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:

There has been no prequel comic for the latest movie, but in its place there if the four-part Manifest Destiny series, a Klingon focused story from Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott, with art by Angel Hernandez. This series is being released fortnightly, starting in a few days time, and the omnibus is being released pretty promptly after the final issue, so that it is available for the release of the new film. The omnibus book reuses Hernandez' art from issue four. Here's how IDW describe the book:

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.  

Both of the previous Countdown series, and other prequel miniseries related to the previous movies are being collected in new omnibus books. Countdown Collection Volume 1 I believe will include Countdown, and Nero, both written by Mike Johnson and Tim Jones, with art by David Messina, This latest edition features new cover art by John Watson.

Graphic novel adventures leading up to the 2009 movie! 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.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr. 

Countdown Collection, Volume 2 gives the setup for Into Darkness, with Countdown to Darkness and the Khan prequel series. Both were written by Mike Johnson, with art by David Messina, who worked with several other artists on the Khan series: Claudia Balboni, Maria Castelvetro, Luca Lamberti, Giorgia Sposito. John Watson provides another new cover for this book too.

Graphic Novel adventures surrounding Star Trek Into Darkness! Leading straight 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.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr.

And if you want even more nuTrek in bulk, Amazon have updated their listings for two further omnibuses revealing which covers will be used. Coming in July in Star Trek, Volume 12, which will contain the mirror universe story Live Evil, and Orion-focused Reunion, from the nuTrek ongoing series. Both stories came once more from Mike Johnson and Tony Shasteen. The cover is also from Shasteen, originally used for the middle issue of the three-part mirror universe story.

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.de, Amazon.fr.

Then in August the Starfleet Academy series arrives in omnibus form. Mike Johnson was joined by Ryan Parrott for this book, with art by Derek Charm, whose cover for issue five reappears here.

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.de, Amazon.fr.

Finally, the releases of issues of New Visions photo-comics series seem to have slowed down a tad lately, to accommodate all the other recent titles. But that hasn't stopped John Byrne working away at them, who is already up to at least issue fifteen (the last issue released, was number ten!). As ever Byrne has been posting updates on his forums as he goes. Here for example is a shot from an issue he expects to arrive later this year, with the Enterprise crew busy in a Klingon engineering room (a new digital set):

Another dazzling new set is to appear in that fifteenth issue, as Byrne describes, he has repurposed something he created way back for issue four (inset in the bottom section of the image):

Even tho the actual publication date is a year away, here's a peek at a "new" set for issue 15. The chamber walls are new modeling, but sharp eyes may notice that for the central device I have once again invoked a long-standing TOS tradition, and recycled and redressed an earlier model.

Byrne also posts experiments in new tricks he is playing with. These do not always make their way to actual issues, but quite often they do (heck the entire series started out as Byrne playing around with an idea). Here's one I hopes make it, TAS characters in the flesh!

Small experiment. Not ready for the book, yet, and certainly not as a front line character, but maybe lurking in the background...?

And here's another interesting one, Kirk the younger:

Last night I got to wondering if the magic that is Photoshop would allow me to pull off an "Ensign Kirk" flashback. Not a whole issue, mind you. Just a few pages.

You can find plenty more previews, work in progress, and ideas of Byrne's process, by looking back through his forum thread dedicated to the series (you can go back all the way to the inception of the series if so inclined!).

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.