What should be the next batch of IDW Trek comics?

[Dayton Ward]

AndrewIDW said:
And, if all I did was come on here and hype hype hype, I'd start to look and feel like a two-bit shill.

Nonsense.

If anything, we'd think of you as nothing less than a six-bit shill. We do have our standards here, after all.


Welcome to the party :thumbsup:

[JD]

AndrewIDW said:
I can tell you that Titan and DS9 are the two far-and-away front-runners

Sweet, I can understand if it takes another year or two to see them, but as long as they come I'll be happy.

[foravalon]

AndrewIDW said:
Actually, I read these boards every single day. I don't chime in much because I'm more interested in reading what other people have to say than forcing everyone to read what I have to say; as the Star Trek editor, my opinions already have unusual influence over what goes into the comics, so it'd seem excessive to start trying to influence people on the BBS as well. And, if all I did was come on here and hype hype hype, I'd start to look and feel like a two-bit shill.

On the other hand, I don't mind answering people's questions when they've got 'em, or talking to people about the kind of stories they'd like to see in the books. I can tell you that Titan and DS9 are the two far-and-away front-runners, and I've tried to put up a pretty good track record of being responsive to fan requests.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, with the movie coming up, the schedule is already pretty tight, even a year away. So, it may take a little while, but it won't be for lack of trying.

Cheers,

Andrew Steven Harris
Editor
IDW Publishing

A weekly release of the comics has been mentioned, I was wondering when that was supposed to begin?

Also, Awesome Job on the books so far! The Orion and Andorian issues were off the hook! Thank You! Sincere thanks to your artists and writers for being inventive, creative, and edgy, while still being respectful to some of the amazing work that has come before and continues to be produced by pocket. You're creating beautiful stuff.

[Therin of Andor]

foravalon said:
A weekly release of the comics has been mentioned, I was wondering when that was supposed to begin?

That starts with "New Frontier", the first of the branded "Second Stage" mini-series, IIRC. That mini starts in March, and "TNG: Intelligence Gathering" will still be happening, and TOS "Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment" begins in April, so a ST comic should appear every week by then.

[Mysterion]

Deep Space Nine!

[AndrewIDW]

captcalhoun said:
will you be acquiring the licenses for the other 3 shows? or have you?

I'd really, really like to see what we could do with a Deep Space Nine license; and we might, might be testing the waters soon. Don't get too excited just yet, it won't be anything devastatingly major, and it won't be until later in 2008 at the earliest; but, it could definitely lead to something.

The Voyager license is a bit trickier--the ship made it back from the DQ, and many of the crew have since spread themselves across various corners of the Trek universe. And, once the ship made it back home, stories set in the DQ lose a certain amount of their dramatic tension; you'd end up with an entire license that feels like a flashback. Still, I'd be open to possibilities, if a couple of really good ideas came across our desk, but to be honest it's probably more realistic to expect that we won't be doing Voyager soon.

A license for Enterprise, however, is for certain extremely unlikely--largely because of actor likeness approval issues. Though I won't go into any specifics, when you'd need an actor's approval for every single panel on every single page that a particular character would appear in, the logistics of producing a monthly comic book series become exceptionally difficult, and probably not worth the care-and-feeding that all of it would require. Besides, though Enterprise definitely deserved more viewers than it got (particularly near the end), it's probably the license least likely to attract readers, so it'd probably be a better use of our time to focus our attention on a more popular license like DS9.

Cheers,

Andrew Steven Harris
Editor
IDW Publishing

[AndrewIDW]

Baerbel Haddrell said:
Hello Andrew,

I already asked this question elsewhere here but maybe you haven`t seen it. Can you help?

***

I read that in order to mark the launch of SECOND STAGE with New Frontier #1, IDW will debut its new Quad Cover format, with four separate covers bound directly onto the same issue. My comic book dealer where I have my subscriptions has just asked me what I want to do in future, if I still want all variant covers for each number.

My logic was that with the quad cover introduction that there is one comic for each story. Instead of “having” to buy multiple copies in order to get all variants, there is just one with all four covers included.

I am able to afford four regular comics (one a week) plus maybe the odd incentive cover issue, if they will still be offered extra. But if the old pattern of multiple regular covers for the same issue on individual comics is still around in Second Stage, I will have to ask my subscription service just to choose one cover each. There is no way I can afford 4 times 4 Star Trek comics a month!

If you can answer this question, that would be very helpful. Then I can also give that information to my subscription service.

Quad Covers(TM) are really simple. It's four different covers bound onto the same issue. Ever see a misprint double-cover, in which two covers accidentally got stapled onto a single book?

This is exactly the same thing. Except it's four covers. And it's deliberate. And all four covers are different.

Why? Because we wanted to give people four different covers without the impression that we were trying to force them into buying four different issues. So, instead, all four covers on the same issue.

With the Quad Cover, though, we can get a lot more creative than simply having four covers stapled on top of each other. For example, the covers could be like four sequential full-page splash panels, depicting not just a moment from inside the book, but an entire sequence-- all as the "cover". For our Transformers books, we could show one of the 'bots transforming from one mode to another across four different "covers". And so on.

Anyway, so, that's the Quad Cover. It sounds kinda obvious to simply explain it, but it's much cooler in practice when you actually see it.

Andrew Steven Harris
Editor
IDW Publishing

[8of5]

Hmm, shame about Enterprise, if there's any series I'd like to see get some more exploration it's Enterprise. Ah well, good to know something a bit DS9y is in the works.

[Baerbel Haddrell]

Thank you very much for your explanation! I will forward it to my subscription service in a moment.

It certainly sounds very cool and I am grateful that there won`t be any multiple issues with variant covers any more. I enjoy the new Star Trek comics a lot but my budget is limited.

I voted for Titan and SCE. Titan is my second favourite series and because it is so closely related to TNG, I think it would attract more attention than the less well known Corps of Engineers. Nevertheless, I think also COE could be very popular. I certainly enjoyed the series from the very beginning when it first came out in paperback.

My vote is of course also for more New Frontier but I am aware of it that there is a limited series coming out now very soon and you will want to see if it sells well enough so that there is encouragement on your side for more. I definitely keep my fingers crossed that the NF mini series will be a success and to me it is the highlight of this year so far: I am very much looking forward to it!

I very much enjoy and appreciate the big variety of Star Trek within the IDW comic. Keep up the great work!

[foravalon]

Voyager comic: Meh.

Enterprise: not really needed, also meh.

DS9: only if it's really awesome!

TOS Era S.C.E.: ala Vanguard, could be pretty cool.

Pike or April Era Enterprise: definitely! We need more Number One, Philip Boyce, José Tyler, J.M. Colt, and young and angry Spock! 50's-Esque, Forbidden Planet type style, Totally Awesome.

Just a pipe dream: A creepy-ass comic adaptation "Sins of the Mother" by S.D. Perry, from the Lives of Dax!

[JD]

^Ok that would kick some serious ass. The "Sins of the Mother" adaptation that is.

[AndrewIDW]

foravalon said:

A weekly release of the comics has been mentioned, I was wondering when that was supposed to begin?

Also, Awesome Job on the books so far! The Orion and Andorian issues were off the hook! Thank You! Sincere thanks to your artists and writers for being inventive, creative, and edgy, while still being respectful to some of the amazing work that has come before and continues to be produced by pocket. You're creating beautiful stuff.

We should have four books a month coming out by May. We're going to schedule Trek to be weekly (different titles), though because of things like holidays, extra days in the month, Diamond shipping issues, etc. it might not always be perfect. (Then again, even weekly TV shows sometimes get pre-empted, etc.). But, the weekly format is what we're shooting for.

Oh, and glad you liked the Alien Spotlights! Make sure to pick up the Borg book when it comes out next week! (/Six-bit shill mode.)

Baerbel-- there'll still be alternate covers, etc. on some of our books--I was just explaining the idea behind the "Quad Cover".

Cheers,

Andrew Steven Harris
Editor
IDW Publishing

[Dayton Ward]

Wasn't the first TNG Intelligence Gathering issue supposed to be out today? I checked my usual comic shop, but no dice.

[azzurri08]

I agree JD, I think a Titan Comic would be awesome.

Also, I would like to see andorians, I liked them as a species from watching ENT and I think they would be a good addition to comics.

[captcalhoun]

hey, if you can't do an ENT comic specifically, how about soemthing original in that time-period?