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!

Borg Alien Spotlight preview, now in colour!

Trekweb have an exclusive colour preview of the Borg Alien Spotlight issue. Here’s one page:

See Trekweb, here, for some more. Or if you like things black and white you can see these pages pre-colouring, here. Additionally you can see three more black and white pages from the issue on the artist's devinatART page, here, here and here.

I love the Borg, and I love this art work, looks like we'll have something good in this issue.

IDW to do comic adaption of the new Trek movie

In an interview with Joe Corroney at Roddenberry.com Mr Corroney has revealed IDW will be doing a comic book version of the new Star Trek film, and that he'll liking be doing covers for it. Corroney is also hoping IDW might let him do some interior work.

If this is accurate I'm a little disappointed IDW are going for a straight adaptation, rather than something a little more unique to really add something else to the film, time will tell...

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.

Little bits of news and such...

A few little news bites:

-Peter David has confirmed his New Frontier comics miniseries will be a five-parter, and has also announced he'll be contributing a story to next years Mirror Universe anthology. (source)

-Paul Simpson, editor of the Star trek Magazine, has announced the next edition (out in February) will have an extract from one of the Terok Nor books. (scoure)

-David Messina has released a high res textless page from the first issue of Intelligence Gathering (out next month) on his blog.

-And it looks like thee is some future to StarTrek.com, in a message on the site CBS Interactive have said they are committed to maintaining and expanding the site despite laying off the existing team behind it.

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.

Star Trek Magazine: IDW 2008 announcements

As announced in the latest issue of the Star Trek Magazine IDW have a host of new projects in the works for next years, here’s the run down:

As previously announced D.C. Fontana will be writing a five part TOS: Year Four series, it will start in April with a sequel to The Enterprise Incident called The Enterprise Experiment and will be illustrated by Gordon Purcell.

Another Star Trek legend, Peter David will be bring us some new New Frontier adventures in a miniseries illustrated by Stephen Thompson.

Comics legend and Star Trek first timer in the forthcoming Romulan Alien Spotlight, John Byrne, will be returned with a whole miniseries written and drawn by himself.

And last, but far from least, IDW’s Tipton brothers will be continue after TNG: Intelligence Gathering with a Mirror Universe title to tie in with Pocket Books’ new anthology in the spring, which will be featuring mirror Pike!

Also in this issue of Star Trek Magazine you can find a little preview of Star trek: The Tour. Interviews with Zachery Quinto (new Spock) and John Cho (new Sulu). An article by Kevin Dilmore and Dayton Ward on Star Trek captains, including prose only ones. A behind the scenes look at the new game Star Trek: Conquest. An analysis, by David R. George III, of Kirk’s love life. And excerpt from Keith R.A. DeCandido’s forthcoming Klingon Empire: A Burning House, with an introduction by the author. And all the other usual features and news bits. Available now!

IDW previews

IDW have released five page previews for some forthcoming issues; The Romulan Alien Spotlight, and the first issue of Intelligence Gathering.

Alien Spotlight: Romulans
Cover, Pages 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

Intelligence Gathering #1
Cover, Pages 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5

Goodbye StarTrek.com?

As announced on StarTrek.com (link) the team responsible for the running of the official Star Trek website have been "eliminated" in a restructuring of CBS Interactive. Is this the end of StarTrek.com? Who knows, lets hope not, but it doesn't look good.

A Taste of Armageddon remastered

StarTrek.com have updated their comparison gallery with the nice new matte painting from "A Taste of Armageddon":

Oddly if you have a looksie at the wallpapers section the corresponding new wallpaper seems to be of the original rather than remastered version.

Couple of new things

Have yourself the following tit-bits:

Over at the Trek BBS Pocket Books' ebooks editor, Keith R.A DeCandido has announced the details of the eleventh print compilation of the Corps of Engineers series. The book titled Wounds is scheduled for release in October 2008 and will include the following stories:
-SCE #50: Malefiction, by Terri Osborne
-SCE #51: Lost Time, by Ilsa J. Bick
-SCE #52: Identity Crisis, by John J. Ordover
-SCE #53: Fables of the Prime Directive, by Cory Rushton
-SCE #54: Security, by Keith R.A. DeCandido
-SCE #55 & 56: Wounds, by Ilsa J. Bick
As DeCandido pointed out, this book might be off interest to fans of the DS9 relaunch as it featured several stories relative to DS9 in that time period.

Meanwhile from IDW, editor Chris Ryall let slip John Bryne will be producing a second Star Trek comic, for an as yet unspecified project, sometime after the Romulan Alien Spotlight he has written and illustrated, which comes out in February.

Terok Nor blurbs

Jeff Ayers, via Trekweb, has released the cover copy for next year's Terok Nor books, which is as follows:

Before the Dominion War and the decimation of Cardassia . . . before the coming of the Emissary and the discovery of the wormhole . . . before space station Terok Nor became Deep Space 9^TM . . . there was the Occupation: the military takeover of an alien planet and the violent insurgency that fought against it. Now that fifty-year tale of warring ideologies, terrorism, greed, secret intelligence, moral compromises, and embattled faiths is at last given its due in the three-book saga of Star Trek's Lost Era . . .

TEROK NOR

DAY OF THE VIPERS (2318-2328):

A seemingly benign visitation to the bountiful world of Bajor from the resource-poor Cardassian Union is viewed with cautious optimism by some, trepidation by others, and a calculating gleam by unscrupulous opportunists. What begins as a gesture of compassion soon becomes something very different. Seen through the eyes of participants on both sides-including those of a young officer named Skrain Dukat-the personal, political, and religious tensions between the Bajorans and the Cardassians quickly spiral out of control, irrevocably shaping the futures of both worlds in an emotionally charged and unforgettable tale of treachery, tragedy, and hope.

NIGHT OF THE WOLVES (2345-2357):

Eighteen years into the Occupation, a new star rises in Bajor's sky. It is the seat of power in this system, a place of slave labor and harsh summary judgments, the symbol of Cardassian might and the futility of resisting it. But even as the gray metal crown of Terok Nor ascends to its zenith, ragtag pockets of Bajoran rebels-including a fierce young fighter named Kira Nerys- have begun to strike back at their world's oppressors, and they intend to show the Cardassians that the night belongs to them.

DAWN OF THE EAGLES (2360-2369):

As violence all across Bajor continues to escalate, Cardassian forces tighten their grip on the captive planet, driving back the resistance at every turn; but on Terok Nor and elsewhere, the winds of change are stirring-the beginnings of a hurricane that will alter the landscape of the Occupation. And while secret dealings, shifting alliances, and personal demons buoy the wings of revolution, a mysterious shape-shifting life form begins a journey that will decide the fate of worlds.

First in-game shot from Star Trek Online

The Star Trek Online team have released the first in-game screenshot from the game in their latest Devlog entry:

The rest of devlog explains how the game deals with interaction with events and places in the game.

Zach Howard Romulan cover

IDW have posted their solicitations for February 2008 (previous announced here) and in doing so released the second cover, by Zach Howard, for the Romulan Alien Spotlight:

Star Trek: The Tour details

The details for next years US touring exhibition of Star Trekness have finally been announced. Star Trek: The Tour will begin it's five year mission to bring to Trek to the masses across major cities in the States in Long Beach California on January 18th.

It sounds quite a lot like Star Trek: The Adventure, a temporary exhibition in London a few years ago, with many of displays seemingly identical, but with a bit more interactive stuff - it will include displays of models, costumes, props and behind the scene bits and bobs, recreations of TOS and TNG sets including the bridges and Crusher's sickbay and interactive displays and areas, including shuttlecraft flight simulators.

William Shatner will also be making occasional appearances in the tour.

-In addition to standard admission some special packages will be available, you can find out about those, here.
-The press release for the tour can be found, here.
-And details of what's in the exhibitions can be found, here.

Forged in Fire excerpt

StarTrek.com have put up an excerpt from Excelsior: Forged in Fire, a novel out next year. They also put up the blurb which is as follows:

AN UNTOLD TALE OF STAR TREK HISTORY REVEALED AT LAST

A vicious pirate known as the Albino is cutting a deadly swath across space, creating turmoil in the Klingon Empire that threatens to spill into the Federation. But this criminal also has a secret that could shake the halls of Imperial power, and his genocidal plans against the race that bore him will have consequences even he cannot imagine, as several unlikely allies join swords to bring the Albino to justice: Hikaru Sulu of the U.S.S. Excelsior; Klingon captains Kor, Koloth, and Kang; and a hotheaded young Federation diplomat named Curzon Dax.

Tempered in the flames of their shared adversity, a captaincy is forged, a Blood Oath is sworn ... and a hunt begins that will stretch from one generation to the next.

Read the whole excerpt, here.

UPDATE: And if you have a looksie at Simonsays.com you'll find the whole first chapter, here.