Coming off what may be his last voyage in the third and final season of Star Trek: Picard, IDW is going back to the beginning of the story of Jean-Luc Picard. TrekMovie has exclusive details and a first look at Star Trek: Picard’s Academy, a brand-new comic series debuting this fall.
A “Cool Teen Picard”
IDW is going back to school with Star Trek: Picard’s Academy. According to publisher, the new series will “unveil the past of one of Starfleet’s most celebrated officers: Captain Jean-Luc Picard!” The new comic series about young Picard debuts this September. Here is the official synopsis:
Before becoming the Federation’s finest, Jean-Luc was an ordinary student at Starfleet Academy with sights on the stars. His path forward was charted: blow his classmates out of the water on the infamous Evasive Maneuvers exam and graduate early. But there’s a detail Cadet Picard hadn’t factored into his plan: the exam was a group project and he’d need to make friends with, ugh, people if he stood a chance at passing. Federation starships aren’t run by a party of one, after all.
Cover A for issue 1 by Sweeney Boo
The new series is being written by New York Times best-selling author Sam Maggs (Star Wars Jedi: Battle Scars and Marvel Action: Captain Marvel). Maggs is no stranger to Star Trek, having penned a story in 2016’s Star Trek: Waypoint #2 about the series’ first-ever female “redshirt,” Yeoman Leslie Thompson. Here is what the author had to say about what to expect in the new series:
“We’re in the middle of the Star Trek renaissance, and as a life-long fan I’m both honored and overjoyed to be able to contribute to a universe that has meant so much to me for so long. The Next Generation was my first introduction to Star Trek and I’ve always wanted to know more about how the Jean-Luc we all know and respect came to be; we’ve seen glimpses of his childhood and early adulthood, but what really forged our Earl Grey-loving leader into the man he we got to see in Picard? Diving into the psyche of an Academy student under so much pressure—and with so many personal issues shadowing his past—has been such a delight with the help of the amazing teams at IDW and Paramount. And, come on: cool teen Picard with luscious hair? His weirdo group of kinda-friends? Starfleet Academy teen drama? Sign me up!! But beyond all that: we need stories about the building blocks of Starfleet—love, acceptance, and found family—now more than ever, and I hope Picard’s Academy is as exciting for readers to pick up as it was for me to write!”
Unlettered interior page for Picard’s Academy, art by Ornella Greco (IDW)
Art for the new series is being done by Ornella Greco with colors by Charlie Kirchoff. The cover for issue 1 is by Sweeney Boo.
Unlettered interior page for Picard’s Academy, art by Ornella Greco (IDW)
From Cadet to Admiral
While IDW’s last Academy series from 2015 took place in the Kelvin universe, this one is focused on a “cool, teenage” Jean-Luc Picard in the Prime Universe. According to Maggs, part of the story will weave in parts of what we already know about Jean-Luc, presumably the childhood trauma from Picard season 2, as well as everything we learned during various episodes of TNG, most notably, “Tapestry.” I wonder if there will be appearances by groundskeeper Boothby or exactly what happened between Picard and Professor Galen.
Unlettered interior page for Picard’s Academy, art by Ornella Greco (IDW)
Star Trek: Picard’s Academy debuts in September.
Star Trek comics are available at your local comic book stores and online at TFAW or pick up individual digital editions at Amazon/comiXology.
Keep up with all the Star Trek comics news, previews, and reviews in TrekMovie’s comics category
How dare you!
Cool!
Cute; I dig it.
History class about the Earth/Romulan war?
It’s gonna get dark once those Naussicans show up…
Hu-man plays dom-jot.
The Romulans have been hiding since the Tomed Incident (when Jean-Luc was 6) until TNG. It’s unlikely they’d be interacting in any significant way with Cadet Picard, so I’m curious why a Romulan features prominently in one of these preview pages of the Cadet Picard comic.
I think it has something to do with the Earth-Romulan War. Notice the NX-ish style ships, Andorian battle crusiers and Tellarite crusiers in the one image.
Oh, Lord. Once and for all, those are *enlisted* uniforms. They’re not even enlisted trainee uniforms, which have red collars, but regular enlisted ones, which have black collars. Academy cadets wore the same uniform officers did, but with red undershirts- see Saavik. (Although in a goof, she wore an officer’s rank insignia in WOK.)
This is a very common misconception, based on a random statement by Gene Roddenberry way back in 1964 (that the ship’s crew are all officers) that was never followed, and by some vague mentions in WOK about the then-crew of the Enterprise. But it’s still a misconception, and still grates.
I was coming down here to say just this! Such an easy detail to get right with 5 minutes of research. Sadly not the first time I’ve seen this detail messed up :/
Also their badges are missing
Did I ever mention that I love Trekkies?
Oh, I reminded myself that this mistake- and the lack of badge- was also made on screen in Nemesis.
“Badges? We ain’t got no badges! We don’t need no badges! I don’t have to show you any stinking badges!”
“Federation starships aren’t run by a party of one, after all.”
Unless it’s the U.S.S. Vengeance of course! (Sorry, just too much of an easy dig ;))
Two different Romulan logos, literally one top of the other. Attention to detail as good here as on the shows.
I hope we don’t find out Boothby was Section 31.
He was. Head of the Martian division. Get it?
They better make him bald. Otherwise, how will we know it’s him?