The Q Gambit #3 preview

It was a bumper week for Star Trek comics this week, along side the latest issue in the City of the Edge of Forever series, we also got the third issue in The Q Gambit, the six part DS9 crossover story in the nuTrek ongoing series. Continue below for a five page preview of this issue:

City on the Edge of Forever #4 preview

Out this week was the fourth (and penultimate) part in the comic book adaptation of Harlan Ellison's original teleplay for City on the Edge of Forever. Here are five pages (continuing after the jump) to tempt those of you that haven't picked it up yet:

Comic panels: Gold Key, Gary Seven, and more

An assortment of comics news today, starting with the first look at IDW's third hardcover omnibus of remastered Gold Key Comics: Now listed on Amazon for release in February next year, is Gold Key Archives, Volume 3. Here's the very snazzy new cover, and blurb:

Boldly going... where it all started! Presenting the first comic book adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew! Fully remastered with new colors, Volume 3 collects issues #13-18, including stories such as "Dark Traveler," "The Enterprise Mutiny," "The Hijacked Planet," and more.

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es.

We can expect the "and more" to be Museum at the End of Time, Day of the Inquisitors, and The Cosmic Cavemen - Remastered to the same quality as the previous two books, this will be a real treat. (See previous reports for previews of book one, and book two.).

"Full thrust, for pity's sake!"

Speaking of early classic comics: While Gold Key were publishing in the US in the sixties and seventies, there was also a string of comic strips printed in magazines in the UK. These rarely seen comics are little known, and had some truly stunning artwork - It was hoped that following IDW's publishing of the US newspaper comic strips over the last couple of years, they would continue the series with a couple of books collecting the UK strips.

Alas these books have yet to surface, and according to a recent blog by Star Trek comic collector Rich Handley (who worked on the newspaper strip reprint books) it seems IDW might not be going ahead. Rich has called for a campaign to alert IDW of the demand for these, including encouraging fans to write to IDW to let them know. I echo Rich's request; these amazing and rare comics deserve to be seen by a wider audience. Come on IDW, make it happen! I've posted a few sample panels from the UK comics on my tumblr, check them out, beautiful stuff.

Continue after the jump for more comics news, including a possible Gary Seven photo-comic, the latest previews from City on the Edge of Forever, and some details on the Planet of the Apes crossover.

First look at Official Starships Collection USS Vengeance and other new ships

Lots of updates from the The Official Starships Collection below. Starting with a first look at the third over-sized special issue, the USS Vengeance:

Entertainment Earth posted the image, and also a description which hints at things we can look forward to in the magazine:

This special Star Trek Starships Collection Vehicle is one of the biggest and baddest Starfleet vessels ever designed - the U.S.S. Vengeance, the villainous warship that played a starring role in 2013's Star Trek Into Darkness. This oversized model has been produced at a larger size to reflect the huge size of the Vengeance and is nearly 8 1/2-inches long. Every detail of this heavily armed ship has been carefully reproduced with careful reference to the original CG model created by ILM. The accompanying magazine explores the design process and includes never-seen-before concept artwork and all new interviews with the Vengeance's creators.

Entertainment Earth have this listed for March release, but it will be out in the UK first. The Vengeance was listed alongside regular issues coming out in December in the UK, so I would guess this special issue should be out by the year's end too.

Those regular issues also give us first and/or new looks at forthcoming models, issues thirty-five to thirty-seven, the 22nd century Klingon Bird of Prey, the Oberth class USS Grissom, and the Andorian cruiser Kumari. I think the image processing might have been a bit off in these images, so I would imagine the final colours wont be quite so vivid!

Continue after the jump for more previews from the series:

Q Are Cordially Uninvited...

Coming next month is the latest Star Trek ebook, Rudy Josephs' TNG story, Q Are Cordially Uninvited.... The novella is set to reveal the events of the wedding of Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher, which previously occurring "off-screen", prior to the novel Greater Than the Sum. Simon and Schuster and StarTrek.com have now released the cover and blurb, revealing some new details about the story:

The wedding of Captain Jean-Luc Picard to Doctor Beverly Crusher was a small, private affair overseen by the mayor of La Barre, France, and witnessed by the groom’s sister-in-law and the mayor’s wife. At least, that’s what the happy couple always told their friends. On the anniversary of that blessed day, however, Worf and Geordi La Forge manage to coax the real story out of the pair, to discover a tale of mythical treasure and a lost civilization in the Delta Quadrant. It all begins when the omnipotent being Q crashes the festivities, declaring himself best man and bringing along an unwilling guest as a surprise for the groom.

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes.

IDW's December Star Trek comics

IDW have released their December solicitations, which include three new Star Trek comics, plus an omnibus book. Continue below for a look at the start of one series, the end of another, and everything else coming at the end of the year:

Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive #1
The first of a new five-part crossover series. Written by Scott and David Tipton, with art by Rachael Stott.

