IDW Star Trek Ongoing...

Just as long as they don't do the Borg in a movie (and the fact that they're being allowed to use the Borg in the comics implies they won't). Beyond was a good break from the dark future of "Star Trek's greatest hits" that STID promised, now we need to continue in that direction on-screen.

 

Heh, you suppose they even have the walk light?

 

Unfortunately the ticket-buying public doesn't agree. Beyond has underperformed massively

Personally I'd quite like to see Kirk take on the Borg on the big screen, although I'd want the Borg reimagined and updated from the rubber suits of First Contact and Voyager.

 

A Borg story, eh? This could either be interesting or a train wreck.

 

I just came across Star Trek New Visions, and I was wondering how it was and if it is worth getting?

 

If you are a fan of TOS, are interested in photo-manipulation (using TOS screenshots to create entirely new stories); the characters looking like themselves in scenes and backgrounds that echo TOS; have no preconceived notions of John Byrne as a storyteller, then by all means join the fun!
Start with the three collected trades first to get up to speed. Your local comic shop should have them or be able to get them for you.
Again, if TOS as it was is your interest, NEW VISIONS is a way to enjoy more stories with the classic cast.

 

Thanks so much, David. I do like TOS, never heard of John Byrne, and not trying to start anything here, but is he a good story teller? Is it bad, the photo manipulation/screen shots?

 

Byrne is a long-time comic book writer and artist working for DC and Marvel on Superman, Captain America and X-Men respectively.
In that world, he has detractors and fans because of core changes he did to some characters' storylines and their backgrounds.
For NEW VISIONS, however, he is extremely loyal to TOS and the classic format. Reading a NEW VISIONS story is liking watching a brand-new "episode" of TOS. He has "revisited" some characters and events from TOS but placed them in a whole new storyline that does flow nicely. It's just fun to see the images of the classic cast "acting" in new stories!
Byrne started with screenshots from numerous sources, but mainly from TrekCore.com. Now some thirteen issues in, his mastery of photo-manipulation and library of shots is pretty clean compared to the earlier issues (in the trade editions, those minor snags were cleaned up). In addition, he using software (Strata, I believe) to create clean TOS backgrounds of the bridge, corridors, engineering, transporter room, etc., to place the manipulated actor images into, retaining the "grain" look inherent from the series' images themselves. Some shots of the Enterprise were from the original visual effects shots, some from the '06 remastered images, for example.
Overall, I'm a fan ... it's just like having TOS back again. With new adventures!.

 

Wow!!!! I will definitely be getting these then. They sound like they are awesome and it will be like a kid again in the 1970's watching TOS for the first time. You have made my day letting me know about this. Thank you, David.

 

He's been one of the most respected writers and artists in comics for decades, one of the key creators responsible for making the X-Men a hit in the '70s, and the person responsible for reinventing Superman from scratch in the '80s, as well as doing one of the most acclaimed runs on The Fantastic Four. Like all creators, he has his fans and his detractors, but he's generally considered quite good.

The photomontage art is of mixed quality, sometimes better than others, but Byrne has a good sense of composition and visual storytelling. I think the stories work reasonably well, even if they tend to be too dependent on revisiting characters and locations from TOS episodes (although there are a number of stories that are more original, often relying heavily on CGI locations or aliens). One thing I like about them is how dense they are. They're in the old style of comics where you could have anywhere from 6-9 panels per page and a lot of dialogue, as opposed to the modern, much more decompressed approach of having only a few panels and as little dialogue as possible per page. And the issues are maybe twice as long too. So Byrne packs in a lot more story per issue than the usual IDW comics have.

 

Thanks, Christopher. You explained it much better than I did.

 

I don't want to dig into it too much since this honestly isn't the place, but just to clarify, he has detractors among the DC/Marvel fandoms for more reasons than thoughts on his writing. It's not just discontent about having made changes to characters.

 

Very cool. Do we know when the first issue of Boldly Go is supposed to hit newsstands?

 

All I could find is October.

 

Not exactly.

Spoiler: YA fiction

"The Delta Anomaly" beat them to it.

 

After reading the solicitation from IDW for Boldly Go #3, I believe the initial part of this series will indeed be set between the

Spoiler: Star Trek Beyond Spoilers

destruction of the Enterprise and launch of the Enterprise-A

. The text mentions "Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Endeavour", as does #2. Solicitation text for #1 doesn't, but that was written before the premiere of the film.

 

Hm. The crew of a wrecked Enterprise going on to serve on a ship called Endeavour. Why does that sound so familiar...?

 

Stranger Worlds is the new Green Lantern crossover. Will be interested to see where it goes.

Also I'm looking forward to Boldly Go.