming revenge for their stolen technology. Later chapters in the series will provide a sequel to the first two issues, as the Klingon™ Empire—with its own agenda—suddenly enters the fray.

Star Trek: Assignment Earth (May)
Comics icon John Byrne provides a prequel to the SECOND STAGE titles with the February finale of IDW’s Alien Spotlight series in an issue showcasing the Romulans, the writer/artist’s first-ever illustrated Star Trek story in a decades-spanning career  [CLICK TO SEE PREVIEW AT IDW]. But in May, Byrne will unveil his first full-blown Star Trek comic series, the five-part, time-jumping Star Trek: Assignment Earth.

The original TV episode "Assignment Earth" had been the Season Two finale for the Star Trek series. It introduced the cryptic character Gary Seven and was intended by Gene Roddenberry as the pilot for a spin-off series that never came to pass. Now, however, Byrne will bring Roddenberry’s dream to life, delivering the spin-off 40 years after it would have debuted. The series tells the tale of the interstellar time traveler and his Earth-born assistant as they covertly confront threats to the past so that they can save Star Treks future.

Byrne will both write and draw the series, which steps one year forward with each installment, beginning with 1968, the year that the original "Assignment Earth" episode aired.

Star Trek Mirror Images (June)
The Mirror Universe remains one of the most popular themes in Star Trek canon, and IDW will travel through the looking glass with Star Trek: Mirror Images, written by IDW Editor-in-Chief Chris Ryall together with Scott & David Tipton, brothers have become the new breakout stars of Star Trek comics writing with hit series like Klingons: Blood Will Tell. The new four-part epic launches in June, teaming the brothers once again with Klingons artist David Messina.

In Mirror Images, Ryall and the Tiptons recount twin tales: the rise of the mirror James Kirk to the command of the ISS Enterprise as he plots to unseat Captain Christopher Pike, as well as the story of Enterprise crew members whose counterparts were not prominently featured in the original "Mirror, Mirror" episode—McCoy, Scotty and Uhura, who use their unique positions on the ship to advance their own ambitious agendas.

Star Trek movie adaptation and more later in the year
The latest announcement from IDW is focused on the first half of 2008, but it should come as no surprise that they are thinking of doing an adaptation for the new Star Trek movie as well for later in the year. IDW have a lot of experience doing movie adaptations. Just this year they did adaptations for Paramount’s Transformers and Beowulf. With Transformers IDW did both a straight adaptation series as well as a prequel series. TrekMovie.com has learned they may try and do the same for the Trek movie, but details are still being worked out. In a recent interview with Roddenberry.com, IDW artist Joe Corroney talked about meeting with director J.J. Abrams to talk about the comic tie-ins.

In addition, IDW plan on more Trek comics for the second half of 2008, but so far the only one they have announced is a second Mirror Images series, spotlighting The Next Generation crew written by IDW Star Trek editor Andrew Steven Harris and screenwriter George Strayton (Xena, Dragonlance).

 

Credits for above artwork:
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Intelligence Gathering — Joe Corroney
New Frontier: Art — Stephen Thompson
Year Four: Art — The Sharp Brothers; Colors — Leonard O’Grady
Assignment Earth: Art — John Byrne; Colors — Leonard O’Grady (promo only, not final cover)
Mirror Universe: Art — Joe Corroney (promo only, not final cover)

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The Hype Builds!

A Gary Seven set? A bit obscure, but it’d be fun….

Gary Seven series? AND a Mirror Universe series?

I’m pleased.

:-) I Love T.O.S. :-)

Yeah, I’m stoked about the Gary Seven series. For years and years I thought Byrne would be great on a Trek series as alot of work shows some Original Trek vibe. Plus, I really loved his entries in the Trek “Who’s Who” from the 80’s. So I’m glad he’s finally getting some Trek stuff to do.

His Balance of Terror prequel looks awesome.
My ideal Byrne Trek project would be a series or mini-series similar to his Generations work at DC. Except here it would focus on the original Enteprise, and cover aspects of April’s, Pike’s and Kirks respective times on the ship.

I’d love to see him drawing Pike era!

Gary Seven!

Whoohoo!

Trek year four looks awesome!!

The current Trek books all rule as well. I’m really enjoying the current Year Four series, and TNG The Space Between and Klingons Blood Will Tell have all been great.

They’re at the top of my read list, right up there with Green Lantern and Batman.

2

Pische posche. Not obscure at all.

I for one am very pleased. A perfect match. I love Byrne. Have for a long time. Great news! I may have to buy a NEW comic book for the first time in 25 years.

maybe gary seven could have been a re-occurring visitor to star trek in the original series like Q. i liked the episode and its one of my favs. loving the artwork on these covers.

cheers
greg
UK

Hey Anthony,

Do you know how I can get hold of John Byrne? He doesn’t seem to have a contact place on his website. I’d love to E-mail him my Gary Seven themes. He might like them. Maybe it’d inspire him as he works on the issues ahead.

,,,The Gary Seven one might work, provided Byrne can proved the art *and* keep his big mouth shut.

John Byrne rules!!!!!

His run on the Hulk was amazing!!!!!

His X-men with Clairmont was the best X-men stuff ever!!!!

His FF was better than Kirby!!!

Man of Steel!!!!

Let’s hope he can recapture that magic he had in the 1980’s, he was the king!!!

It all certainly SOUNDS cool. Especially the New Frontier book. I absolutely loved Peter David’s run on the comics in the early 90s.

It’s just too bad the interior art is never even HALF as good as the cover art in these IDW books. So far, I’ve been completely turned off this series because of what looks like really rushed and amateurish art inside.

It’s all good. And the hype is good too.

14

I always thought John Byrne deserved more credit on the mystique surrounding, and eventual image that Wolverine has developed through the years. I always thought Byrne had a good hand in that.

While we’re on the subject I feel Buscema’s run on the book is really overlooked. But that’s another thread, eh?

Byrne on Gary Seven! I’ve always been a Byrne fan since the Man Of Steel series. I look forward to some new insights on the old character.

Peace!

It’s cool to see that the Gary Seven series idea is finally getting fleshed out. I don’t usually read comics, but I might have to check that out.

Also, a live-action adaptation of the Gary Seven concept would be an awesome idea for Paramount. On occasion, ST ships & their crews (from any era!) could guest star.

Speaking of Gary Seven, I really enjoyed the Eugenics Wars series of novels by Greg Cox about Khan Singh, with Gary Seven, Roberta Lincoln and a lot of other canon thrown in. It was intended to make the Eugenics Wars tie in with the historical facts that were the 1990s. The effort had some successes, but the entire attempt was a real stretch.
Gary Seven has always intrigued me; a new series about him will be welcome.

20

Gary Seven has always intrigued me; a new series about him will be welcome.

Indeed. Indeed.

PS- there was a New Frontier comic once before. It featured Excalbur’s run-in with Captain Braxton and the Timeship Relativity.

Hate to be a stick in the mud… but these pieces of cover art don’t impress me… maybe I’m just too old to get the “style”… but it looks kinda unfinished to me.

You’re not too old Daren. I haven’t bought a new book in years. I don’t like a lot of what I see. Layout, composition, anatomy, form…..it’s a different day. I won’t consider myself old because there’s less emphasis on those things.

D.C. Fontana will be writing some?

Magic words, baby. I am _so_ there for that.

Anyone out there know if the first
IDW Trek stuff is out in the condensed format?

It’ll be great to read more original stuff by the Goddess of TOS, D. C. Fontana.

14

Sorry, nobody’s better than the great Jack Kirby. :)

Re: 23. Daren Doc – December 27, 2007
“Hate to be a stick in the mud… but these pieces of cover art don’t impress me… maybe I’m just too old to get the “style”… but it looks kinda unfinished to me.”

24. Andy Patterson – December 27, 2007
“You’re not too old Daren. I haven’t bought a new book in years. I don’t like a lot of what I see. Layout, composition, anatomy, form…..it’s a different day. I won’t consider myself old because there’s less emphasis on those things. ”

Agreed with both posts; the work ranges from poor to inferior, and as usual with the majority of Trek comics’ history, the right artists are nowhere to be found in the title (except for some memorable Gold Key covers).

