http://www.startrek.com/article/first-look-idws-november-trek-titles I really thought this was interesting, but what really caught my eye was what direction they're going in with the Reboot comics that month. All I can say is I'm pretty excited!
Thanks for posting. The artwork looks pretty good for most of the titles, which is always a plus. I'm a little intrigued by the Borg story, though I'm not sure if it's for a good reason. Borg King? "Ancient" Locutus, that yet looks like Picard?
With the "Hive" story I really think we're just going to have to wait and see what's going on with that miniseries.
nuTrek "Mirror, Mirror"!!!! That should be fun. Although my brain is immediately trying to make sense of how it would work timeline-wise. Did they have a mirror-supernova, and Mirror!Nero or Mirror!Spock Prime go back branching the mirror universe in 2233?
I wonder how the split art duties on Assimilation2 #7 will work. Another flashback sequence, a la issue #3 to explain the difference in art styles?
^That was my first reaction as well. I was really hoping they'd do the Mirror Universe in a movie. As for Hive, I believe it has a time travel element, which could explain the "ancient" Locutus.
Most likely, yes - the Tardis will be going back to Wolf 359 during the issue, so that's probably where the switch will happen (is it too much for this fanboy to hope for a run-in with Sisko on the Saratoga?)
Possibly. The cover doesn't depict Wolf 359 -- there are several Borg vessels there, plus a funny Easter Egg on the cover's lower right corner -- but that event is a clear implication of the solicitation text. If the story does, in fact, go back to Wolf 359, I'd love a Picard versus Locutus scene. Though it's been done several times -- "The Worst of Both Worlds," Star Trek: Armada, and apparently the upcoming Hive -- I'm curious how it would be handled in this story because it would use the "real" Locutus, not an alternate timeline Locutus, a clone Locutus, or a far-future Locutus.
The cover could still be depicting Wolf 359 - we're mucking about with a lot of wibbly-wobbly stuff here, remember? And good catch on that easter egg, I didn't notice that. Very funny, though!
I only see one Borg vessel and some clumps of jagged debris that could've been blown off a Borg cube. In fact, the cube itself looks like it's not all there. Which does seem incompatible with Wolf 359, admittedly, but it could be artistic license. And we know Borg ships can suffer damage and then regenerate.
Oh, I spotted the "Bad Wolf" (a recurring meme throughout the first season of the revived Doctor Who and occasionally thereafter), but I missed the "359"! Oh, that's awesome.
I had also missed the "359." I'd spotted "Bad Wolf," but it wasn't until I pulled up a high-res version of the image at work this morning that I noticed the number. Perhaps, then, the cover does represent Wolf 359, in which I take back what I said above.
I thought for a second that it would be Kirk and the crew of the nu-Ent versus the Borg Queen and Locutus. Now that would have been a head-wrecker!
The Supernova would have gone off and destroyed Romulus regardless, as that is because the star has run out of fuel to prevent its collapse. One story problem is that in the original Mirror Universe Spock is dead. So who can substitute for Spock? What's the name of that Vulcan lady who's half Romulan from the Wrath of Khan? Ah I got it Lieutenant Saavik, because of her half-Romulan heritage she'd have motivation to try and save Romulus from the Supernova explosion, and maybe incur Nero's wrath by doing so, only one problem, the Klingons destroyed Romulus before the Supernova did its work. The Romulans of the Mirror Universe are a planetless people, they joined the rebels in fighting the Klingons in the Mirror Universe books. The supernova would still explode, but the main villain Nero lacks motivation, but perhaps someone else can fill Nero's boots. How about Jadzia Dax, the Terrans exterminated her people under Spock, perhaps she could go back to the 23rd century and try to save her people from extinction, and maybe get some revenge against Spock while back there. On second thought, maybe the Mirror Universe's version of George Kirk would go back to avenge his brother James, whom Spock killed, naw. Any other ideas?
Comic Book Resources has up a preview of issue #4, and now we can see how Purcell's contribution works -- he's providing the pencil foundation for Woodward to paint over. It's interesting visually. Purcell's Star Trek work has always had some distinctive quirks, and you can see them until Woodward's paints. Purcell totally misses Karen Gillan's likeness, but his Matt Smith is good.
Reading that preview, I found it hard to imagine the actors' voices and deliveries as I read. I mean, TNG was so sedate and orderly and measured, and present-day Who is so frenetic and goofy and melodramatic and loud, so it's hard to fit them together in my mind. Although come to think of it, I suppose if it did actually happen onscreen, it might go kind of like a Q episode, with this wild, bratty trickster figure barging in and disrupting the staid, civilized rhythms of the E-D crew. Come to think of it, the Doctor has a lot in common with Q, aside from having kinder and more benevolent motives. I think Picard would be wary of him because of that, and would take a while to learn to trust him. Maybe we're seeing a bit of that in the preview, though I don't yet know what came before.
The approach they're taking, based on the way the story reads, is to treat this as a Star Trek: The Next Generation episode that happens to guest star the eleventh Doctor. So, it's a sedate, orderly, and measured piece of work -- in other words, it's a little boring, a little drawn out, and not as engaging as it could be, not unlike TNG was so capable of being -- and, like much of IDW's Star Trek work, this will undoubtedly read better in the collections. If there's a problem with the "TARDIS lands on the Enterprise" approach, it's that there's no narrative role for Amy and Rory to fill because the Star Trek universe is so thoroughly documented and familiar that they aren't necessary to convey the universe to the audience. I harbor the hope that, because this series is selling incredibly well for IDW, that they will do a follow-up series that puts a Star Trek ship in the Doctor's universe.