Details of Manifest Destiny and other Star Trek comics news

Starting in April is Manifest Destiny, a new four-part nuTrek comic miniseries featuring the Klingons, which will be released fortnightly. Continue below for new details of that, and other Star Trek comics news from IDW.

Things From Another World have posted an interview with Manifest Destiny's writers, Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott, artist Angel Hernandez, and editor Sarah Gaydos, revealing some new details about the series. Perhaps the biggest news is a quick note that there will be no prequel comic series for Star Trek Beyond, but that this series kind of fills that event role anyway, as Johnson explains:

We aren’t doing a movie prequel this year, but we wanted to do another event-worthy series to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek. What could be more event-y than a showdown with the Klingons? And this time both sides are out where no one — human OR Klingon — has been before.

As that summary suggests, it seems this series will be exploring strange new worlds from a new perspective, with the Klingon equivalent of our heroes, as Parrott notes:

...who’s the Klingon “Captain Kirk?” What does their “Enterprise” look like? How does the Empire explore? So we did some research into the Vikings and Mongols, just to establish a base...

Parrot also outlined the Klingon-Kirk, someone called Shotok:

There are some great villains in the original series, but outside of Khan, they’re mostly races — Klingons, Romulans, etc. So our goal was to try and create a worthy adversary for Kirk — someone personal, who thinks and acts like he does. Shotok is an outsider who doesn’t conform to the traditional Klingon code of honor. And because of that, he’s dangerous, unpredictable, and a bit of a wildcard when he first encounters the Enterprise.

While Johnson elaborated on the setting:

We’ve shown the Federation and the Klingons mixing it up before, but this story raises the stakes because both sides are on their own, far from any reinforcements. The Klingon ship is a match for the Enterprise in size and power. This is probably the most intense battle we’ve shown in the comics yet, and the most personal.

You can read more from the entire creative team on Things From Another World, including the influence of the Canary Islands, and the working relationship between the creators. Meanwhile StarTrek.com recently revealed J.K. Woodwards cover art for the variant cover of issue two:

As this series has a rather speedy release, the omnibus book is already scheduled, as far as Amazon think, who now have it listed for June release. They also show a cover, reusing the main cover art from issue one, by Angel Hernandez. They also have this blurb:

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary Celebration of the STAR TREK franchise with this all-new adventure! At the edge of explored space, Captain Kirk and the crew of the Starship Enterprise come face to face with a new Klingon threat... with the fate of the galaxy at stake! Also includes the Klingon Language version of issue #1!

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

And that's just the start, a whole load of new omnibus books are now up for pre-order. Coming in July is Starfleet Academy (which just reached the middle issue in the five-part series).

A bold new chapter for STAR TREK begins here, in an all-new series that shows you what life is like for cadets at the galaxy's greatest school! Witness the student days of the iconic cast before they joined the Enterprise! Plus, meet an all-new group of students as they embark on bold new adventures of their own! The first new characters in the STAR TREK movie universe make their mark here.

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

Then in August there's the twelfth omnibus book from the nuTrek ongoing series, which will contain the recent mirror universe and Orion stories:

The U.S.S. Enterprise continues its ongoing mission to explore strange new worlds and new civilizations, boldy going where no one has gone before. Now midway through their five-year voyage into uncharted space, Captain Kirk and the crew are about to encounter their strangest discovery yet... themselves in the mirror-mirror storyline "Live Evil." Then, the crew face off with a renegade faction of Orions intent on disrupting the truce between their species and the Federation! Collects issues #50–54 of the ongoing Star Trek series.

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

Back in June there are two new books bringing back the prequel series from both of the first nuTrek films. Star Trek: Countdown Collections Volume 1 appears to combine the first Countdown series, and Nero.

In the 2009 movie, STAR TREK, audiences were introduced to Nero, the mysterious Romulan that ultimately threatened the survival of the entire universe. Find out his origin and what drove him to perform such heinous deeds as well as what he did in those cold, dark, lonely years he spent waiting for his nemesis to arrive.

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.fr.  

Similarly Star Trek: Countdown Collections Volume 2 seems to combination of Countdown to Darkness and Khan.

Leading into the movie, STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS, the crew of the ENTERPRISE becomes embroiled in a decades-old conflict between two factions of indigenous people on a remote planet. The flames of their conflict have been fanned by the unexpected presence of a former captain of the ENTERPRISE, long presumed dead. Plus, witness the shocking origin of Khan Noonien Singh from his earliest years through his rise to power during the epic Eugenics Wars and behold the events that led to his escape from Earth aboard the Botany Bay.

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.fr.   

For full listings of all the upcoming Star Trek comic releases, and links to my previous coverage, hit the comics button on my 2016 schedule page. You can also find further comics series reading lists on Trek Collective Lists.