Comics news: Khan, omnibuses, and IDW Limited details

A few bits of comics news, starting with a tiny hint of things to come in the nuTrek comics. Apologies for those who still haven't seen Into Darkness, but I think the Khat is out of the bag on the spoiler which I'm about to discuss (look away now?) In response to the following on Twitter:

Can we get canon explanation for Khan's appearance change? Thanks!

Roberto Orci replied:

Wait 4 IDW comics!

Which I presume refers specifically to the John Harrison (probably prequel) series Orci confirmed is in the works, recently. So I guess they're not planning to gloss over the fact that Benedict Cumberbatch isn't Indian, or Mexican... or Spanish...

Aaaanyway, in other comics news, Amazon has added listings for a whole bunch of new omnibuses on the way! Three books all due out in October. Those include the second book in the fantastic newspaper comic-strips reprints. Star Trek: The Newspaper Comics, Volume 2, picks up where the previous book ended, giving us the final ten stories of the US newspaper strips. Lets hope it does well enough to continue the project into the beautiful, and equally rare and under-appreciated, UK strips. Here's the Amazon blurb:

Edited by Dean Mullaney with an Introduction by Rich Handley. Collecting the second half of the rare daily and Sunday newspaper strip. Ten complete missions from October 26, 1981 through December 3, 1983. Stories by Sharman DiVono, Larry Niven, Martin Pasko, and Gerry Conway; art by Ron Harris, Padraic Shigetani, Bob Myers, Ernie Colon, Dick Kulpa, and Alfredo Alcala.

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

Another big hardcover on the way is the complete series omnibus of the TNG/Doctor Who crossover, Assimilation². This one has a great new cover by the Sharp Brothers. Here's the Amazon blurb:

The two greatest science-fiction properties of all time crossover for the first time! Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise have joined forces with the Doctor and his companions to combat an unholy alliance between the Federation's most terrifying enemy and one of the Doctor's greatest antagonists. But once the Cybermen turn on their Borg allies, the Doctor and Picard find themselves at odds over how to proceed against the threat, with the fate of the universe hanging in the balance!

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

Finally, and also in hardcover, there's something a little more intriguing, The Stardate Collection, Volume 1. This book is apparently the start of a new omnibus series which aims to reprint Star Trek comics in stardate order. I somehow expect it will be doing so quite selectively, but it's an intriguing prospect none the less, especially as it will include additional commentaries and behind the scenes stuff. Here's the Amazon blurb:

The comic book tales of Star Trek have roamed the universe and spanned publishers, but now Star Trek: The Stardate Collection collects the many iterations of Trek in order... by stardate! Helmed by Trek experts Scott and David Tipton, and featuring special commentary and creator interviews, volume 1 starts at the beginning to reveal the motives, machinations and decisions that shaped the intrepid crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. For new and old fans alike, there's never been a Star Trek collection like this!

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

Amazon UK list a wide range of writers and artists, which help determine the probable contents of this April/Pike era collection:

• Writers Dan Abnett and Ian Edginton, with artists Greg Adams and Patrick Zircher brought us Marvel's Pike-era Early Voyages. This collection can't possibly contain the entire seventeen issue series, as it's only 288 pages in total (the previous complete Early Voyages omnibus was over 400!)
• John Byrne, writer and artist of several series for IDW, including the most likely candidate for this book, Crew, which gave the story of Number One's early career in Starfleet.
• Writer James Patrick, with artist Josep Maria Beroy, gave us IDW's Pike-era Alien Spotlight: Vulcans.

Also on the list are Scott and David Tipton, they have written a Pike story, Alien Spotlight: Orions, but it occurs later than the rest here, after his time on the Enterprise, so maybe they're listed as the authors of the promised commentary in the book. That would make for a reasonably complete collection of Pike stories set before the transition era to Kirk's joining the Enterprise. The only glaring omission I can think of is the DC Annual, To Walk the Night.

Away from the mainstream omnibuses, IDW Limited have now announced the full details of their luxury reprint of Star Trek, Volume One, from the nuTrek ongoing series. All three of the different limited edition releases will be out in July. Each release comes in a tray case, containing an exclusive hardcover version of the omnibus signed by Mike Johnson, Joe Phillips, and Tim Bradstreet. Each case also contains a portfolio with eight lithographs of cover art from the series. There will be one-hundred-and-seventy-five copies if the Red Label version with just those features. Images and more information after the jump:

 

The more limited Black Label, with just fifty copies, has the same, but also includes an original piece of art by Joe Phillips. Here is one example, but each one is unique:

Even more elusive, and expensive, the Blue Label, with just fifteen copies, has the base elements with a piece of artwork by Tim Bradstreet, like this:

Here's a video, how it all neatly fits into the presentation box: