2026 Comics Thread

[NStephenH]

The mini series is starting a bit slow and some of the characterizations don’t ring true for me at all, which I guess can be explained by the fact that the short was written well before the first season even aired. Not completely incompatible with the show, I guess, but still: The way Kelrec loses his cool on the Athena and Jay-Den is constantly at odds with Genesis for whatever reason on the planet just feel wrong.

The art is serviceable enough

I skimmed issue one, I had trouble telling who was who, particularly as I'm not that familiar with the academy characters having only seen one season once. Early tie-ins ending up like this is unfortunately common.

I’m pleasantly surprised by the Celebrations short, though. All the stories are super cute and hit just the right notes for me. The truncated storylines seem perfect for some small slice-of-life-ish moments of some of Trek’s queer characters, and I think they managed to collect some nice variety in terms of tone and style.

I also liked them and I agree! I really liked the Jayden one.

or one of the Kelvin movies taking the time to show how Sulu met his husband.

I missed that this one was Kelvin! That makes it much easier (but still not easy) to place on startrekreadingorder.com https://startrekreadingorder.com/listing/loves-first-bloom

Has anyone read the 2024 Celebrations issue? Is it similar in quality?

Reading it now to respond to you. Story 1 is very cute, Kelvin Sulu telling a bedtime story to his daughter. I forget how much IDW does Kelvin stuff even to this day, because it was the thing most relevant for a while, and then because now they've been doing it so long. I suppose I need to go read some of it, see what else there is. Maybe there's more Ben?

It's also got a Seven/Raffi story, which is supposed to also be a prequel to No man's land, a chapel story about genetic engineering with her having a girlfriend, and a reno story, and a lower decks story.

 

[tenmei]

Well, what an absolute waste of money The Art of Star Trek Defiant was, about ten pages of concept art, and near a hundred that is just the various comic covers reprinted. Not what was advertised at all.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Well, what an absolute waste of money The Art of Star Trek Defiant was, about ten pages of concept art, and near a hundred that is just the various comic covers reprinted. Not what was advertised at all.

Well dang. Now I feel even more secure in passing it over for preorder. Kudos for providing the relevant info!

 

[Tosk]

This year's Holo-Ween is going to be DS9. I'm there.

Terror Comes to Starfleet in STAR TREK: HOLO-WEEN II (Exclusive)

Halloween returns to the Final Frontier in IDW's Star Trek: Holo-Ween II, which takes the terror off the Enterprise and to DS9. (Exclusive)

nerdist.com

Well, what an absolute waste of money The Art of Star Trek Defiant was, about ten pages of concept art, and near a hundred that is just the various comic covers reprinted. Not what was advertised at all.

I just got the chance to flick through it. The part that got me was the whole back end of the book just seemed to be filled with "Here's a picture from the comic, and here it is before coloring" over and over again. That's fine, good even. Interesting in fact! But page after page after page of it just makes it feel like they had nothing else to fill the book with.

 

[tgiokdi]

Star Trek: The Last Starship #8

Cover A by: Francesco Francavilla
MSRP: $4.99 USD
UPC: $82771403458500811

Cover B by: Suspiria Vilchez
MSRP: $4.99 USD
UPC: $82771403458500821

Cover C by: Francesco Francavilla
MSRP: $No MSRP
UPC: $82771403458500831

Written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing.

Seeing a solution to the tragedy of the Burn within the singularity on Deep Space Hope, Borg Queen Agnes Jurati leaves the crew of the U.S.S. Omega behind and attempts to assimilate its power. But she’s not alone; Kirk has followed her aboard, determined to ferret out why she and the Borg brought him back to life. Was it to be the galaxy’s savior? Or its demise?
The standoff that follows is one for the ages—resistance is futile, after all…
…unless you’re Captain James T. Kirk.

Images are hosted on www.startrekbookclub.com a site I operate myself and hotlinking is permitted.

 

[FredH]

LTTP, but I finally got around to reading Red Shirts, all five issues.

Well.

That was unpleasant.

