What should be the next batch of IDW Trek comics?

[8of5]

KRAD said:
This has been bugging me since the original post: it's Alien Spotlight, not Alien Empire.

He could be referring to a miniseries about a specific race (or empire), rather than ideas for which species should be in future spotlights. For instance Klingons: Blood Will Tell could be an example of an alien empire explored in an IDW miniseries. So one might be looking for a whole miniseries centered on the Tholians, rather than suggested a single issue about the Tholians in a spotlight series.

 

[Defcon]

That's how I interpreteded it, too.

 

[Ryan Thomas Riddle]

Aaron McGuire said:
Vanguard.

Aaron McGuire

Yes! I forgot about that one, and written by David Mack with a follow-up written by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dillmore.

 

[Therin of Andor]

KRAD said:
This has been bugging me since the original post: it's Alien Spotlight, not Alien Empire.

KRAD, all I meant by that choice was: a comic focussing an an alien empire we already know. I have never run a poll before and I was planning to list examples such as Klingon Empire, Romulan Star Empire, Cardassian Union, Ferengi Alliance and Andorian Empire, for want of better terms. (Then, I figured don't list "Klingon Empire" because we've already had "Klingons: Blood Will Tell" and a hint of something forthcoming for "Alien Spotlight".)

I want people to name the "alien empire", or alliance, hegemony or collective, they'd like to see a comic series about, if they check that box of the poll.

I guess a concept like that would get put into the "Alien Spotlight" concept from IDW Comics, which I read they will continue with a race KRAD is closely alligned with (dah?, Klingons?), but I wasn't even thinking "Spotlight" at the time of composing the poll, and you don't many chances to edit components of online polls - as I well know from readers' criticisms of other peoples' polls.

 

[KRAD]

^ Well, it's the Cardassian Union, not the Cardassian Empire.....

 

[Therin of Andor]

^ "Let's look death in the face and say, whatever, man."

Fixed.

 

[Holytomato]

Continuing Vanguard series.
Continuing DS9 series.
Continuing IKS Gorkon miniseries
Continuing Pike series.
Continuing April series.
Continuing Starfleet Year One series.
Continuing Prime Directive RPG series.
Continuing FASA RPG series.

and...

a continuing Tribble series :thumbsup: Time Travel reboot Tribbles.

 

[Therin of Andor]

Holytomato said:
Continuing FASA RPG series.

I have many old FASA manuals and I can't see how such a comic would be all that different to regular TOS. Do you mean certain original FASA aliens or ships to make cameo appearances in TOS or TOS movie era comics? (Not to mention that IDW is never going to start negotiations to do comics of a deceased RPG. The odd cameo appearance of a FASA or Prime Directive in-joke would be a different matter.)

 

[8of5]

Therin of Andor said:

Holytomato said:
Continuing FASA RPG series.

I have many old FASA manuals and I can't see how such a comic would be all that different to regular TOS. Do you mean certain original FASA aliens or ships to make cameo appearances in TOS or TOS movie era comics? (Not to mention that IDW is never going to start negotiations to do comics of a deceased RPG. The odd cameo appearance of a FASA or Prime Directive in-joke would be a different matter.)

I think a FASA (or some rpg at least) design already got into one of the Klingons: Blood Will Tell issues. As a model in the museum they visited in framing story.

 

[JD]

RonG said:
I think the more "episodic" series like SCE\CoE, Titan and maybe Excelsior would be better suited for the comic book format.

Having the arc-heavy series (VGD, DS9, TNG etc) branch out to another medium could be a double edged sword, alienating Trek readers who don't read comic books and those who read Trek ONLY as comic books...

I don't really feel that that's true, myself. In fact, I think it would be kinda nice, because it could give us a chance to get smaller stories, insted of the big arc heavy plots we usually get. Not that I don't like the big arc heavy plots, it's just that sometimes a change of pace is nice. Plus, it would give us a chance to see all of these new characters who we've only seen in our imaginations.

 

[Therin of Andor]

JD said:
Not that I don't like the big arc heavy plots, it's just that sometimes a change of pace is nice. Plus, it would give us a chance to see all of these new characters who we've only seen in our imaginations.

Yep, Wildstorm's "Star Trek: Divided We Fall" TNG/DS9 mini-series fitted into the greater DS9 Relaunch but didn't leave people scratching their heads.

Ditto "New Frontier: Double Time".

 

[JD]

^Yep, that's exactly what I'm talking about.

 

[RonG]

but when these stories were referenced later in their respective series, I think that more than one reader felt "out of the loop". As a comic book reader, I realize it's great looking at the characters you only read about in the past, but one should think of the overall readership...

 

[Therin of Andor]

RonG said:
but when these stories were referenced later in their respective series, I think that more than one reader felt "out of the loop".

OK, then the only other answer is "No crossovers ever; everything should be stand-alone, or reference only what is canonical", and that was Richard Arnold's philosophy, or "Every reference must always be explained either in context or by footnote or appendix". Ick.

What if you're reading a novel and a character talks about five famous past encounters with an alien race, and you've only heard of two of them, one canonical and one from a book you once read? Who's to know if the other three incidents are from episodes you've never seen (or have simply forgotten), an obscure LA Times comic strip only published in some parts of USA, a novel in the DS9 relaunch, or a product of the author's imagination. Or, indeed, a plot thread from some upcoming proposal that might get quashed when it gets sent to Paula Block at CBS Consumer Products.

There will always be easter eggs, and what makes them fun is that only some fans get all the jokes/references all the time.

 

[AlexR]

Excelsior, Post-TMP, and Titan. In that order of priority.

Best,
Alex

 

[Geoff Thorne]

RonG said:
but when these stories were referenced later in their respective series, I think that more than one reader felt "out of the loop". As a comic book reader, I realize it's great looking at the characters you only read about in the past, but one should think of the overall readership...

No. If you're writing comics, you should consider the people who will be reading the comics, not a bunch of people who only read novels. The latter aren't your audience.

I haven't read the WILDSTORM DS9r stuff but, as the books frequently reference past adventures that don't get detailed treatments in a current story, I can't believe a little comic/novel synchronicity would be either hard to pull off or troublesome for the reader.

 

[Therin of Andor]

At this point, a "Titan" mini-series by Mangels & Martin looks like a no-brainer.

Thanks everyone who's voted so far. This has been a fascinating poll.

 

[JD]

Is Andrew Steven Harris the IDW guy that comes here? If so I hope he takes this into account when they consider the next batch of comics, because I'd walk across town to the comic shop if it meant getting my hands on a Titan comic.

 

[Therin of Andor]

JD said:
Is Andrew Steven Harris the IDW guy that comes here? If so I hope he takes this into account when they consider the next batch of comics, because I'd walk across town to the comic shop if it meant getting my hands on a Titan comic.

The previous editor, Dan Taylor visited often, and even used to email comments to my Psi Phi, TrekBBS and personal blog posts!

You can be sure I'll send this URL to Andrew Steven Harris as part of my next feedback email about IDW ST.

 

[AndrewIDW]

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