Star Trek comics round-up: Green Lantern crossover continues, Captain Data, Gold Key, covers, and more

Lots of Star Trek comics news below, including the return of Captain Data, preview art and covers from several series, and IDW updates from the San Diego Comic Con.

First up, a new crossover series! Last year's really rather good Kelvin timeline/Green Lantern crossover series, The Spectrum War, ended quite surprisingly with the Green Lantern characters apparently having settled in the Star Trek universe. A sequel series due to start later this year promises to pick up where the previous tale left off:

Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise will once again cross paths with the Green Lantern Corps in a sequel to last year’s Star Trek/Green Lantern series. The creative team of Mike Johnson and Angel Hernandez will reteam for another epic space opera, this one picking up the new status quo where it left off and introducing additional cosmic heroes and villains familiar to fans of both series. 

Manifest Destiny #4 preview

Out this week are two nuTrek comics, both the final chapters in their respective stories. The fourth issue of the Klingon action-fest Manifest Destiny is one of those, and you can see a five-page preview below.

This issue, and indeed the whole miniseries, is written by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott and is available in three covers: The main one is by issue artist Angel Hernandez, with colour by Jose Luis del Rio. The subscription cover is by Tony Shasteen, continueing his run of Bob Peak movie poster homages. And a retail incentive cover comes from Jen Barte.

Manifest Destiny #3 preview

Out this week is the third issue in IDW's four-part biweekly nuTrek event miniseries, Manifest Destiny. Written by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott, and illustrated by Angel Hernandez, the Klingon attack on the Enterprise continues in brutal fashion. But there is a glimmer of hope for the crew...

This issue is available in three different covers. The regular one is by Angel Hernandez (coloured by Jose Luis del Rio), a subscription cover by Tony Shasteen , inspired by Bob Peak's The Search For Spock poster, and a retail incentive design by Stephen Mooney. Continue below to check them all out, plus a five-page preview from the book:

Manifest Destiny #2 preview

This week saw the release of the second issue in IDW's four-part biweekly nuTrek event miniseries, Manifest Destiny. The Klingon action continues in the issue, and series, written by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott, and illustrated by Angel Hernandez.

This issue is available in three different covers. The main one is by Angel Hernandez, Tony Shasteen gives us the subscription cover, inspired by Bob Peak's Wrath of Khan poster, and then there's a retail incentive design by J.K. Woodward. Continue below to check them all out, plus a five page preview from the issue.

Manifest Destiny #1 preview

Starting this week is a new four-part biweekly nuTrek comic miniseries, Manifest Destiny. Taking the slot that might otherwise be given to a movie prequel series (there isn't one for Beyond), this series brings us a new Klingon nemesis for Kirk and crew, Commander Sho'tokh. This action packed series is written by nuTrek regular Mike Johnson, and his occasional collaborator Ryan Parrott, with art by Angel Hernandez (returning to Trek after previously bringing us the Green Lantern crossover series).

The series is available in three different covers. The main one is by Angel Hernandez. Tony Shasteen gives us the subscription cover, inspired by Bob Peak's The Motion Picture poster (the first in a series of movie-poster inspired covers throughout the miniseries). A retailer incentive featuring Doctor McCoy is by Rachael Stott. On top of that, this first issue is also available in a Klingon language edition, which is also offered in either the main or subscription covers. Continue below for a five-page preview (in English).

IDW's June Star Trek comics, and other updates

IDW have announced their June solicitations, which include four Star Trek titles, but only one entirely new comic. The rest of the releases are nuTrek omnibus books, which will arrive just in time to get you in the mood for the release of Star Trek Beyond the following month. Continue below for details of those, and other Star Trek comic updates.

That one new comic in June is Legacy of Spock, part four, which is issue fifty-eight in the nuTrek ongoing series. This final issues in the Spock story-line is from the series' regular creative team of writer Mike Johnson and artist Tony Shasteen. Here's how IDW describe it:

The stunning conclusion of "Legacy of Spock"! The fate of the Vulcan people hangs in the balance as Spock tries to prevent all-out war with the Romulan Empire! Will the Vulcans find a new homeworld on which to rebuild their civilization... or does this spell the end of their species? Don't miss the final chapter of this mini-series event celebrating the 50th anniversary of STAR TREK!

There will be two covers for this one, the regular by Tony Shasteen, featuring Spock from three eras (you can see Shasteen's development process for this in an article on 13th Dimension), plus a subscription cover by Alberto Silva:

IDW's Star Trek comics for May

IDW have released their solicitations for May, which include four new Star Trek comics, plus an omnibus book! Continue below for the details of all those titles.

Star Trek (nuTrek ongoing) #57: Legacy of Spock, Part Three
Written by Mike Johnson, with art by Tony Shasteen.

The special "Legacy of Spock" event continues here! As the future of New Vulcan hangs in the balance, the elder Spock finds himself a prisoner of the Romulan Empire! Don't miss this exciting chapter the in 50th Anniversary Celebration of the STAR TREK franchise! 

There will be two covers around for this one, the main one by Tony Shasteen, and a subscription cover from Angel Hernandez.

Details of Manifest Destiny and other Star Trek comics news

Starting in April is Manifest Destiny, a new four-part nuTrek comic miniseries featuring the Klingons, which will be released fortnightly. Continue below for new details of that, and other Star Trek comics news from IDW.

Things From Another World have posted an interview with Manifest Destiny's writers, Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott, artist Angel Hernandez, and editor Sarah Gaydos, revealing some new details about the series. Perhaps the biggest news is a quick note that there will be no prequel comic series for Star Trek Beyond, but that this series kind of fills that event role anyway, as Johnson explains:

We aren’t doing a movie prequel this year, but we wanted to do another event-worthy series to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek. What could be more event-y than a showdown with the Klingons? And this time both sides are out where no one — human OR Klingon — has been before.

As that summary suggests, it seems this series will be exploring strange new worlds from a new perspective, with the Klingon equivalent of our heroes, as Parrott notes:

...who’s the Klingon “Captain Kirk?” What does their “Enterprise” look like? How does the Empire explore? So we did some research into the Vikings and Mongols, just to establish a base...

Parrot also outlined the Klingon-Kirk, someone called Shotok:

There are some great villains in the original series, but outside of Khan, they’re mostly races — Klingons, Romulans, etc. So our goal was to try and create a worthy adversary for Kirk — someone personal, who thinks and acts like he does. Shotok is an outsider who doesn’t conform to the traditional Klingon code of honor. And because of that, he’s dangerous, unpredictable, and a bit of a wildcard when he first encounters the Enterprise.

While Johnson elaborated on the setting:

IDW's titles for April, and other Star Trek comics news

IDW have published their solicitations for April, which include lots of new Star Trek comics, with both the start of one miniseries, and the end of another, and a good dose of TOS too. Continue below for all April's titles, and more Star Trek comics news.

The big news of the month is the start of a new four-issue miniseries, Manifest Destiny, a story featuring the Klingons. This is being marketed as a fiftieth anniversary event series, and will be released fortnightly, so April will see two issues.

Manifest Destiny #1
Written by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott, with art by Angel Hernandez.

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the STAR TREK franchise in 2016 with this all-new bi-weekly comics event beginning in April! It's Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew vs. the Klingons in the ultimate showdown! Art by STAR TREK/GREEN LANTERN fan-favorite Angel Hernandez!

This first issue will apparently be longer than usual, noted as a forty page book (rather than the usual thirty-two). It will also be issued in a Klingon-language edition!

There will be at least six different covers/editions. The standard cover is from the issue artist, Angel Hernandez. The subscription cover is a homage to Bob Peak's The Motion Picture poster, by Tony Shasteen. There will also be a variant cover from Rachael Stott (not revealed yet). Then there will be Klingon language editions from the same artists (none have been released so far, so it's not clear if the same artwork will be reused for these or not).