IDW Publishing

IDW Publishing is the current comic book publisher to have obtained the Star Trek license. They did so in 2006, with the first comics published in January 2007. IDW's initial offerings were based on The Original Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, and the 2009 movie

Star Trek

. IDW's comics typically are released in miniseries, and all of their comics are reprinted in omnibus collections.

Overview

IDW's first Star Trek comic, "History Lesson"

For the first three years of their license, IDW only optioned to publish comics from the two most popular Star Trek series; The Original Series and The Next Generation. The company expended to the rest of franchise with publication of tie-in comics for the movie series that began with

Star Trek

, and in late 2009 they began to publish their first Deep Space Nine comics. They've expanded their line to include a wide range of the franchise and its spin-offs, including the New Frontier series.

In their first year IDW tested the format with miniseries of various formats. In their second year they intend to push the line forward with the involvement of big names such as D.C. Fontana and Peter David, branding their output for the year Star Trek: Second Stage. The Second Stage branding only actually appeared on the first issue of Turnaround.

After the first few issues of the first series IDW released two comics a month throughout their first year. With the launch of their Second Stage titles they upped production to four issues a month, intending to deliver a new comic almost every week. Output has since fluctuated, with as few as one comic being release in a month, and up to as many as five.

Format

IDW has so far released Star Trek comics in miniseries of between two and six issues over several consecutive months. Each comic is thirty-two pages in length, twenty-two of which (with limited exception) are actually story. The story pages flow uninterrupted (again with limited exception) with the final ten pages consisting of adverts, previews and interviews relating to other IDW projects, letters pages, and in a hand-full of issues The Trek Life comic strips.

The inside front cover of each comic typically contains a title a credit page and sometimes an opening monologue like paragraph of text related to the miniseries or in the case of some part-stories a short paragraph of text to refresh the reader on the story so far. In a hand full of issues this title page has been moved to the first page after the story at the back of the book.

Most of the comics have been available in several covers. Earlier comics tended to have more covers, while the most recent releases have had increasingly few, with many issues being released in just one cover by May of 2008. "Against Their Nature", the first issue of the Klingons: Blood Will Tell miniseries has had the most covers to date, with a total of seven being available. For IDW's first year's worth of miniseries the back inside cover of each comic was used as a cover gallery for that issue. With the launch of the Second Stage titles the cover gallery was moved to the title page, occupying a smaller area using thumbnail images.

Publications

For a list of all IDW comics by publication order see IDW Publishing release order.

Ongoing series

Title	Series	Writer(s)	Artist(s)	Published	Cover
Star Trek: Ongoing	TOS	Mike Johnson (#1-17, 19-60), F. Leonard Johnson (#17), Ryan Parrott (#18)	Stephen Molnar (#1-4, 9-10, 13-14), Joe Phillips (#3-4, #7-8), Joe Corroney (#5-6, #33-34, 43), Claudia Balboni (#11-12, 17-20, 24, 43), Erfan Fajar (#15, 21-23, 25-28, 31-32), Stellar Labs (#16), Erica Durante (#17-20), Luca Lamberti (#20), Agri Karuniawan (#23), Yasmin Liang (#29-30), Yulian Ardhi (#32), Victor Moya (#33-34), Rob Doan (#33-34), Tony Shasteen (#35-40, 43-45, 48-60), Cat Staggs (#41-42), Rachael Stott (#46-47)	September 22, 2011-August 17, 2016
New Visions	TOS	John Byrne	John Byrne	May 2014-June 2018
Boldly Go	TOS	Mike Johnson (#1-), Ryan Parrott (#6-)		September 2016-March 2018
Year Five	TOS			April 2019-June 2021
Star Trek	ST	Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing	Ramon Rosanas	October 26, 2022 -
Defiant	ST	Chris Cantwell	Ángel Unzueta	March, 2023 -

