Eaglemoss launches Star Trek comics collection

Eaglemoss, publishers of Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection, are moving into another area of the Star Trek universe with the launch of Star Trek: The Graphic Novel Collection. The fortnightly series will deliver a hardcover editions of comics drawn from the entire fifty year history of Star Trek comic publishing. The books will feature spine-art building up a single image, plus new introductory texts:

With this collection you can revisit all the classic characters and incredible art from the STAR TREK comic archives. Every edition has a specially-commissioned introduction to provide context to the story. Every book contains a number of collected comics and a bonus reprint of one of the comic archive’s classic stories.

I expect that description, from their website, indicates this Star Trek collection will follow a similar format to Eaglemoss' DC collection, in which each issue includes a big multi-issue story, plus an extra issue drawn from somewhere else in the comic series. That would certainly be a pretty good way to delivery the many single issue Star Trek comics, while also giving each book a big story to focus on.

The Star Trek Book preview

Due out in June from Dorling Kindersley is The Star Trek Book, an illustration and infographic packed guide to everything Star Trek, including all the prime series and the first two nuTrek movies.

The book follows the format of their Big Ideas Simply Explained series, which has entries covering everything from science to Shakespeare. The new Star Trek volume alters the the series title slightly, tweaking it to Strange New Worlds Boldly Explained. Here's DK's latest description:

Celebrate 50 years of one of the longest running and beloved sci-fi franchises with The Star Trek Book. This comprehensive guide to the series delves into the myriad worlds and different dimensions visited by the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

Discover the amazing science of Star Trek and how it has influenced real-world technology such as flip phones. Featuring informative and analytical text combined with exciting photography and infographics throughout, The Star Trek Book is broken down into main categories such as science and technology, Starfleet, allies and enemies, and more.

Perfect for fans of the various Star Trek TV series, including The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise, The Star Trek Book details everything you need to know about 50 years of excitement and adventure on the final frontier.

Amazon UK have released numerous preview spreads from the book, giving a nice idea of the format and the variety of subjects cover. Continue after the jump to have a look:

2016 Strange New World winners announced

Cover of the first Strange New Worlds

For ten years, starting in 1998, Simon and Schuster ran an annual Star Trek writing competition, giving an opportunity for fans to get their Star Trek stories published in an anthology book. After nearly a decade without such a book, the publisher revived the Strange New Worlds competition last year, ready to publish a new collection of stories this fiftieth anniversary year. Now the winning stories have been announced. They are:

• Dilithium Is a Girl's Best Friend, by Neil Bryant
• A Christmas Qarol, by Gary Piserchio and Frank Tagader
• The Sunwalkers, by Kelli Fitzpatrick
• The Seen and Unseen, by Chris Chaplin
• The Façade of Fate, by Michael Turner
• The Manhunt Pool, by Nancy Debretsion
• The Dreamer and the Dream, by Derek Tyler Attico
• The Last Refuge, by Roger McCoy
• Life Among the Post-Industrial Barbarians, by John Coffren
• Upon the Brink of Remembrance, by Kristen McQuinn

These ten "Grand Prize winners" will have their stories published in the digital-first 2016 Strange New Worlds anthology later this year, and each get a $1000 advance too. Bizarrely the two "First Prize winners" also announced, Kerry F. Booth and James Corrigan, do not seem to be listed for the book, instead winning a publishing package with Archway Publishing (worth $5000), to publish a book on another subject...

Manifest Destiny #1 preview

Starting this week is a new four-part biweekly nuTrek comic miniseries, Manifest Destiny. Taking the slot that might otherwise be given to a movie prequel series (there isn't one for Beyond), this series brings us a new Klingon nemesis for Kirk and crew, Commander Sho'tokh. This action packed series is written by nuTrek regular Mike Johnson, and his occasional collaborator Ryan Parrott, with art by Angel Hernandez (returning to Trek after previously bringing us the Green Lantern crossover series).

The series is available in three different covers. The main one is by Angel Hernandez. Tony Shasteen gives us the subscription cover, inspired by Bob Peak's The Motion Picture poster (the first in a series of movie-poster inspired covers throughout the miniseries). A retailer incentive featuring Doctor McCoy is by Rachael Stott. On top of that, this first issue is also available in a Klingon language edition, which is also offered in either the main or subscription covers. Continue below for a five-page preview (in English).

