IDW's newest plans
- Thread starter ryan123450
- Start date
To be honest, I think the lack of anything ongoing, or even an ongoing series of mini-series, from IDW has been detrimental to them. Doing disconnected stories -- one-shots here (albeit under umbrella titles) and mini-series there -- amounts to throwing things at the wall to see what sticks. Yes, the multiplicity of settings and characters in the Star Trek universe is a benefit, but it's also a danger because it's easy to lose fan interest (and sales) by letting other settings and characters go neglected.
kkozoriz1
Fleet Captain
Think of it as the British approach to TV versus the American one. Fawlty Towers did two series, one of six episodes in 1975 and another of six episodes four years later.
John Cleese has said that he didn't want to do a regular show because he was afraid the quality would suffer. He preferred to wait until he was happy with the stories before filming them. It took a bit longer than expected due to his divorce from Connie Booth.
John Cleese has said that he didn't want to do a regular show because he was afraid the quality would suffer. He preferred to wait until he was happy with the stories before filming them. It took a bit longer than expected due to his divorce from Connie Booth.
IDW tried that a couple years back, with 2 "Year Four" miniseries in rapid succession. They had announced plans for at least 2 more "Year Four" miniseries, and projected plans for a "Year Five," but none of it ever happened. For whatever reason (editorial changes, weak sales, who knows what) they discontinued that approach.
The current "Burden of Knowledge" mini seems to be set in Year Four, but isn't called "Star Trek Year Four," just "Star Trek."
What makes you say that? Are Arex or M'Ress in it by chance?
Arex is seen in the new issue, #2.
Is Chekov absent in any of the Y4 stuff or Burden of Knowledge?
It seems like Chekov was in BoK #1, but if I'm wrong I'm sure someone will come along to correct me.
Would be nice to have at least a good TNG story going on besides the one every other year. I have to say it would be nice to see more of the E-E at least, even if its after NEM. I also want more NF and even a Titan series, as well as a Sulu series.
I do have to agree with some of you through. I honestly think just doing mins is not cutting it for me. I prefere to wait to buy the trades now and then read everything all at once. But it would be nice to have a good ongoing story eacy month and maybe tie it to each generation in a way. Start with TOS, then TNG, DS9 and end it with NF.
I do have to agree with some of you through. I honestly think just doing mins is not cutting it for me. I prefere to wait to buy the trades now and then read everything all at once. But it would be nice to have a good ongoing story eacy month and maybe tie it to each generation in a way. Start with TOS, then TNG, DS9 and end it with NF.
I like the miniseries format as a compromise between the extremes of a continuing series or a string of one-shots (which IDW has also basically done with their anthology series). I just wish we'd see some more interesting stuff.
My wish list:
Pike following Captain's Log
Kirk and co. years after The Motion Picture
Kirk and co. between STV and STVI
Sulu following Captain's Log
Crew II: Worf
Crew III: Sisko
Picard and co. following Insurrection
New Frontier II
Titan
Titan
and more Titan
My wish list:
Pike following Captain's Log
Kirk and co. years after The Motion Picture
Kirk and co. between STV and STVI
Sulu following Captain's Log
Crew II: Worf
Crew III: Sisko
Picard and co. following Insurrection
New Frontier II
Titan
Titan
and more Titan
I waited until after Comic-Con to post this.
I've tried to get IDW Trek work since 2006, when I first learned they had the license. I've proposed to four different editors in the four+ years since then, including mini-series ideas at their request. Two of the editors were "thisclose" to giving me a project.
Last year, I approached IDW Scott Dunbier with a TITAN proposal. I had a painted cover prepared, facts about the sales of Titan books, and the overwhelmingly positive results of the polls on this very site, and one other ace-in-the-hole: Tuvok actor TIM RUSS was going to co-write the initial mini-series with me.
Tim and I met with Scott last year, and then the waiting game began. After not getting any answers for a full year, I emailed IDW the week before Comic-Con to see if a follow-up meeting could be set up.
I was informed by email by Chris Ryall, last week, that IDW would be passing on doing Titan comics.
I'm not criticizing IDW for their decision, though I obviously don't agree with it. In today's marketplace, sales of all comics are hemorrhaging. It seems that, despite the huge sales of the (TNG franchise) Titan novels, and the PR/bookstore/fanbase appeal of having Tim Russ co-write a Titan series with a best-selling Trek author, the potential for profits and PR simply is not enough.
I've tried to get IDW Trek work since 2006, when I first learned they had the license. I've proposed to four different editors in the four+ years since then, including mini-series ideas at their request. Two of the editors were "thisclose" to giving me a project.