Miniseries

Title	Series	Writer(s)	Artist(s)	Published	Omnibus	Cover
	Description
The Space Between	TNG	David Tischman	Casey Maloney	January-June 2007	September 2007
	Six stand-alone stories set throughout the television era of TNG building to a conclusion in the sixth issue which ties the separate stories together.
Klingons: Blood Will Tell	TOS	Scott & David Tipton	David Messina	April-August 2007	November 2007
	A five-part story set amongst the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country with flashbacks to TOS episodes featuring Klingons, but seen from the Klingon point-of-view.
Year Four	TOS	David Tischman	Steve Conley, Gordon Purcell & Rob & Joe Sharp	July-December 2007	March 2008
	Six stand-alone TOS stories told as if they were lost episodes of a fourth season.
Alien Spotlight	TOS & TNG	Scott & David Tipton, James Patrick, Paul D. Storrie, Andrew Steven Harris & John Byrne	David Messina, Josep Maria Beroy, Leonard O'Grady, Elena Casagrande, Sean Murphy & John Byrne	September 2007-February 2008	May 2008
	Six TOS and TNG standalone stories set from the Pike-era through to the time of the Enterprise-E.
Intelligence Gathering	TNG	Scott & David Tipton	David Messina	January-May 2008	August 2008
	Five consecutive standalone stories set in the fifth season of TNG building to a conclusion that ties together the separate issues.
Turnaround	NF	Peter David	Stephen Thompson	March-July 2008	October 2008
	A five-part New Frontier story set after the novels Missing in Action and Cutting Ties.
Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment	TOS	D.C. Fontana & Derek Chester	Gordon Purcell	April-August 2008	November 2008
	A five-part story featuring the Romulans and the Klingons in the fourth year of the Kirk's five-year mission.
Assignment: Earth	TOS	John Byrne		May-September 2008	December 2008
	Five standalone stories, taking place one per year between 1968 and 1972 featuring the adventures of Gary Seven and Roberta Lincoln from the episode Assignment: Earth.
Mirror Images	TOS & TNG	Scott & David Tipton	David Messina	June-November 2008	February 2009
	A four-part TOS story depicting the rise of James T. Kirk in the mirror universe to seize command of the ISS Enterprise from Christopher Pike. With a single issue interlude depicting Jean-Luc Picard taking command of the ISS Starbreaker .
Romulans: The Hollow Crown	TOS	John Byrne		September-October 2008	February 2010 (in Romulans: Pawns of War)
	A two-part sequel to John Byrne's Alien Spotlight: Romulans depicting the fall out of the events of "Balance of Terror" and the growth of the Klingon-Romulan Alliance.
The Last Generation	TNG & Myriad Universes	Andrew Steven Harris	Gordon Purcell	November 2008-March 2009	July 2009
	A five-part alternate reality story depicting the lives of the TNG characters in a timeline where the Klingons conquered Earth and the Federation following an unsuccessful outcome to the Khitomer Conference.
Countdown	TOS & TNG	Tim Jones & Mike Johnson, story by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman	David Messina	January-March 2009	April 2009 (paperback); October 2009 (hardcover)
	A four-part prequel to the movie Star Trek depicting the events that led Spock and Nero to travel back in time, and showing the future lives of the TNG characters in 2387.
Crew	TOS	John Byrne		March-July 2009	October 2009
	A five-part series following the career of Number One, from cadet to serving on the USS Enterprise under Robert April.
Alien Spotlight II	TOS, TNG, & DS9	Stuart Moore, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Ian Edginton, Scott & David Tipton, & Arne Schmidt & Andy Schmidt	Mike Hawthorne, J.K. Woodward, Wagner Reis, Elena Casagrande & Augustin Padilla	March-December 2009	March 2010
	Five standalone TOS, TNG and DS9 stories.
Mission's End	TOS	Ty Templeton	Steve Molnar	March-July 2009	October 2009
	A five-part story depicting the last mission of the USS Enterprise under Captain Kirk prior to its refit.
The Wrath of Khan	TOS	Andy Schmidt	Chee Yang Ong	June-July 2009	May 2010 (in Motion Picture Trilogy)
	A three-part adaptation of the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Spock: Reflections	TOS	Scott & David Tipton	David Messina & Federica Manfredi	July-October 2009	January 2010
	A four-part series in which Spock reflects on significant moments from throughout his life.
Nero	TOS	Tim Jones & Mike Johnson	David Messina	August-November 2009	February 2010
	A four-part prequel series following Nero's life, set between the destruction of the Kelvin and the events of the movie Star Trek .
Romulans: Schism	TOS	John Byrne		September-November 2009	February 2010 (in Romulans: Pawns of War)
	A three-part continuation of John Byrne's Romulan saga depicting the breakdown the Klingon-Romulan Alliance.
Ghosts	TNG	Zander Cannon	Javier Aranda	November 2009-March 2010	July 2010
	A five-part story set in the fifth season of TNG depicting a mystery filled mission to Allios IV.
Fool's Gold	DS9	Scott & David Tipton	Fabio Mantovani	December 2009-March 2010	August 2010
	A four-part treasure hunting mystery set on Deep Space 9 between seasons three and four.
Star Trek Movie Adaptation	TOS	Tim Jones & Mike Johnson, story by Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman	David Messina	February-August 2010	October 2010
	A six-part adaptation of the movie Star Trek .
Leonard McCoy, Frontier Doctor	TOS	John Byrne		April-July 2010	October 2010
	A four issue series telling five stories from a year of Dr. Leonard McCoy's adventures prior to Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Burden of Knowledge	TOS	Scott & David Tipton	Federica Manfredi	June-September 2010	December 2010
	A series of four consecutive TOS TV-era stories building to an dramatic conclusion.
Captain's Log	TOS	Scott & David Tipton, Marc Guggenheim, Stuart Moore & Keith R.A. DeCandido	Federica Manfredi, Andrew Currie & J.K. Woodward	January-October 2010	March 2011
Khan: Ruling in Hell	TOS	Scott & David Tipton	Fabio Mantovani	October 2010-January 2011	April 2011
Infestation	TOS	Scott & David Tipton	Casey Maloney	February 2011	September 2011 (Volume 2), December 2011 (Infestation), August 2014 (Infestation Omnibus)
Star Trek—Legion of Super-Heroes	TOS	Chris Roberson	Jeffery and Philip Moy	October 2011-March 2012	July 2012
Assimilation²	TOS/TNG			May 2012-December 2012	November 2013
Hive	TNG	Brannon Braga, Terry Matalas, Travis Fickett	Joe Corroney, Matt Fillbach, Shawn Fillbach	September 2012-December 2012	February 2013
Countdown to Darkness	TOS			January-April 2013	April 2013
Khan	TOS			October 2013-February 2014	May 2014
Harlan Ellison's The City on the Edge of Forever	TOS			June 2014-November 2014	February 2015
The Primate Directive	TOS			December 2014-April 2015	August 2015
The Spectrum War	TOS			July 2015-December 2015	April 2017
Starfleet Academy	SA			December 2015-April 2016	August 2016
Manifest Destiny	TOS			April 2016-June 2016	July 2016
Waypoint	ST			September 2016-April 2019	November 2017
Stranger Worlds	TOS			December 2016-May 2017	September 2017
Mirror Broken	TNG	Scott Tipton, David Tipton	J.K. Woodward	May-October 2017	December 2017
The Light of Kahless	DSC			November 2017-May 2018	August 2018
Succession	DSC			April-August 2018	October 2018
Through the Mirror	TNG			May 2018	October 2018
Terra Incognita	TNG			July 2018-January 2019	April 2019
Star Trek vs. Transformers	TAS			September 2018-February 2019	May 2019
The Q Conflict	TOS/TNG/DS9/VOY			January-July 2019	October 2019
Aftermath	DSC			September-November 2019	April 2020
Picard: Countdown	PIC			November 2019-January 2020	August 2020
Too Long a Sacrifice	DS9			July-November 2020	January 2021
Seven's Reckoning	VOY			November 2020-February 2021	July 2021
The Mirror War	TNG			September 2021-August 2022	2023
Warriors of the Mirror War	ST			December 2021-September 2022	2023
Aliens	ST			February 2022-November 2022	2023
Adventures in the 32nd Century	VOY			March-June 2022	December 2022
Stargazer	PIC			August 2022-November 2022	April 2023
Lower Decks	LD			September 2022-November 2022	2023
Resurgence	RES	Dan Martin, Andrew Grant	Josh Hood	November 16, 2022-March 2023
The Illyrian Enigma	SNW	Kirsten Beyer, Mike Johnson	Megan Levens	December 21, 2022-March 2023
The Dog of War	DS9	Mike Chen	Angel Hernandez	April, 2023-August 2023
The Motion Picture: Echoes	TOS	Marc Guggenheim	Oleg Chudakov	May 2023-September 2023
The Scorpius Run	SNW	Kirsten Beyer, Mike Johnson		August 2023-
Picard's Academy	ST			September 2023-
The Scheimer Barrier	TOS			September 2023
Holo-Ween	TNG			October 2023
Sons of Star Trek	ST			February 2024-