Starfleet Academy #5 preview

Out this week is the final issue in IDW's nuTrek Starfleet Academy series, which with a time travelling twist brings the five-part series to a satisfying conclusion. I hope not forever though, as I rather like this little cadet crew that writers Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott have created with artist Derek Charm.

The final issue is available in a particular nice range of covers. The main cover, is also from Charm, a subscription cover is by Stephen Thompson, and the retail incentive design is by Malachi Ward. Continue below for a five-page preview from inside the issue.

Starships Collection issues 77-83 announced, and other updates

Lots of updates from Eaglemoss' Star Trek: The Official Starships Collection for you today, including lots of new images of forthcoming models. First up, newly announced by StarTrek.com, is the line-up for issues seventy-seven through to eighty-three.

Kicking off that run is the Romulan shuttle, seen once in DS9, which we have two new images of, one via StarTrek.com, and the other from the just released latest round of solicitations of forthcoming issues (more on those below). And if these aren't enough for you, we have previously seen other images of both the physical model and new digital model used to make it. As is the case with almost all of these new announcements, this will be the first ever model available of this design, and it will be arriving first in the UK in July, with the rest of the world following along at the usual pace.

IDW's June Star Trek comics, and other updates

IDW have announced their June solicitations, which include four Star Trek titles, but only one entirely new comic. The rest of the releases are nuTrek omnibus books, which will arrive just in time to get you in the mood for the release of Star Trek Beyond the following month. Continue below for details of those, and other Star Trek comic updates.

That one new comic in June is Legacy of Spock, part four, which is issue fifty-eight in the nuTrek ongoing series. This final issues in the Spock story-line is from the series' regular creative team of writer Mike Johnson and artist Tony Shasteen. Here's how IDW describe it:

The stunning conclusion of "Legacy of Spock"! The fate of the Vulcan people hangs in the balance as Spock tries to prevent all-out war with the Romulan Empire! Will the Vulcans find a new homeworld on which to rebuild their civilization... or does this spell the end of their species? Don't miss the final chapter of this mini-series event celebrating the 50th anniversary of STAR TREK!

There will be two covers for this one, the regular by Tony Shasteen, featuring Spock from three eras (you can see Shasteen's development process for this in an article on 13th Dimension), plus a subscription cover by Alberto Silva:

Star Trek Beyond round-up: Aliens, new release format, posters and promo

As we draw ever closer to the July release of Star Trek Beyond things seem weirdly quiet, with no sighting of (wide release) posters, and no footage since the first teaser trailer last year. According to Collider, Paramount are waiting until May before they release the next trailer and kick off their major promotional efforts (maybe to avoid being buried in Captain America: Civil War promotional efforts until then?). While we wait for that big push, gradually nuggets of news and promotional activity are starting to dribble out. Continue below for a round-up of the latest news from the film.

The first splash from that incoming promotional storm is the first official still from the film, released by USA Today in their round-up of summer releases. This new image features Simon Pegg and Sofia Boutella, as Scotty and our new alien (presumably friend) Jaylah, who has lovely crispy sharp make-up design!

Latest nuTrek, TOS, and TNG home video releases

CBS and Paramount make sure to regularly reissue all the Star Trek titles on various home video formats so we can always get a-hold of them, and in this 50th anniversary year I'm sure we can expect even more reissues than normal! The latest announcements give us the nuTrek movies in new formats, and new box-sets for TOS and TNG TV series on bluray and DVD. Continue below for the details.

Paramount have now officially announced and revealed the covers for the first ever Star Trek 4K Ultra HD titles, which as was previously reported, will be the first two nuTrek movies, Star Trek, and Star Trek Into Darkness. Both will be arriving in June, in three disc packs which will contain the new 4K Ultra HD version of the films, plus a bluray movie disc, and special features bluray disc, with each.

Legacy of Spock, part 2 preview

Out this week is issue fifty-six of the Star Trek ongoing comic series, which is the second instalment of the four-issue story, Legacy of Spock. The story set not long after the first nuTrek movie continues to follow Spock, on an adventures that takes us to several familiar locations, and delightfully weaves together Spock's old and new lives, including a flashback all the way to the original series (as you can see in the preview pages below).

