Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Second Stage - IDW Comics and Star Trek

Upcoming Star Trek comics from IDW Publishing:

January
TNG: "Intelligence Gathering" five-issue mini-series commences. Set toward the end of the show’s fifth season. Scott & David Tipton (writers) and David Messina (artist). Issue #1 is due this week!

February
Finale of the 2007 "Alien Spotlight" mini-series: "The Romulans" by John Byrne (writer/artist). Prequel to "Balance of Terror" (TOS).

All new titles after this will be branded "Second Stage". New strategy sees all variant covers included in each issue, and the aim is to have one new Star Trek issue, of any mini-series, arrive weekly:

March
"New Frontier" five-issue mini-series commences (below left). Continuing from the last NF hardcover novel from Pocket Books. Peter David (writer) and Stephen Thompson (artist).

New Frontier #1 (IDW)Enterprise Experiment #1 (IDW)


April
TOS "Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment" five-issue mini-series commences. A sequel to "The Enterprise Incident" episode and continuing IDW's untold fourth season in comics. DC Fontana & Derek Chester (writers) and Gordon Purcell (artist). Issue #1 features Arex (TAS) on the cover (above right), and he supposedly has lots to do inside!

May
TOS: "Assignment Earth" five-issue mini-series commences. A set of sequels to the TV episode which guest featured Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln, each issue is set approximately one year apart. By John Byrne (writer/artist).

June
TOS: "Mirror Images" four-issue mini-series commences. A prequel to "Mirror, Mirror" episode, ie. the rise to power of Mirror Kirk, commencing with the overthrow of Mirror Pike. Chris Ryall and Scott & David Tipton (writers) and David Messina (artist).

Later in 2008:

TNG: "Mirror Images" mini-series, by Andrew Steven Harris & George Strayton (writers).

Possible "Alien Spotlight: Klingons" project by Keith RA DeCandido?

Possible comic adaptation (and spin-offs?) of JJ Abrams' "Star Trek" movie, due in December?

I'm very excited about the announcements for the so-called "Second Stage" of Star Trek comics that were recently announced. As a result of comments by the editor, Andrew Steven Harris, over at TrekWeb, I created an online reader poll on TrekBBS.

Andrew Steven Harris had said, "... one of the first things I did when introducing myself to the readers was ask our fans on the IDW message boards what they wanted to see in their Trek titles. A couple of things kept surfacing, over and over again: stories about Captain Pike, recruiting certain creators like Keith RA DeCandido or Peter David, and in particular a comic book series for 'New Frontier'...

"We are really listening to fan requests. Another common request is that we coordinate some stories or projects with Pocket Books, and though I was initially skeptical at the logistical prospects of it all, I've been in touch with Marco Palmieri over there and am greatly encouraged that it could be a positive thing for both the companies and for the fans. We've already got some ideas kicking around - very tentative, nothing to announce yet, but very encouraging. So we're keeping an open mind with what the fans want, even for things that seem unlikely at first."


And so... keeping in mind that IDW doesn't have all of the Trek comic rights at the moment, I devised some multiple choice selections. The original series, animated series and "The Next Generation" (TOS/TAS/TNG) spin-offs should be fair game as potential comic fodder, but perhaps not things like Section 31, "Voyager" (VOY), "Deep Space Nine" (DS9) or "Enterprise" (ENT). Yet.

As of a few minutes ago, the poll said:

What should be the Third Stage IDW Trek comic?
Users may choose many (96 total votes)

Alien Empire (ie. mention your choice of alien race below): 13%

Set between ST:TMP and ST II: 17%

Excelsior: 17%

Corps of Engineers: 15%

Titan: 29%

Write-in choice (below): 10%.

Also, I wanted to know which past Star Trek comic writers did the fans at TrekBBS want to see a comic mini-series from, keeping in mind that comics is a very different medium to work in (ie. some novelists might not necessarily make great comic writers).

Which past Trek comic Writer would you want to see Trek comics from?
Users may choose 2 (77 total votes)

More KRAD (Keith RA DeCandido): 25%

More PAD (Peter A David): 9%

Howard Weinstein: 4%

Michael Jan Friedman: 5%

Mangels & Martin: 23%

David Mack: 18%

Abnett & Edgington: 9%

Write-in choice (below): 6%.

My personal write-in comments for the poll:

Being biased, of course, I'd love to see more Andorian Empire stuff, especially after the great "The Old Ways" issue of "Alien Spotlight: Andorians".

I'd also like to see:

* more post-TMP stuff, moving the story on from the excellent "Ex Machina"

* Arex and M'Ress getting timeslipped into "New Frontier"

* a resolution to Abnett & Edgington's Pike story (commenced at Marvel/Paramount)

* new ST comics from David Mack (continuing "Titan" or "Destiny" in comic form)

* new ST comics from the team of Mangels & Martin.


Last night, the editor himself added a comment to the poll thread.

He said, "... I read these boards every single day. I don't chime in much because I'm more interested in reading what other people have to say than forcing everyone to read what I have to say...

"I can tell you that Titan and DS9 are the two far-and-away front-runners, and I've tried to put up a pretty good track record of being responsive to fan requests.

"... with the [JJ Abrams] movie coming up, the schedule is already pretty tight, even a year away. So, it may take a little while, but it won't be for lack of trying."


Sounds promising, yes?

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