It's the crossover nobody ever expected! STAR TREK: The hope for the best of mankind's future! PLANET OF THE APES: A chilling look at the fall of humanity! How could these worlds possibly collide? What could possibly cause Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise to side with Dr. Zaius to protect Ape City? And what does Colonel George Taylor have to say about it? It's a madhouse! A madhouse!!

There will be no less than six different covers for this first issue in the series! The regular covers come from Rachael Stott and Juan Ortiz. There will be a subscription variant by George Perez, and several other retail incentive covers; one by variant cover by Tone Rodriquez, sketch version of the Perez cover, and a blank sketch cover (so you can get an appropriate artist to give you a bespoke cover when the opportunity arises). IDW have so far released four of the six, the Stott, Rodriquez, and Perez (regular and sketch) designs.

Continue after the jump for the rest of the covers and other December releases:

Four Trek T-shirts available today

ShirtPunch, one of those websites that offers T-shirt designs for twenty-four hours at a time, has four different Star Trek shirts on offer today: Retro designs featuring a Klingon bird of Prey and the USS Enterprise, a Captain Kirk portrait, and a Starfleet delta Argyle pattern. Each design is available in either short or long sleeved T-shirts, or as a hoodie.

Continue after the jump for a closer look at each design. As I write this, there are seven hours or so left to get them if you like any of them.

Original USS Enterprise departs for refit

The original miniature of the USS Enterprise seen in Star Trek: The Original Series has been on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum since the 70s, but a few days ago was taken out of it's home in the museum gift shop (where it has resided since 2000). Fear not though, it will be returning, in time for the fiftieth anniversary of Star Trek, and fortieth anniversary of the museum, as part of a revamped displayed in the museum's centerpiece Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall.

While waiting for the new display area to be readied, the model will undergo conservation work. The Smithsonian laid out their approach to that in their blog about the move:

The Museum’s general approach emphasizes conservation over preservation and preservation over restoration. Restoration is bringing an object back to its appearance and condition at a determined point in time in the past. With a restoration approach, there is less concern for preserving original materials and more focus on returning to the original specification, often through the addition of non-original materials. Preservation is an overall philosophy that favors keeping original material over creating an ideal physical appearance, while keeping the artifact from deteriorating any more. Conservation follows the preservation philosophy and is minimally invasive, utilizing scientific investigation and techniques to maintain original materials, preserving the object’s physical history of ownership and use.

It will be interesting how much they stick to the conservation over restoration, as previous work by the museum did in fact give the ship quite an overhaul. As you can see in some of the images below, the model currently features rather strong grid-lines that weren't present on it before the last time it had conservation work.

The new look Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall.

When the Enterprise does return, it will sit alongside other historical artefacts depicting the history of flight and space exploration (like an up-scaled version of Admiral Marcus' office), including the Spirit of St. Louis, Bell X-1, and an Apollo Lunar Module. It has yet to be revealed how the Enterprise will be displayed in the new hall - The case it was just moved out of was created for it after X-Rays at the last move revealed the model was being stressed from its previous hanging displays.

Continue after the jump for a look at the Enterprise's history at the museum.

Alien Domain, heading to browsers soon

GameSamba have announced details of their new Star Trek browser game, including the title, Alien Domain. The game will focus on Federation and Klingon exploration of Fluidic Space, the home of Species 8472, and is set for launch later this year. GameSamba gave an overview of the game in their press release:

Set in the mysterious extradimensional realm of Fluidic Space, players will make strategic decisions to maintain control over limited resources, balance defensive spending with research, establish colonies, and prioritize power distribution for optimal efficiency. Players will also have the option to participate in PvP encounters such as one-on-one skirmishes, raids against player-controlled outposts, and large-scale, guild vs. guild Alliance Battles.

Taking place after the most chronologically recent Star Trek canon and featuring a new Star Trek story, players will control a variety of starships and technologies native to their chosen faction. Starships include Constitution-class and Defiant-class starships for the Federation, and D7 Battle Cruisers and Bird-of-Prey for the Klingon Empire. Players will even be able to craft and pilot unprecedented super starships created through emerging technologies. Creating a diverse starship fleet is essential for exploring the deep reaches of Fluidic Space and quelling its threats, as well as for defending against rival colonies and players.

Several in-game screen-shots have been released. Continue after the jump for a look at space and ground based game play:

New look TOS DVDs

If you're tired of all this new-fangled high definition bluray stuff, then CBS should brighten your day, as this month hey are reissuing Star Trek: The Original Series on DVD, in snazzy new packaging. TV Shows on DVD revealed the artwork for all three seasons of the remastered series: