Waypoint 2019 Special preview

Out this week is IDW's 2019 Waypoint Special, which brings the quirky anthology series back with some enjoyable new era-spanning stories. Included in this issue are:

• Hearts and Bones - A TOS TV-era story focused on Doctor McCoy's romantic woes. Written, illustrated and lettered by Stephen Mooney, with colour from Len O'Grady.
• Unfathom - An early TNG TV-era story featuring Doctor Crusher and Tasha Yar and an encounter with a fun new technical mystery. Written by Corinna Bechko, with art and colour Daniel Irizarri.
• The Swift Spoke - A Voyager prequel, featuring young Kathryn Janeway and Tuvok on an away mission to a very alien world. Written by Malachi Ward and Matt Sheean, with Ward also providing art and colour.
• The First Year - A post-finale DS9 story featuring Ambassador Worf and Ezri Dax. Written by Thom Zahler, with art by Any Price, and colour from Mark Roberts.

It's an enjoyable collection which explores some interesting corners of the Trekverse. I particularly enjoyed the imaginative world featured in The Swift Spoke.

The book has just one cover, from Stephen Mooney. Continue below to check out a more generous than usual six page preview!

Star Trek: Year Five #1 covers and preview

Out this week is the first issue in IDW's big new TOS comic series, Year Five, which will chart the final missions of the TV era TOS crew.

A rolling team of creatives are bringing this series to life, with this first Tholian-focused story in the series brought to us by writers Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, and artist Stephen Thompson.

The first book in the series is offered in no less than five different covers! Three of those come from Greg Hildebrandt, including the splashing colourful A cover. A sketch variant is offered as a retail incentive, and another monotone edition will be a convention exclusive. Another retail incentive cover comes from J.J. Lendl, the first in a series of retro poster style pieces that will be offered for the series; this first one rather ingenious turns Spock and Kirk's shirts into a Tholian head! Finally Diamond have their own retail exclusive photo cover, using a classic TOS promo photo.

Continue below to check out all those covers, and a five page preview:

IDW returns to Discovery with Aftermath miniseries

IDW have announced details of their return to Discovery comics, with a new miniseries, Aftermath, set to start in August. The three issue story promises to pick up some of the threads from the finale of Discovery season two, and explore Spock's past:

This riveting new comic book [...] reunites co-writers Kirsten Beyer, Mike Johnson, and artist Tony Shasteen [...] for a storyline focused prominently on Spock. In the aftermath of the 2019 finale, everything in Discovery has changed, and as L’Rell and Pike try to negotiate a fragile peace, Spock finds himself grappling with the fallout from what happened with Michael Burnham – and the mysteries about her still left to unravel.

Here's some promo art for the series:

IDW's July Star Trek comics

IDW have announced their solicitations for July, which has thin pickings for Star Trek fans, with just one new comic this month. Continue below for the details of that issue, and other comics updates:

Year Five #4
Written by Brandon Easton, with art by Martin Coccolo

With the situation on Sigma Iotia II quickly unraveling, it’s up to Kirk and Bones to stop a dangerous group of radicals from unleashing a space/time fissure that could destroy the planet. Meanwhile, back on the Enterprise, Scotty uncovers a secret that risks the safety of the Tholian passenger. The final year of the original mission continues here!

Like the previous issue, this book is offered in two covers, with the main A cover from Stephen Thompson, and a travel poster retail incentive variant from J.J. Lendl. The Thompson cover has been released so far, and is quite striking:

The Q Conflict #3 preview

Out this week is the third issue in IDW's multi-series crossover event, The Q Conflict. The crews of Kirk and Picard's Enterprises, Voyager, and the Defiant continue to bend to the will of assorted super-beings, as the curious godly politics begin to unfold.

The series is written by Scott and David Tipton, with David Messina pencilling, and Elisabetta D’Amico on inks. Like previous issues, Messina also provides both the A and B covers, forming a diptych between the two, this time featuring the series starring starships. George Caltsoudas has been providing retail incentive covers for the series, with ships also the focus of his cover for this issue.