 

[Christopher]

The idea of the Jurati Queen still being alive in the time of the Burn seems odd to me. I figure that Borg Queens are just interchangeable drones like any other, a key component but still a replaceable one. After all, we saw Queens die in First Contact, "Dark Frontier," and "Endgame" at the very least, but they always got replaced. So it stands to reason that a single Queen would have a fairly normal humanoid lifespan, at most, and then get swapped out for a replacement. Of course, the replacements we saw appeared to be clones of the same two originals (the Alice Krige version and the Susanna Thompson version), so maybe this is a clone of Jurati's body?

 

[Extrocomp]

The idea of the Jurati Queen still being alive in the time of the Burn seems odd to me. I figure that Borg Queens are just interchangeable drones like any other, a key component but still a replaceable one. After all, we saw Queens die in First Contact, "Dark Frontier," and "Endgame" at the very least, but they always got replaced. So it stands to reason that a single Queen would have a fairly normal humanoid lifespan, at most, and then get swapped out for a replacement. Of course, the replacements we saw appeared to be clones of the same two originals (the Alice Krige version and the Susanna Thompson version), so maybe this is a clone of Jurati's body?

Do we actually know if Borg age? Jurati was Queen of the Borg Cooperative, which probably places a higher value on individuals than the Borg Collective. If you have the ability to resurrect someone who's been dead for centuries, there would be no need for replacements.

I'm wondering if Jurati still has any part of her organic body or if she's entirely synthetic now. It's implied that the resurrected Kirk is a construct made entirely of nanites.

 

[Christopher]

Do we actually know if Borg age?

It stands to reason. The Borg Collective does not care about individual drones. They're merely interchangeable cells in its body. We've seen from the very beginning that individual drones are casually discarded, because only the collective matters. Drones are disposable, just like the cells in your hair and fingernails are disposable. It therefore follows that the Collective would have no interest in extending its individual drones' lifespans.

If anything, given the radical surgical alterations drones are subjected to, the sterile, deprived existence they're relegated to, and the Collective's absolute lack of interest in their individual safety or survival, it seems likely that drones would deteriorate far faster than the normal aging process for their species. Slowing aging means taking care of yourself, and the Collective does not take care of its individual components -- it just uses them until they break and then replaces them.

Granted, we saw in ENT: "Regeneration" that drones could revive from stasis after nearly a century, but that was in a situation where they needed to endure, as replacements were not readily available. And stasis is not the same thing as an extended active lifespan.

Jurati was Queen of the Borg Cooperative, which probably places a higher value on individuals than the Borg Collective. If you have the ability to resurrect someone who's been dead for centuries, there would be no need for replacements.

Even a society that values individuals does not normally make them immortal. On the contrary, it values passing on responsibilities from one generation to the next, the individuality of different holders of a role allowing them to bring something different than their predecessors did. So hell yes, there's a need for replacements. Valuing individuals means valuing all individuals and giving them all a fair chance, which is incompatible with valuing one individual above the rest and making her immortal.

 

[David cgc]

Granted, we saw in ENT: "Regeneration" that drones could revive from stasis after nearly a century, but that was in a situation where they needed to endure, as replacements were not readily available. And stasis is not the same thing as an extended active lifespan.

The other counterpoint is that Voyager said Seven was artificially aged to adulthood over five years, and then 19 years later, when she was un-assimilated, she was chronologically about thirty, but also biologically about thirty, despite having been an adult (by Borg standards) for almost two decades. Based on the Seven's judgement that all the Borg kids still needed to cook more before they were complete drones, even the teens, it looks like her aging was at the very least slowed by half.

 

[Christopher]

The other counterpoint is that Voyager said Seven was artificially aged to adulthood over five years, and then 19 years later, when she was un-assimilated, she was chronologically about thirty, but also biologically about thirty, despite having been an adult (by Borg standards) for almost two decades. Based on the Seven's judgement that all the Borg kids still needed to cook more before they were complete drones, even the teens, it looks like her aging was at the very least slowed by half.

On the other hand, when we first saw Seven, she was released from a special compartment different from that of a normal drone, so it's possible she'd been in stasis. My headcanon is that she was cultivated as a potential replacement Queen body, which would explain not only that special storage, but the fact that her drone form showed more evident autonomy and speech ability than a typical drone.

Besides, aging is not a uniform process. There's no single dial you can turn to make someone "age faster" or "age slower." How rapidly a body wears out is a function of many external and internal factors -- genetics, diet, exercise, stress, exposure to environmental toxins. As I said, assimilated drones are subjected to strenuous surgical alteration that might have adverse effects on their longevity, no matter what was done to their maturation rate. And individual drones lead sterile, relatively inactive lives, probably not getting a lot of exercise or relief for physiological stress. The idea that drones considered disposable would have miraculously prolonged lives is self-contradictory on the face of it. Don't forget, these are slaves. It's not a cushy existence.

 

[JD]

This year's Holo-Ween is going to be DS9. I'm there.

Terror Comes to Starfleet in STAR TREK: HOLO-WEEN II (Exclusive)

Halloween returns to the Final Frontier in IDW's Star Trek: Holo-Ween II, which takes the terror off the Enterprise and to DS9. (Exclusive)

nerdist.com

Yeah, this sounds like it could be fun.
I've debated whether or not I want to read the TNG one, it sounds like it's pretty much the same story as Wildstorm's Embrace the Wolf, other than the other crew disguising themselves as monster thing, and wasn't as good.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Yeah, this sounds like it could be fun.
I've debated whether or not I want to read the TNG one, it sounds like it's pretty much the same story as Wildstorm's Embrace the Wolf, other than the other crew disguising themselves as monster thing, and wasn't as good.

I may be biased, since writer Chris Sequeira is a fellow Aussie and a friend (since 1989). But the first "Holo-ween" story was great fun. I can't say it felt identical to "Embrace the Wolf", although its been ages since I read that.


Holo ween Andorians by Ian McLean, on Flickr

 

[tgiokdi]

Out today, I'm surprised how much I'm enjoying these smaller digests, they do my aging eyes no favors, but it's a great way to re-read some stories for a pretty cheap price.

Star Trek: Aliens

Standard Cover MSRP: $13.99 USD

Written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing and John Byrne and Scott Tipton.

The aliens of Star Trek get their due in this collection of comics featuring Orions, Vulcans, Tribbles, Klingons, and more! Presented in a convenient-to-read pocket-sized (6 x 9) format!

In the vast Star Trek universe, many aliens abound! Read issues featuring the Gorn, Vulcans, Andorians, Orions, Borg, Romulans, Cardassians, Klingons, Q, Tribbles, Ferengi, and Tril! These one-off stories give fans an inside look at the many characters that make Star Trek so beloved by a wide array of talent!
Features work from Scott Tipton, David Tipton, David Messina, Elena Casagrande, James Patrick, José Maria Beroy, Andrew Steven Harris, Sean Murphy, Paul D. Storrie, Leonard O’Grady, John Byrne, Arne Schmidt, Andy Schmidt, Agustin Padilla, Ian Edginton, Wagner Reis, Keith R.A. DeCandido, JK Woodward, Stuart Moore, Mike Hawthorne, Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Timothy Green II, Christina Rice, Andy Price, Jody Houser, Hendry Prasetya, and Rafael Pérez Granados.

This IDW Classics Collection includes over 400 pages of content from Star Trek: Alien Spotlight volumes 1 and 2 as well as from Star Trek: Aliens, featuring fan-favorite characters from throughout the Star Trek universe.

Images are hosted on www.startrekbookclub.com a site I operate myself and hotlinking is permitted.

 

[Stevil2001]

Out today, I'm surprised how much I'm enjoying these smaller digests, they do my aging eyes no favors, but it's a great way to re-read some stories for a pretty cheap price.

Star Trek: Aliens

Standard Cover MSRP: $13.99 USD

Written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing and John Byrne and Scott Tipton.

The aliens of Star Trek get their due in this collection of comics featuring Orions, Vulcans, Tribbles, Klingons, and more! Presented in a convenient-to-read pocket-sized (6 x 9) format!

In the vast Star Trek universe, many aliens abound! Read issues featuring the Gorn, Vulcans, Andorians, Orions, Borg, Romulans, Cardassians, Klingons, Q, Tribbles, Ferengi, and Tril! These one-off stories give fans an inside look at the many characters that make Star Trek so beloved by a wide array of talent!
Features work from Scott Tipton, David Tipton, David Messina, Elena Casagrande, James Patrick, José Maria Beroy, Andrew Steven Harris, Sean Murphy, Paul D. Storrie, Leonard O’Grady, John Byrne, Arne Schmidt, Andy Schmidt, Agustin Padilla, Ian Edginton, Wagner Reis, Keith R.A. DeCandido, JK Woodward, Stuart Moore, Mike Hawthorne, Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Timothy Green II, Christina Rice, Andy Price, Jody Houser, Hendry Prasetya, and Rafael Pérez Granados.

This IDW Classics Collection includes over 400 pages of content from Star Trek: Alien Spotlight volumes 1 and 2 as well as from Star Trek: Aliens, featuring fan-favorite characters from throughout the Star Trek universe.

Images are hosted on www.startrekbookclub.com a site I operate myself and hotlinking is permitted.

I didn't know about these. Some of them seem very eclectic, like the TOS one containing Assignment: Earth, the original Ellison "City on the Edge" script, and Blood Will Tell. Surely there's a more coherent set you could make! I'd pick this Aliens one up if I didn't already own both Alien Spotlight trades.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Surely there's a more coherent set you could make!

These are reprints of various IDW collections, just in a smaller format.

IDW Classic Collections - reprints of Star Trek comics from IDW 2026

 

[Stevil2001]

This are reprints of various IDW collections, just in a smaller format.

IDW Classic Collections - reprints of Star Trek comics from IDW 2026

Yes, I know that.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

Well, what an absolute waste of money The Art of Star Trek Defiant was, about ten pages of concept art, and near a hundred that is just the various comic covers reprinted. Not what was advertised at all.

I am not going to name and shame, but this has happened before and will happen again.

About ten or twelve years ago, a publisher did an art book like this, with a name attached as writer. I had an idea of what the book would be like, nothing ambitious and grandiose, but I imagined there would be art and text, maybe a museum catalogue.

I saw the name at a comics convention shortly after it was announced, and asked him about the book and how much work he'd put into it. He told me not to bother, he wrote a 1,000 word introduction, and the rest of the book was, as far as he knew, cover reprints.

Several years later I was able to acquire the book on a clearance sale at work -- I paid like $2.50 for it -- and it was exactly as the name described.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Yes, I know that.

Just meaning that a more "coherent set" would be a complete reorganisation of content, so not as easy to do.

Well, what an absolute waste of money The Art of Star Trek Defiant was, about ten pages of concept art, and near a hundred that is just the various comic covers reprinted. Not what was advertised at all.

After reading that, I was fearing the worst, but mine arrived last week and it is huge, and the reproductions of covers (including some rare alternates that I had coveted, but could not obtain at the time of the two series coming out) is gorgeous. I certainly did not feel ripped off, but I now can't recall the original solicitation paragraph?

Mmmmm. I can only find this, from Mark Martinez : "Coming March 2026 from IDW Publishing, this book features cover art, concept art, and final interior art from the Star Trek and Defiant comic series. More than 65 artists are highlighted for their contributions to the series." [July 2025.]

Is that not what we got? There are eleven meaty commentary pieces, too.


The Art of Star Trek and Defiant by Ian McLean, on Flickr

 

[Avro Arrow]

There are eleven meaty commentary pieces, too.

So I had originally written this book off after reading tenmei's review, but you seem to be saying you think it was a worthwhile purchase? How extensive is the commentary in the book?

It's C$54 here, so it's not something I'm getting anytime soon, but if there's actually some substance to it, I might consider it for when I have some plum rewards to cash in.