One-shots

Title	Series	Published	Cover
Flesh and Stone	ST	16 July 2014
Deviations	TNG	March 2017
Discovery Annual 2018	DSC	March 2018
TNG IDW 20/20	TNG	January 2019
Captain Saru	DSC	6 March 2019
Sky's the Limit	TNG	15 October 2019
Mirrors & Smoke	VOY	11 December 2019
Star Trek 400th Issue	ST	September 2022
Prelude to Star Trek: Day of Blood	ST	May 2023
Celebrations	ST	May 2024
Star Trek 500th Issue	ST	September 2024

Omnibuses

Typically, three months following the publication of the final issue of a miniseries, an omnibus book of the series is released. There have been a few exceptions to this; Romulans: The Hollow Crown was released in an omnibus along the Schism series as a single omnibus of the entire John Byrne Romulan Saga. Similarly the new adaptation of The Wrath of Khan was printed in an omnibus alongside previous movie comic adaptations.

The Countdown miniseries also broke the normal rule, with the omnibus released almost immediately after publication of the final issue so that it would be out ahead of the release of the movie to which it is a prequel.

IDW also publish collections of Star Trek comics originally published by previous holders of the Star Trek comics license. These have so far taken two forms: The Star Trek Archives series collects between four and six issues per volume, based on a theme, while the Star Trek Omnibus format sees larger collections of entire series of comics.

International reprints

The German paperback edition of Nero

In several foreign markets other publishers have purchased the rights to reprint IDW comics:

• Starting in 2008 the Brazilian publisher Devir has published several Portuguese translations of IDW miniseries omnibuses.
• In Germany, starting in 2009, the publisher Cross Cult has published German language translations of several series omnibuses. Releases have been in both hardcover and paperback, often with new cover art.
• Also in 2009 the British publisher Titan Comics launched a short-lived magazine format called Star Trek Comic. The publication lasted three issues, reprinting the complete Star Trek: Nero series, before it was cancelled.
• In 2010, Australian publisher Wilkinson Publishing began to produce local prints of both omnibus books and individual issues.

Unrealized concepts

See also: unpublished comics.

Since obtaining the Star Trek license several IDW editors and writers have announced or talked about projects which have, so far, not been published. Few have officially been announced as cancelled, but have remained unproduced for significant periods of time:

Following on from their first two Year Four miniseries' IDW had vague plans for two more Year Four miniseries, making a total of twenty-two issues over the four minis, equivalent to a full season of The Original Series. After that they planned to continue on to a Year Five miniseries. ^[1] IDW skipped ahead with this concept somewhat with the 2009 release of Mission's End, showing the final mission of the five-year mission.

Former editor Andrew Steven Harris indicated IDW were developing an idea for a post-Nemesis TNG series, working with an unspecified individual who has previously worked on Star Trek projects form Marvel and DC Comics. Harris suggested the series would start in early 2009; that period did see the start of Countdown a part-TNG series set many years after Nemesis. ^[2]

When Mirror Images was first announced it was also suggested that there would be a TNG mirror universe series to follow. However, that series was pushed back in favor of the Myriad Universes miniseries The Last Generation.

Announced in Focus on... Star Trek another project that never surfaced was Probability Factor, a six-issue miniseries, three issue TOS and three TNG. The series was to tell "What if?" stories exploring episodes that might have been is some factor had changed. The episodes choose for the alternate universe treatment were to be selected by and voted for by fans. However, since its initial announcement no further news on the series has been announced, while other new miniseries (including a different alternate timeline story-The Last Generation) have gone ahead.

Announced in the end matter of the 2008 prose anthology Echoes and Refractions, author Keith R.A. DeCandido was apparently due to write a TNG miniseries titled Redshirts.

Building on the success of the new

Star Trek

movie and its comic spin-offs IDW had plans for several projects based around the film and Countdown. The Countdown writers Tim Jones and Mike Johnson have talked about a prequel to Countdown showing how the TNG crew got to their new positions, and in particular how Data was restored. Additionally, they would like to write a series following Countdown showing the continuing future of the TNG era. In the Kelvin timeline from the new film they produced a series leading into the next film in a similar function to Countdown. ^[3]

Since IDW obtained their license author Andy Mangels has been pushing for a Star Trek: Titan miniseries, and had even managed to talk Tim Russ, the actor who played Tuvok, into co-authoring it. In 2010 however he received confirmation from IDW that they would not be taking up the concept.

John Byrne announced he had three series green-lit, though they were ultimately never released. The latter of the three was second Assignment: Earth series. One of the earlier two would conclude at about the time Robert April took command of the Enterprise, and one of the three would feature James T. Kirk at the Academy. ^[4][5][6][7]

John Byrne has discussed ideas he has yet to develop, such as a miniseries exploring the adventures of Balok and David Bailey.^[8] One idea Byrne will not be able to realize was a crossover between Assignment: Earth and the series Doctor Who; unfortunately the BBC, who own the Doctor Who franchise, were not willing to go ahead with this.^[9]

Additionally, several individual issues of miniseries have been lost or re-arranged. Both Alien Spotlight series saw significant changes to the creative teams involved. Early announcements for the second series indicated there would be issues on the Tholians, Ferengi and Betazoids, none of which were produced. The fifth issue of the Captain's Log series, "Captain's Log: Garrett" was written but cancelled before the artwork was produced^[10].

Voyager and Enterprise

On Voyager comics Andrew Steven Harris has stated they are unlikely to happen any time soon if at all. Enterprise comics have a similar outlook, if not worse; Dan Taylor noted likeness approvals for Scott Bakula/Jonathan Archer are problematic^[11]. Enterprise, being the series with the smallest fanbase, would also make such a venture risky, i.e., developing comics on a series that may be less commercially successful. ^[12]

Appendices

External links

• IDW Publishing's website.
• IDW Publishing article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
• IDW Publishing article at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.