Boy, that “Star Trek: Second Stage” logo used on all the titles is less than exciting. They need to go back to the drawing board or at least use font styles appropriate to the various shows.

I wonder when Riker started wearing women’s eyeliner?

#20…. agreed, the novels had to dance around real current events and tried to shoehorn in the events of the Eugenics Wars, very unsuccessfully in my book. How can you have a secret war with a major dictator like Khan and nobody knows it?

They should have just written it as it happened inthe trek universe and forgot about making it fit with our history. Just show where it diverged and carry it from that point.

31

ha

Loved the previous comic Mirror Universe saga (and Mirror, Mirror is up there with my absolute favourite TOS episodes, and Enterprise did a good job too, ignoring DS9 for a moment), so I’m very pleased to see this is coming out. Would’ve been more interested if it were set in movie-era Mirror universe, but you can’t win ’em all. The artwork looks good too.

I am certainly looking forward to Gordan Purcell doing the pencils for an entire run, however short it may be. Now, if only IDW can pull Jerome K. Moore from his licensing work at the WB to do the cover art again, or some interiors. Maybe the next series can reunite the team of PAD, Purcell and Moore (on covers), and get Arne Starr to do the inks!

IDW’s Trek comics have been great. I’m really looking forward to DC Fontana’s mini-series.

14

Just read this one more thoroughly

Byrne’s X-men = great

His work on Iron Fist = one of my favorites

Better than Kirby’s FF…..I say thee NAY

I kind of credit Byrne for the wimpy, skinny Reed Richards that the movies seems to be drawing on. Kirby’s Reed was a man.

Interesting news. I might even buy a few.

Question: will Kirk and crew still look like Shatner and cast? More than likely.

However, I wonder if it wouldn’t be a bad idea to hold off on these until more movie images surface, then the comics can build more continuity between the new film and the old series?

Am I the only one waiting for an “Enterprise” comic?

I have the first 3 or 4 issues of the TOS series. Decent, not great. Maybe D.C. Fontana will be able to help. One big problem, as far as I’m concerned, is that the issues don’t have titles! How very un-TOS-like. TOS usually had great titles, and I believe the D.C. comics of the 90’s honored that.

hey,

Does anyone know how to get hold of John Byrne contact info?

For that matter does anyone know Greg Cox or Peter David contact info?

What about a comic storyline with the guy who lives in the box and if you look at him you go insane.

Or how about a comic series of The Great Kilingon / Tribble War.

What about Trelane I’m sure he has grown up by now he could be a Q.

Finally an Assignment: Earth series!

It’s not a TV series but I ain’t complaining.

-cs™

>41 (Andy)

>Does anyone know how to get hold of John Byrne contact info?

Comic artists are usually pretty good about not putting their personal addresses and contact info out there (precisely to keep from getting bombarded with every fan in the world trying to give them something, or get something from them). His website (byrnerobotics) has a chat board where (last time I checked) Byrney-bob participated from time to time. It’s not an address or eddress or phone number (or private), but he does respond to threads that interest him. Probably won’t need your themes, but you could do worse than just post your ideas there for him to see.

Where were all you Gary Seven fans when I introduced him into the Kirk v. Picard screenplay contest on FanLib last summer? I could’ve used some backup when I faced the angry mob…

I can’t wait for it myself. Despite Byrne’s real-life antics and reputation, he’s always been a quality storyteller.

And Mirror-Kirk taking over the Enterprise by getting rid of Pike? Hey! I already wrote that in KvP, too!

The only Trek comics I read by IDW were the Klingons: Blood Will Tell ones, and I really enjoyed them. The Gary Seven and Mirror Universe comics sound interesting. One thing I’m wondering, will Mirror Images represent a different continuity than the one seen in the current MU novels and novellas from Pocket?

lbnhqguwfsyuojjbwell, hi admin adn people nice forum indeed. how’s life? hope it’s introduce branch ;)