Continue below to check out all the covers, and a five page preview.

Available Light excerpts and other book updates

The latest Star Trek novel is out now, continue below for text and audio excerpts, and other Star Trek books updates.

This month's new release is Dayton Ward's new TNG novel, Available Light. The story sees the Enterprise continuing it's exploration of the Odyssean Pass, as featured in ward's previous few TNG books, most recently Hearts and Minds. The crew visit a mysterious giant and seemingly abandoned ship found adrift in deep space, while the story also follows up on the fallout of the Section 31 exposure in Section 31: Control.

StarTrek.com have been good enough to release the cover art, by Doug Drexler, without the titles, so you can get a nice clear view of that alien ship:

Eaglemoss Starships updates: New mirror universe Enterprise-D, plus latest previews of regular, special, and Discovery issues

Huge Eaglemoss Starships Collection update today, with lots of new images of forthcoming ships, in both the main and Discovery series.

First up, we have a new ship! Joining the mini-series of mirror universe bonus issues, we have the ISS Enterprise-D, based on it's appearance in the mirror universe TNG comic Mirror Broken - That makes it a variant of the All Good Things... tri-nacelle Enterprise, with the yellow markings of the Terran Empire. The accompanying magazine is a bit different too, exploring the non-canon mirror universe adventures in an article by Dayton Ward.

Star Trek VR games Dark Remnant launches at Dave and Buster's

VR Studios have announced the immediate release of Star Trek: Dark Remnant, a new Kelvin timeline VR game available to play at Dave and Buster's venues across North America. Here's how they describe it:

“Star Trek: Dark Remnant”– an interactive intergalactic experience that is now available to play nationwide, thrusting players into a perilous rescue mission alongside the Enterprise at the edge of Klingon space.

Star Trek: Dark Remnant puts you in control of the U.S.S. Galileo, Starfleet’s latest and most advanced stellar research vessel, accompanying the U.S.S. Enterprise on a routine mission to evacuate a stellar observatory located in the middle of the Klingon Neutral Zone and learn more about the decaying neutron star it orbits. When the neutron star collapses prematurely it leaves the Enterprise incapacitated. It’s now up to YOU to protect her from stellar debris – and the unwelcome arrival of a Klingon ship out for vengeance.

With several completely different endings combined with other elements of variability, including subtle differences in gameplay, randomized player characters, and dialogue that responds real-time to your performance, Star Trek: Dark Remnant is never the same experience twice. You might even observe the fate of a poor redshirt ensign!

Developed by Strange Reptile, the game lets multiple players (the promo released seems to suggest four at a time) control the Galileo's phasers, deflector shields, and sensors as the story unfolds, all while strapped into a VR simulator and wearing VR headsets to be completely immersed in the action. Continue below for preview images and video:

New images of Hallmark's 2019 Keepsakes

Hallmark have released lots of new images of their Keepsakes range for this year, including of course a gaggle of Star Trek designs. Continue below to check them out:

This years ship is the refit USS Enterprise, chosen to reflect the 40th anniversary of The Motion Picture. The battery operated model has light features, which you can see in action in a video on Hallmark's website (as is the case with each of the items mentioned below):

New Gold Key Comics postage stamps

Gold Key Comics are getting miniature reissues, in the form of a new series of Star Trek postage stamps! Eighteen covers from the first ever Star Trek comics will feature on stamps due out this month.

This latest release from the Inter-Governmental Philatelic Corporation adds a new twist to their usual formats. The company, which designs and distributes collectable stamps for many countries around world, typically releases themed series of multiple stamps, but previously with each theme given to a particular country. This latest series has been split in three, with near simultaneous releases in three globe-spanning countries: The Gambia, Grenada, and the Marshall Islands, with releases due on the 17th, 29th, and 30th respectively. Each country has six stamps from the series, which are being released as miniature sheets. Check them out: