▼

Thursday, 30 April 2015

This (last) month: April 2015's Star Trek releases

I've cut this so fine this month that imagine most of you will in fact be reading in May! But none the less, continue below for a round-up of all the Star Trek stuff that made its way into the world in April 2015.

Books

It's a busy month for comic books, plus the latest novel, and an issue of the Star Trek Magazine. This month's prose adventure was Uncertain Logic, the third in Christopher L. Bennett's Rise of the Federation series.
Years ago, Jonathan Archer and T’Pol helped unearth the true writings of Vulcan’s great philosopher Surak, bringing forth a new era of peaceful reform on Vulcan. But when their discovery is seemingly proven to be a fraud, the scandal threatens to undo a decade of progress and return power to the old, warlike regime. Admiral Archer, Captain T’Pol, and the crew of the U.S.S. Endeavour investigate with help from their Vulcan allies, but none of them suspect the identity of the real mastermind behind the conspiracy to reconquer Vulcan—or the price they will have to pay to discover the truth.

Meanwhile, when a long-forgotten technological threat re-emerges beyond the Federation’s borders, Captain Malcolm Reed of the U.S.S. Pioneer attempts to track down its origins with help from his old friend “Trip” Tucker. But they discover that other civilizations are eager to exploit this dangerous power for their own benefit, even if the Federation must pay the price!

There are two new comic books out from IDW this month. The Primate Directive, the TOS/Planet of the Apes crossover series reached it's conclusion in the fifth issue. The omnibus of the series, written by Scott and David Tipton, with art by Rachael Stott, is due out in July. Meanwhile you can find preview pages from this final issue, in my previous report.
The battle for conquest of the Planet of the Apes comes to a climax! Can Captain Kirk wrest control of the Gorilla army from the Klingons?

Meanwhile the nuTrek ongoing series reached the middle issue of the current three-part story Eurydice. The forty-fourth issue of the series sees the Enterprise stranded far from home. You can see preview pages from that too, in another earlier report.
The Five Year Mission leading up to 2016's blockbuster STAR TREK movie continues here, as Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise find themselves in the clutches of the Dark Market Syndicate deep in the Delta Quadrant. Don’t miss this all-new story produced in the association with STAR TREK writer/producer Roberto Orci!

That issue was written, as always, by Mike Johnson, with art by Tony Shasteen. The same creative team feature in the nuTrek omnibus newly released this month too, the six-part DS9 crossover The Q Gambit, which comprised issues thirty-five to forty, is the ninth omnibus book in the series.
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!"

Another comic omnibus out this month gives us some very different adventures for the Enterprise crew, in Volume 3 of IDW's Gold Key Archives series; bringing the first ever Star Trek comics back to life with vibrant new colouring and a snazzy hardcover book presentation. You can see some of those revitalized pages in another preview article.
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.

Finally from the publishing section we have Titan Magazine's latest issue of the Star Trek Magazine. Issue one-hundred-and-eighty (or fifty-three in the US) focuses on mythology in the Star Trek universe.
Monsters and mayhem take over in The Official Star Trek Magazine! It's time to strip off our Starfleet uniforms, don skimpy leather armor, and swap our phasers for flaming swords, as we delve into the classical themes, myths, and legends that have influenced Star Trek over the decades. We'll also find out how Trek couture is becoming high fashion; meet the galaxy's most notorious rogues and reprobates; and discover how Gary Seven faced off against Khan during the Eugenics Wars! Plus all of your favorite regular features, merchandise reviews, and the latest Star Trek news.

Model ships

It's been a very busy month for Eaglemoss, with the biweekly releases happening to deliver three ships in a single month, as well as the latest over-sized special issue! Issues forty-three to forty-five are the Species 8472 bioship, the Enterprise-era Intrepid, and the Malon Export Vessel. I believe these are the first ever models of the latter two ships.




The fourth special issue in the series is also newly out, the Klingon D4 class. This is only the second ever model of this ship, and comes with one of the best magazines of the series to date, giving an in-depth look at the designing of the ship.


As ever, the UK sees the first release of all these ships, with the US following a couple of months behind, and other markets catching up as the series progresses locally. For full coverage of all the ships in the series check my index page.

Also out this month is wave fourteen of Wizkid's Attack Wing miniatures game, which gives us three smaller scale model ships: The Krenim Temporal Weapon, the mirror universe NX class ISS Avenger, and the Oberth class USS Pegasus.


Clothing

Mighty Fine have delivered some splendid new Trek-wear this month, with creative pieces including a Hawaiian shirt, print leggings, a sweater, and TNG-uniform styled ties:



Homewares

While you're wearing Trek you can also live Trek, with new Trexels themed glasses and a cup from Icup:



The TNG transporter room shower curtain from ThinkGeek:


And Westland Giftware's TOS nightlight:


German language

Finally, for German readers, Cross Cult never disappoint, with two new translation out this month. Peter David's 2003 New Frontier novel Gods Above gains the German title Mehr als Götter. And possibly one of the greatest new titles Cross Cult have ever come up, Achtung, Monster!, Keith R.A. DeCandido's 2001 COE ebook novella, originally known as Here There Be Monsters. Both books get new covers for their German release:


Germany also saw the release of Star Trek: The Next Generation - The Full Journey, the complete series bluray box set, which was released in the UK and Spain last year.

You can find out more about all these items, and everything else out this year, with links to all my previous coverage on my schedule page.

Entertainment Earth Find Star Trek comics, toys, statues, and collectibles at TFAW.com!

at

2 comments:

  1. Christopher Dilloway1 May 2015 at 16:02

    I just finished "Uncertain Logic" and I enjoyed the Vulcan parts of it more than I thought I would and enjoyed the Pioneer storyline much less than I thought I would and the Deltan/Orion storyline I did not care for at all.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fox3 May 2015 at 21:11

    @Chris: I agree completely. I'm really not a fan of the "villains" they've got in this series.

    But I'm really digging the Vulcan stuff, and Dax. I really hope we keep seeing Tobin, even though Uncertain Logic kind of made it look like he was leaving.

    ReplyDelete