Preview--IDW's Star trek ongoing #1

[Captain Randy Hall]

Just FYI: You might want to contact your local comics store if you haven't done so already. Just check in the Yellow Pages under "Comics." (Don't laugh. Comics stores used to be listed under "Books--Used and Rare.")

 

[nickyboy]

I swooped and picked up the remaining Retailer Incentive covers that King's had left (sorry Therin) I was able to get 3 of them there and picked up the remaining photo cover online.

No probs, nickyboy - but if you get the only spare Andorian female Starfleet recruitment poster, next issue (below), you're a goner! (Actually, it's Cover B for issue #2, so it's not a "Retailer Incentive".)


Corroney cover: IDW Star Trek (ongoing) #2 - alternate cover by Therin of Andor, on Flickr

Note though, that Issue #1 has gone into reprint, so you'll have at least one more cover to buy, Mr Completist!

I will be getting the reprint! In regards to the next issue I would never stand between you and an Andorian chick, the cover shall be yours.

I do really like that cover, it is a shame that they are not going to publish a virgin variant of it as it looks great as a poster. It looks like the variants will be another photo cover and a sketch of cover A

 

[Therin of Andor]

it is a shame that they are not going to publish a virgin variant of it

You mean wearing a chastity belt?

 

[nickyboy]

it is a shame that they are not going to publish a virgin variant of it

You mean wearing a chastity belt?

I am getting an idea of what that fan-fic you told me about yesterday was about!

Maybe I should mail Joe Corroney and ask him if he has any "sketch" covers for you, real under the counter/ top shelf stuff!

 

[Kelso]

I enjoyed it quite a bit.

 

[DarthPipes]

TFAW is definitely trustworthy. I order from them all the time and I've called them once in the past when I had a question. They're good.

 

[SG-17]

So is this comic series considered canon in line with the Abramsverse?

 

[Thrawn]

^ Christopher, you wanna take this one?

 

[Christopher]

So is this comic series considered canon in line with the Abramsverse?

Very probably not. Even the comics that Kurtzman & Orci personally co-plotted are not considered canonical by them, and these comics only have Orci as a creative consultant.

What a lot of fans don't understand about canon is that it's not a matter of some official dictate controlling the creation of the franchise, but a matter of simple practicality. The people making the shows and movies are busy. It takes a lot of work to do that. So it's not easy for them to keep track of what other creators are doing in their tie-ins. Nor is it creatively desirable or sensible for the creators of the core work to be hemmed in by what those other, outside writers do.

EDIT: That said, a new Startrek.com interview reveals that the comic will foreshadow elements and possibly characters from the new movie:

As we get closer to the next movie, the stories will begin to foreshadow the events of the movie, such as possibly introducing new characters we will see onscreen...

How much, if at all, will what you're doing ultimately tie into the next film and its story?

Johnson: Very much so, much in the way that the “Countdown” series set up backstory for the last movie. It’s fantastic to have Bob’s input, because he can steer us clear of story elements that might conflict with what’s coming up in the next movie, and we can lay in subtle clues to what’s coming up so that once you see the new movie you can go back and see how it evolved in the comics.

But this is not the same as being canonical, necessarily. There are elements in Countdown that are difficult to reconcile with the movie (such as its portrayal of a Spock-Nero friendship). It was an interpretation of what events might have led up to the movie, but it was an interpretation by different people and thus there were some variances. Fans obsess over "canon" this and "canon" that, but ultimately it's all just stories, and a connection between one story and another isn't necessarily meant to suggest that they're in some shared objective reality (because, come on, they're made up), but is simply meant to use one story to pique the audience's interest in another story.

 

[Pauln6]

Well, they may only have about 14-18 issues (or 7 - 9 stories) to go before the movie premieres, depending on scheduling, and less before they start filming, so it's possible that this will include featuring likenesses of actors who have been cast to appear. This could include Chapel or Rand but quite possibly T'Pau and T'Pring if they are going to go with a Vulcan responsibility sub-plot. The women may think it is entirely logical for T'Pring to marry Spock so that her image as the wife of a Starfleet hero holds her in good stead with the surviving Vulcans. I can easily see the equivalent of a Vulcan guilt trip being used there for dramatic effect - selfish love vs logic - is Uhura prepared to give up her man? They could do an origin story for one of the classic Klingons (Kor, Kang, or Koloth) and feature a second confrontation in the sequel. They also gave us a list of characters and teased that one of them would be in the sequel (my money is on Harry Mudd) so they might do something similar with him.

 

[Christopher]

^Careful with the story ideas, please. There's still a chance some of us pros might get to write in the Abramsverse someday, and if you suggest an idea where we can read it, then we won't be able to use it.

 

[Therin of Andor]

EDIT: That said, a new Startrek.com interview reveals that the comic will foreshadow elements and possibly characters from the new movie.

For example,

Spoiler: prediction

perhaps the new movie will touch on a McCoy/Dehner past?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

^Careful with the story ideas, please. There's still a chance some of us pros might get to write in the Abramsverse someday, and if you suggest an idea where we can read it, then we won't be able to use it.

You're being hyper-sensitive there, Christopher. I don't see anything more than the normal fan speculation and chatter in Pauln6's post. Your apparent definition of "story ideas" would have a chilling effect on fandom, because what you're really saying is that fans can have thoughts but can't share them.

 

[Pauln6]

^Careful with the story ideas, please. There's still a chance some of us pros might get to write in the Abramsverse someday, and if you suggest an idea where we can read it, then we won't be able to use it.

You're being hyper-sensitive there, Christopher. I don't see anything more than the normal fan speculation and chatter in Pauln6's post. Your apparent definition of "story ideas" would have a chilling effect on fandom, because what you're really saying is that fans can have thoughts but can't share them.

Meh, anyone can have a free formal written waiver to use any of what pass for my ideas. My little Youtube cartoons are firmly in the realm of cheesy fan fiction. Although don't be too blase Allyn, some people really do sue for that sort of thing - look at the litigation over the DaVinci Code!

Therin, I wondered if the alteration might have been due to a failure to obtain permission from the estate rather than a conscious, planned decision. Still, you never know...

 

[Hartzilla2007]

If their doing tie-in stuff for the next film in some cases this could just mean that some rooms and stuff in the comics could be in the film.

 

[Christopher]

If their doing tie-in stuff for the next film in some cases this could just mean that some rooms and stuff in the comics could be in the film.

It's unlikely that any design that originated in the comics would be adopted in the film. The film will have its own art team, and all proposed designs would have to go through a lengthy process of revision and approval before getting to the screen. And what works on a comic-book page wouldn't necessarily translate well to live-action.

No, if there are any shared elements between the comics and the film, they will originate on the filmmakers' end and be reflected in the comics, not the other way around.

 

[Therin of Andor]

I wondered if the alteration might have been due to a failure to obtain permission from the estate rather than a conscious, planned decision.

Whose estate? The character I mentioned was played by an actress who's still alive.

Meh, anyone can have a free formal written waiver to use any of what pass for my ideas.

Hah! I see people mention that hypothetical waiver all the time.

It doesn't absolve fans on TrekBBS from the responsibility to not post story ideas where the authors might see them, and it wouldn't convince Pocket or CBS to let it slide.

 

[Pauln6]

I wondered if the alteration might have been due to a failure to obtain permission from the estate rather than a conscious, planned decision.

Whose estate? The character I mentioned was played by an actress who's still alive.

Meh, anyone can have a free formal written waiver to use any of what pass for my ideas.

Hah! I see people mention that hypothetical waiver all the time.

It doesn't absolve fans on TrekBBS from the responsibility to not post story ideas where the authors might see them, and it wouldn't convince Pocket or CBS to let it slide.

She is alive! Cool. Well, whether it's the actor or their estate, they might well need permission to use their image.

Do we really have a 'responsibility' not to post story ideas? Isn't that a bit tricky? I don't think speculation about what might be in the next movie or future issues of IDW would qualify for copyright infringement, at least not under UK law. Act 1 scene 1 through to the epilogue might be in a format that is copyrightable but the DaVinci Code ruling made it clear that writing unique stories even if based on similar ideas is fine:

"Today's appeal upheld the high court verdict, which ruled that while both books explored similar ideas this did not constitute a breach of copyright... Lord Justice Mummery, one of three appeal judges, said.


"It does not, however, extend to clothing information, facts, ideas, theories and themes with exclusive property rights, so as to enable the claimants to monopolise historical research or knowledge and prevent the legitimate use of historical and biographical material, theories propounded, general arguments deployed, or general hypotheses suggested (whether they are sound or not) or general themes written about," he ruled.


Wednesday 28 March 2007 12.41 BST
Guardian Newspaper

 

[Therin of Andor]

Do we really have a 'responsibility' not to post story ideas?

Sure. We have been asked by the mods not to post story ideas in TrekLit. If the pro authors can't avoid such speculations they will leave.

If you must post ideas, do it under the spoiler code.

I don't think speculation about what might be in the next movie or future issues of IDW would qualify for copyright infringement, at least not under UK law.

No one said it was copyright infringement. If the pro authors of the licensed tie-ins can't come to TrekLit with the confidence that they won't encounter a barrage of story ideas that may/will result in Pocket or CBS quashing a work in progress, or some future proposal, they will leave.

"It does not, however, extend to clothing information, facts, ideas, theories and themes with exclusive property rights..."

But if Pocket or CBS suspect that a pro author has harvested story ideas from an Internet bulletin board service, or if a fan accuses a pro author of doing so, that will jeopardize the pro author's future income and may well result in the cancellation of certain in-production tie-in projects.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

She is alive! Cool. Well, whether it's the actor or their estate, they might well need permission to use their image.

Sally Kellerman was at Shore Leave this past July.

Not all actors granted likeness rights, and they would need to be negotiated with separately -- or the character is drawn not to resemble the actor. A good example of the latter is pretty much any comic with Christopher Pike, who looks nothing like Jeffrey Hunter in the pages of DC or Marvel's Trek comics.

Do we really have a 'responsibility' not to post story ideas? Isn't that a bit tricky? I don't think speculation about what might be in the next movie or future issues of IDW would qualify for copyright infringement, at least not under UK law.

Saying "I want to see a novel where Character X joins a nudist colony and joins an open marriage with a family of feral and rabid Mugatos, leaving her true love, Character Y, at the altar," with character names filled in, obviously, would cross the story ideas line. I don't think your previous post, about characters you think would make good fodder for stories in the Abramsverse, came nowhere close to that line, in my opinion. It's to protect authors from nuisance lawsuits from people who feel that writers stole their ideas and plagiarized their work.