IDW's January releases, and other Star Trek comics news

IDW have announced their solicitations for January, which include three Star Trek titles: The start of a new 5 Year Mission series in the nuTrek ongoing comics, the second issue of the Planet of the Apes crossover, and the omnibus of City on the Edge of Forever. Continue below for full details of them all, as well as some other Trek comic updates:

Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive #2
Written by Scott Tipton, David Tipton, with art by Rachael Stott.

The colossal crossover nobody ever expected continues! Captain Kirk and the Enterprise crew have landed on the Planet of the Apes—but how?! And how are the Klingons involved? Plus: Taylor meets up with Kirk and Spock, but will he greet them with open arms? Or flying bullets?

IDW also note that "each issue features an essay on Star Trek and Planet of the Apes by comedian and über-fan Dana Gould".

This second issue has three covers, and I think IDW have really exceeded themselves this time, with a stunning cover from the series artist Rachael Stott, a great subscription variant cover by Joe Corroney, and a gloriously nostalgic Gold Key style photo variant cover.

Continue after the jump for a look at the other January releases, and more comics news:

Star Trek (ongoing) #41: 5 Year Mission - Behemoth, Part 1
Written by Mike Johnson, with art by Cat Staggs.

"Behemoth,” part 1 of 2: In the wake of their century-spanning encounter with Q, the crew of the U.S.S Enterprise leaves explored space behind to embark on a new five-year mission of discovery! Beyond the reach of Starfleet communications, they can only rely on each other when faced with their first encounter in uncharted territory—and it might be their last! Don't miss this perfect jumping-on point for new readers, produced in association with STAR TREK writer-producer Roberto Orci!

IDW are going for a bit of a relaunch of the nuTrek series, following The Q Gambit crossover miniseries, they are branding the new adventures of the Enterprise under the 5 Year Mission banner, kicking off with a two-parter. Cat Staggs takes on interior artwork for the first time here, following her previous work on the covers of the Parallel Lives two-parter and other Star Trek illustrations in Federation: The First 150 Years. Staggs also provides another exciting cover, or you could opt for the subscription variation photo-cover:

Finally in the January solicitations, a book that Amazon is anticipating will in fact arrive in the first few days of Febraury:

The City on the Edge of Forever omnibus
Written by Harlan Ellison, Scott Tipton and David Tipton, with art by J.K. Woodward, and cover by Juan Ortiz.

For the first time ever, a visual presentation of the much-discussed, unrevised, unadulterated version of Harlan Ellison’s award-winning Star Trek teleplay script, “The City on the Edge of Forever!” See the story as Mr. Ellison originally intended!

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

In other Star Trek comics news, Amazon now have a listing up for the ninth omnibus in the nuTrek ongoing series, the six-part DS9 crossover, The Q Gambit, which they expect to arrive in March. Here's the blurb:

The crew of the new Star Trek film franchise encounters the classic Trek villain Q for the first time in this galaxy-spanning adventure developed in association with screenwriter/producer Roberto Orci! The mischievous Q sends James T. Kirk on a quest that will see the Enterprise joining forces with familiar faces from Star Trek lore, in "The Q Gambit!"

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

Finally, John Byrne is busy working on new issues of his photo-comic series, New Visions - He apparently has five issues at various stages right now, taking him up to issue nine and beyond! He often posts updates on his forums; this latest preview page demonstrates one of the easier scenes for Byrne to put together:

I've mentioned how some pages are particularly easy to assemble, as they are built not only from un-manipulated images, but images from the same scene in the original show. Here's an example, from today's output:

The first* and last panels are from two different shows, but the rest are all from one scene in one episode. Now, THAT'S what I call "repurposing"!

* Some manipulation there -- extended the image horizontally, and added more stars.