Last year, I approached IDW Scott Dunbier with a TITAN proposal. I had a painted cover prepared, facts about the sales of Titan books, and the overwhelmingly positive results of the polls on this very site, and one other ace-in-the-hole: Tuvok actor TIM RUSS was going to co-write the initial mini-series with me.
Tim and I met with Scott last year, and then the waiting game began. After not getting any answers for a full year, I emailed IDW the week before Comic-Con to see if a follow-up meeting could be set up.
I was informed by email by Chris Ryall, last week, that IDW would be passing on doing Titan comics.
I'm not criticizing IDW for their decision, though I obviously don't agree with it. In today's marketplace, sales of all comics are hemorrhaging. It seems that, despite the huge sales of the (TNG franchise) Titan novels, and the PR/bookstore/fanbase appeal of having Tim Russ co-write a Titan series with a best-selling Trek author, the potential for profits and PR simply is not enough.
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Wow. That sucks.
Wow this is horrible news all around. Not only was a Titan comic "this close", having you and Tim Russ involved would have been awesome. And then the double bad news that TNG and DS9's days are numbered, and crappy nu-Trek comics to replace them instead.
Thanks so much for the update Andy. It's great to have the opportunity on this site to get the news from the horse's mouth, as it were.
Thanks so much for the update Andy. It's great to have the opportunity on this site to get the news from the horse's mouth, as it were.
kkozoriz1
Fleet Captain
That really sucks. Titan would be great as a comic series.
How can they say that they're going to concentrate on NuTrek when the four NuTrek books were put on hold by Pocket, apparently because TPTB want to hold off on everything NuUniverse except prequels? Wishful thinking or do they get a pass that the prose offerings don't?
I want more Andy Trek, dammit!
How can they say that they're going to concentrate on NuTrek when the four NuTrek books were put on hold by Pocket, apparently because TPTB want to hold off on everything NuUniverse except prequels? Wishful thinking or do they get a pass that the prose offerings don't?
I want more Andy Trek, dammit!
IDW has a good relationship with Bad Robot and several of the people involved with the film like Kurtzman and Orci, who were involved not just with Star Trek: Countdown and Star Trek: Nero, but various Transformers movie-related comics as well. Building goodwill counts for a lot.
Pocket has, in the past, had a rough relationship with Bad Robot; for instance, Bad Robot dragged its feet on the novelization. More telling may be something Margaret Clark talked about at Shore Leave in 2008, which was that the Alias novels angered J.J. Abrams and, as a result of that, Abrams wasn't kindly disposed toward Pocket and she was not expecting a good working relationship with Bad Robot. (Margaret did not say what, precisely, about the Alias novels angered Abrams.) It came as a surprise to me last summer that Pocket was pressing on with movie-Trek novels, and it came as no surprise that, reading between the lines, Bad Robot forced Pocket to spike them.
Damn, I would have LOVED to see what and Tim Russ would have done with Titan, Andy.
I just really hope that Paramount doesn't make the same decision in regards to the books. While I do enjoy NuTrek and TOS, I'd rather not see them replace my Titan, TNG-R, Voy-R and DS9-R.
I just really hope that Paramount doesn't make the same decision in regards to the books. While I do enjoy NuTrek and TOS, I'd rather not see them replace my Titan, TNG-R, Voy-R and DS9-R.
I tend to feel the same way--as do others, judging by the other comments in this thread. I'll pick up a miniseries here and there that interests me, but I don't feel particularly committed to IDW's output because I know the individual stories aren't building to anything, or even particularly connected.
An ongoing storyline--whether that's in an ongoing title or in miniseries which tie into one another--would help me feel as if "following" their comics actually amounted to something beyond each one-off story.
Ironically, given their position on stories which follow the new movie, what may have angered Abrams was the fact that the (first few) Alias novels were prequels, detailing how Sydney Bristow became a spy, and (with the many twists and turns and retcons in later seasons) it's pretty likely that those novels were rendered impossible to reconcile with continuity.
Regardless of why, none of this bodes well, especially since I would've loved to see the combination of Andy's extensive experience in comics with a side order of Tuvok applied to a Titan comic...and to be frank, I'll probably get even more selective about what I buy if IDW is getting that selective about what they publish.
Thanks for the heads up AndyIt's what I feared would happen. Wonder what the odds of farming out TNG, DS9, etc. to another company are? Similar to the way Transformers are licensed comics with two publishers: IDW and Fun Publications.
that's a special case. IDW do the main comics, FP merely do the convention special comics, as is also the case with G.I. Joe - IDW do the retail available comics, FP do con special comics for JoeCon each year featuring stories about the con exclusive toys.
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