This issue is available in three covers: The standard cover, featuring the classic versions of the TOS characters, is by Tony Shasteen, who also provided the interior illustration (you can see how Shasteen developed this cover in an article on 13th Dimension). A subscription cover is by John Watson, and is part of IDW's "Art Appreciation Month", which has covers inspired by classic works of art appearing on many titles from the publisher - In this case we have an Uhura version of Vermeer's "Girl With a Pearl Earring". The third cover, only revealed with publication, is a retail incentive, by Jeffrey Veregge, which is apparently exclusive to the EMP Museum in Seattle (which will soon be hosting the Exploring Strange New Worlds exhibition). As ever, nuTrek comics mastermind Mike Johnson wrote this issue.

Original USS Enterprise survives another tribble invasion

In one of the most ill-advised celebrations of Star Trek's fiftieth anniversary, the Smithsonian Institution recklessly risked ecological catastrophe a few days ago, by launching a tribble breeding program! Aware of the potential for the experiment to get out of control, the institution only planned for the program to last for a single day, running twenty-four hours over the first of April...

Why would the Smithsonian take such a crazy risk? Well they hoped to use tribbles to make developments in multiple scientific fields:

Apart from tracking the tribble’s prodigious propagation, the program will explore practical uses for the creatures. Previous proposals include military and intelligence-gathering applications (such as a tribble bomb or Klingon detector) or as a viable source of food. The menu of Paris’ Café des Artistes includes Tribbles dans les Blankettes (tribbles in a blanket), though some have found the dish gauling. Others have suggested that they be considered as souvenirs for Museum visitors. Detractors consider the creatures about as useful as an ermine violin, soft and furry with a pleasing sound but serving no particular purpose. But while they neither toil nor spin, tribbles have a bright future in sustainable energy, according to STEM in 30 host Beth Wilson. “When you shuffle your socks across the carpet and then shock your brother with the built-up static electricity, that’s the triboelectric effect,” she explained. “The tribbles’ triboelectric potential could provide an energy source that’s 100% clean, apart from the shedding.”

ThinkGeek's starship noise machine!

ThinkGeek have revealed their latest innovative Star Trek product, the "Star Trek White Noise Sleep Machine". The machine is essentially a speaker with a snazzy alarm clock built in, featuring the ambient noises of all your favourite starships. Here's how ThinkGeek describe it:

The Star Trek White Noise Sleep Machine provides the low thrum of a familiar spacecraft exploring some corner of an as-yet-unknown galaxy to gently lull you to sleep. Use the easy-to-navigate LCARS touch screen display to select a ship or station, whose schematic will pop up in the next window. Rest your head on your pillow and watch the stars race by, projected onto the ceiling. Bask in the light of the glass "warp" tower as you relax to the familiar sounds of the warp core... or whichever sound you choose. You'll soon discover one craft in particular provides your optimal nighttime environment for maximum relaxation. And there will be no more hitting the snooze bar in the morning with our Red Alert alarm. You'll wake up refreshed, ready to attack the day. Because today is a good day to -- well, do anything, really!

And here's a video of the machine in action:

50 Artists 50 Years art revealed

StarTrek.com have launched a micro-site to highlight the artwork to be featured in the forthcoming 50 Artists 50 Years art exhibition. Commissioned to mark Star Trek's 50th anniversary, the touring exhibition will feature a wide variety of artwork, including illustrations, photographs, sculptures, paintings, and graphics.

Not all of the artwork has been revealed yet, but StarTrek.com have started to release it a few entries at a time, with creator interviews discussing each work. Those creators are equally as diverse as the mediums, including many familiar names from the world of Star Trek comics, Juan Ortiz (who previously brought us the retro print series), entries associated with the US Postal Service (the new TOS stamp artwork), and Mattel (I presume these will be Mega Bloks sculptures, but they've not been revealed yet), and perhaps most notably of all, the final piece of photographic art from the late Leonard Nimoy.

Continue below for a look at the artwork revealed so far, and details of where you can see the exhibition: