Andrew Steven Harris talks IDW Star Trek

The Fanboy Face-Off podcast have released an interview with IDW's Star Trek editor Andrew Steven Harris. Harris talked quite widely about his work on Star Trek, some of his personal history and IDW and the comics industry in general. Some of the highlights of the Star Trek talk (which the podcast was predominantly about) were:

Talking about the New Frontier miniseries, Turnaround, he described it as a "Star Trek version of The Hunt for Red October". And continuing to talk about the Second Stage titles went on to note how well D.C. Fontana and Derek Chester had got into comic book writing; their script for The Enterprise Experiment was apparently returned from approval by CBS Paramount with no changes.

On the potential for future miniseries he once again noted how much demand there is for DS9 comics, from both fans and creators pitching to IDW, but also noted how it is something of a juggling act for IDW to do DS9; as despite the demand DS9 universally sells less than TOS and TNG. However if IDW can iron out the finances of it they are 100% for doing DS9.

Similarly he mentioned the popularity of Pike stories and how they face a similar problem of potentially under performing compared to comics featuring Kirk. (so go and buy the Vulcan and Orion Alien Spotlights people, they need to eclipse the sales of Kirk!) He also name dropped Captain April as something to test the viability of in a one shot... might we have an April era Alien Spotlight on the horizon?

Finally, on his Alien Spotlight on the Borg, he noted how he originally had a twenty-four page script for the issue but was forced to cut it down to the usual twenty-two pages to fit in the art budget for the issue. And noted how proud he was of the issue which has been one of the most positively reviewed Trek comics IDW have produced.

Listen to the full interview, in which Harris talks more about IDW, himself and Star Trek; including his desire get Paramount to make The Animated Series canon, here.

Mirror Images #1 cover

Chris Ryall has released Joe Corroney's cover for the first issue of the Tipton's forthcoming mirror universe series Mirror Images:

In the post on his blog Ryall also explained how his co-authoring of the series will be limited to the issue featuring mirror-Pike.

Keep your eyes on RyallTime, as Ryall also promised more preview art for this series in the week ahead.

IDW May issues

Comics Continuum have published IDW’s solicitations for May, the first month to feature four Star Trek titles (plus a Star Trek omnibus book). The posting also included the first look at Rob and Joe Sharp's cover art for The Enterprise Experiment #2. Here's what's on the way:

Intelligence Gathering #5
It's the final issue of the all-new adventure of the crew of the Enterprise-D! Someone's been leading Captain Picard and company across the galaxy -- but why? And who's behind it? The stakes are raised on a planetary scale.

New Frontier #3
Mackenzie Calhoun has caught up with the fleeing Admiral Jellico, and the Excalibur is prepared to blow both Jellico and the time ship out of space... until Calhoun discovers the shocking truth of who is behind both Jellico's apparently treasonous acts and the theft of the experimental vessel.

The Enterprise Experiment #2
The untold fourth year of the Enterprise's legendary five-year mission continues! With the Enterprise crippled and out of phase in a cloaking experiment gone haywire, a Romulan strike force storms the starship, looking for revenge over their stolen technology. Kirk and Spock, meanwhile, must find a way to repel the invaders, while at the same time reverse the experiment and restore the ship -- before it fades away completely!

Assignment Earth #1
IDW's Star Trek: Second Stage continues, as comics icon John Byrne unveils the first-ever Star Trek series of his decades-spanning career! The 1968 TV episode "Assignment Earth" had been the Season Two finale for the original Star Trek series, and was intended by Gene Roddenberry as the pilot for a spin-off series that never came to pass. Now, Byrne delivers the series 40 years after it would have debuted, recounting the adventures of interstellar agent Gary Seven and his Earth-born assistant as they covertly confront threats to the past so that they can save Star Trek's future. Byrne will both write and draw the series, which steps one year forward with each installment, beginning with 1968, the year that the spin-off series would have appeared.

Alien Spotlight omnibus
In the vast Star Trek universe, many diverse alien races abound, and now they finally get their due! Presenting a collection of six tales set throughout the Star Trek galaxy, each by a different creative team and featuring a different Star Trek alien race. This collection includes stories of the Gorn, Vulcans, Andorians, Orions, Borg, and Romulans, and features guest-stars such as Captains Pike, Janeway and Terrell, along with familiar faces like Picard, Spock, and many others.

Assignment Earth, in colour!

Chris Ryall has released colour versions of the covers for the first three issues of Assignment Earth. Here's one rather James Bondesque edition:

See the other two, here.

New Frontier Turnaround #2 cover

TrekWeb.com have released one of the covers for the second issue of IDW's New Frontier miniseries:

The artist, Stephen Thompson, has also updated his blog recently with some higher resolution, black and white and colour, versions of some of the issue 1 covers: here, here and here.

UPDATE: Thompson has now also added a black and white and colour version of this issue 2 cover to his blog, see it here.

Assignment Earth covers

RyallTime strikes again with the release of three pre-colouring covers for John Byrne’s Assignment Earth miniseries. Here's one (for the third issue):

For the other two see the original post, here.

New Frontier covers

RyallTime (IDW editor, Chris Ryall's blog) has posted cover art for first issue of IDW's New Frontier series. The Quad-cover:

According to a post by the artist Stephen Thompson on the TrekBBS, the characters pictured are: Elizabeth Shelby, Mackenzie Calhoun, Zak Kebron, Burgoyne 172, Si Cwan, Robin Lefler, Xy and Edward Jellico.

RyallTime also posted the Captain Peter David cover:

Go to the original post, here, for more info on these covers.

Year Four cover preview

On his new blog, IDW editor Chris Ryall has released an early version of the Sharp Brothers' cover for the third issue of The Enterprise Experiment:

See the original report, and the rest of Mr Ryall’s new blog (with various other IDW previews), here.

New Frontier comic preview

IDW have provided Trekweb with a five-page preview of the first issue of New Frontier: Turnaround. Here is the experimental timeship, the Paradox, that the story is apparently about:

See some more pages at Trekweb, here.

IDW April issues

IDW have posted their solicitations for April, the first month in which we will have more than two issues coming out, they are as follows:

Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment #1
A sequel to the classic episode "The Enterprise Incident"—originally written by [D.C. Fontana] herself—where Kirk and Spock found themselves trapped on an Enterprise out of phase with space itself and facing a plot of revenge from Romulans!

New Frontier #2
In part two of “Slingshot,” Admiral Jellico steals a prototype time ship...or does he? Not everything is what it seems.

Note: Slingshot is the former name for the entire New Frontier miniseries, the title it will now be released under is Turnaround.

Intelligence Gathering #4
When the Enterprise is the target of a mysterious futile attack, Captain Picard and crew find themselves in a mind-control mystery! Will Deanna Troi's empathic abilities prove to be an asset—or a deadly liability?

IDW on DS9, Voyager, Enterprise and "Quadcovers"

Andrew Steven Harris has made a rather informative post on the TrekBBS about the considerations IDW has for expanding their license outside of TOS and TNG. In short, something with at least a bit of DS9 could be upon us by the end of the year, Voyager is unlikely but might happen someday and Enterprise is very unlikely indeed thanks to some likeness approval issues. And in full, have yourself a full length quote!:

I'd really, really like to see what we could do with a Deep Space Nine license; and we might, might be testing the waters soon. Don't get too excited just yet, it won't be anything devastatingly major, and it won't be until later in 2008 at the earliest; but, it could definitely lead to something.

The Voyager license is a bit trickier--the ship made it back from the DQ, and many of the crew have since spread themselves across various corners of the Trek universe. And, once the ship made it back home, stories set in the DQ lose a certain amount of their dramatic tension; you'd end up with an entire license that feels like a flashback. Still, I'd be open to possibilities, if a couple of really good ideas came across our desk, but to be honest it's probably more realistic to expect that we won't be doing Voyager soon.

A license for Enterprise, however, is for certain extremely unlikely--largely because of actor likeness approval issues. Though I won't go into any specifics, when you'd need an actor's approval for every single panel on every single page that a particular character would appear in, the logistics of producing a monthly comic book series become exceptionally difficult, and probably not worth the care-and-feeding that all of it would require. Besides, though Enterprise definitely deserved more viewers than it got (particularly near the end), it's probably the license least likely to attract readers, so it'd probably be a better use of our time to focus our attention on a more popular license like DS9.

In the same thread Mr Harris also explained exactly what the quadcover format, being launched with the first issue of the New Frontier series, is:

Quad Covers(TM) are really simple. It's four different covers bound onto the same issue. Ever see a misprint double-cover, in which two covers accidentally got stapled onto a single book?

This is exactly the same thing. Except it's four covers. And it's deliberate. And all four covers are different.

Why? Because we wanted to give people four different covers without the impression that we were trying to force them into buying four different issues. So, instead, all four covers on the same issue.

With the Quad Cover, though, we can get a lot more creative than simply having four covers stapled on top of each other. For example, the covers could be like four sequential full-page splash panels, depicting not just a moment from inside the book, but an entire sequence-- all as the "cover". For our Transformers books, we could show one of the 'bots transforming from one mode to another across four different "covers". And so on.

And why not join in the discussion yourself, at the original post, here.

More in the line from IDW

TrekWeb have posted an interview with IDW's Star Trek editor Andrew Steven Harris, in which he revealed a couple of new projects in the works, name dropped some more people contributing to the Second Stage titles and dreamed of future projects. Here's a list of new information:

-An issue of the Assignment Earth series will also be tying into the episode "Tomorrow is Yesterday" (presumably this will be the issue Kirk and gang pop up in)
-In addition to Gordon Purcell's pencilling talents, Terry Pallot will be inking Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment.
-In addition to the Mirror Images series Captain Pike will be appearing in at least one more project currently in the works (fingers crossed for an Early Voyages miniseries)
-Keith R.A. DeCandido will be providing a story in a second Alien Spotlight series, Harris didn’t specify the species but suggested those familiar with the holy KRAD will be able to guess, so that's probably Klingons.
-IDW have been in contact with Pocket Books and are currently bouncing around ideas for collaborative projects. And of course the New Frontier miniseries will be in line with the existing prose series, and IDW’s second mirror universe, a TNG one, is apparently largely built off of what Pocket have established.
-IDW and Harris would like to do Deep Space Nine, but it's still some time off happening yet.
-They are developing an idea for a post-Nemesis TNG series, involving an unspecified someone who has worked on Star Trek before with Marvel and DC, it's not likely to see light until at least earl-2009.
-IDW think four issues a month is probably about the limit before they would consider themselves flooding the market, so we're not likely to get more than that.

You can read the full interview, here.

John Byrne newsoids

Newsarama has posted an interview with John Byrne in which he gives away a couple of tiny facts about his forthcoming Star Trek projects for IDW:

The biggest item of note is perhaps that Kirk and the gang will be making some sort of appearance in the Assignment Earth miniseries. Byrne also revealed he plans to have one of the later issues feature Nixon's visit to China in 1972.

On his sooner to come Romulan Alien Spotlight issue, he notes that Paramount had him "truncate" the story as it "didn't fit with their version of the lore".

The full interview can be found here.

IDW- Star Trek: Second Stage

IDW have put out a press release detailing their plans for Star Trek comics on the first half of next year. Aside from the details of the new series I think the biggest news is that they're upping production to four issues a month! "We’re expanding our slate of titles to four issues a month, so that there’s a feeling of weekly appointment reading for our audience, like a Star Trek TV show. At the same time, we want each title to have the significance of a Star Trek film, so that each series is a seminal comics event." I hope they can live up to that claim, or they might find the milk of the Trekkie cash cow turning sour on them...

Anyways, the 2008 collection will be branded Star Trek: Second Stage and as we already know will be made by some notable Trek names. Here are the details of the miniseries in the first half of the year (art is mostly early stage promo stuff): 
 

New Frontier
New Frontier will be a five-part series by Peter David with art by Stephen Thompson starting in March. The first issue will see the debut of IDW's new "Quad Cover" format, featuring four covers all on the same issue... wonder how that'll work. Earlier solicitations reported the first issue would be titled "Slingshot", the press release refers to "Turnaround" though, maybe it changed or maybe one is the miniseries title...

Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment

D.C. Fontana and Derek Chester's five-part Year Four continuation, with art by Gordon Purcell, will begin in April. The series will also have covers by the Sharp Brothers. The blurb:

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.

Assignment Earth
Another five part series, written and illustrated by John Byrne, starting in May. This series will be spun off from the TOS episode of the same name, eg the Gary Seven episode. Each issue will take place a year after the previous one, starting in 1968.

Mirror Images
Starting in June, this four part series written by the Tipton Two and Chris Ryall, with art by David Messina, will tell tales from mirror universe; Specifically the rise of James T. Kirk to take command of the ISS Enterprise from Christopher Pike. The series will also highlight mirror McCoy, Scotty and Uhura.

According the Kieth R.A. DeCandido IDW have been working with Pocket Books to keep this consistent with growing body of prose mirror universe stories.

Another mirror universe series, set in the TNG era, is scheduled for later in the year. This one will be written by Andrew Steven Harris and George Strayton.

You can read the original release in all it's glory, here, here, here or here!

Fontana comic cover art

Comic Book Resources have released a cover by the Sharp Brothers for an issue of D.C. Fontana's miniseries:

Nice to see Arex getting some attention there. Hopefully this means the Brothers will be doing the interiors for an issue too...

Thanks to Ro-Dan on IDW’s message boards for pointing this one out.

IDW March releases

Comics Continuum has posted IDW's solicitations for March, here's the low-down:

New Frontier #1
In its first year of Star Trek comics, IDW Publishing broke out of the box with marquee titles like Star Trek: Year Four, the blockbuster Klingons: Blood Will Tell and the fan-favorite Alien Spotlight one-shots. Now, IDW takes it to the next level with the launch of its Star Trek: Second Stage lineup, featuring some of the top Star Trek creators in comics, books and television. It all begins here! New York Times Best-Selling author and comics legend Peter David, the hand-picked creator of the first Star Trek crew designed exclusively for print, celebrates the tenth anniversary of his creation by writing New Frontier's first-ever comic book series, showcasing all-new stories and the official continuation of the hit books.

In issue one, "Slingshot," 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 Mackenzie Calhoun and the crew of the Excalibur have a hope in finding him before the ship, intended purely for scientific exploration, is used to disrupt the space-time continuum. With art by Stephen Thompson (Beneath the Valley of Rage), who also delivers four painted covers available as a Quad Cover, all bound in the same issue. Thompson also provides a bonus incentive cover featuring "Starfleet Captain Peter David" in the command chair!

TNG: Intelligenc Gathering #3
As a false distress call lures the Enterprise to a distant region of space, a saboteur puts Geordi and O'Brien at ground zero of a warp core that's about to breach! But is all this part of a greater scheme to draw the Enterprise into deeper danger? From the creative that brought you the hit Klingons: Blood Will Tell miniseries, Scott & David Tipton and David Messina.

Also coming out in March will be the paperback omnibus of the Year Four miniseries, which they describe as follows:

Space. The Final Frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise -- and her mission to explore strange new worlds continues here, with the launch of the official Year Four of The Original Series' five-year epic. Boldly going where no man has gone before are writer David Tischman (Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between) and Trek artists supreme Steve Conley, Leonard O'Grady, Gordon Purcell, and Rob & Joe Sharp. This first collection of the continuing adventures of Captain James T. Kirk and crew collects six stand-alone tales, a five-page introductory tale, and a full cover gallery as well.