Why no IDW comics with ENT, DS9 or VOY?

[bionicbob]

Not sure if this has been discussed before (if it has, my apologies) as I could not find a similar thread.

First off, I don't know about you, but I have been greatly impressed with IDWs run of TREK comics. It is the best Trek Comic Lit I have read in many years, the best since DC had the property.

They seemed to have adapted the Dark Horse Comics model of carefully releasing quality limited series centering on significant Trek events. They have even begun re-releasing previously published story collections from other publishers.

Does anyone know if they have any plans for the other series in the franchise?

Is it simply because the licencing fees are too expensive that they have not yet released any ENT, DS9 or VOY titles?

I personally, would love to see them publish an Enterprise comic series, in a similar vein of what Pocket Books is doing, exploring in greater detail the formation of the Federation.

 

[RuthlessNate]

Yeah, it is a little disappointing that IDW hasn't branched out to include more of the franchise. There have been mentions here and there of some of the other series, but I still feel like Enterprise deserves some more love as well.

 

[KRAD]

IDW's license only covers TOS and TNG. To get the other three would require an additional fee for properties that historically sell more poorly than the two they already have. IDW is a smaller company than Marvel or DC, and they have to be more judicious with their capital.

 

[RuthlessNate]

IDW's license only covers TOS and TNG. To get the other three would require an additional fee for properties that historically sell more poorly than the two they already have. IDW is a smaller company than Marvel or DC, and they have to be more judicious with their capital.

Ahh, okay. I had always figured the license would be sort of all-inclusive, that you either paid for all of Trek or none at all.

 

[KRAD]

^ Nope. That's why, for example, Malibu Comics had the DS9 license, while DC still had TOS and TNG.

 

[JoeZhang]

The recent TNG series sold about 8,000 copies per issue - I can't see an Enterprise comic being worth the licensing cash.

 

[seigezunt]

IDW's license only covers TOS and TNG. To get the other three would require an additional fee for properties that historically sell more poorly than the two they already have. IDW is a smaller company than Marvel or DC, and they have to be more judicious with their capital.

I wonder how their TOS titles sell vs the TNG ones.

 

[Stevil2001]

Going by the sales figures on John Jackson Miller's Comics Chronicles, IDW has done three (completed) tNG miniseries (The Space Between, Intelligence Gathering, and The Last Generation), the average issue of which has sold 8,800 copies. (This will go up once Countdown is factored in, though.)

They've done five (completed) original series miniseries (Klingons: Blood Will Tell, Year Four, Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment, Mirror Images, and Romulans: The Hollow Crown), the average issue of which has sold about 9,600 copies.

So apparently the original series sells slightly better, though I suspect once Countdown is factored into tNG they'll sell pretty much equivalently.

 

[Captain Randy Hall]

Not sure if this has been discussed before (if it has, my apologies) as I could not find a similar thread.

First off, I don't know about you, but I have been greatly impressed with IDWs run of TREK comics. It is the best Trek Comic Lit I have read in many years, the best since DC had the property.

They seemed to have adapted the Dark Horse Comics model of carefully releasing quality limited series centering on significant Trek events. They have even begun re-releasing previously published story collections from other publishers.

Does anyone know if they have any plans for the other series in the franchise?

Is it simply because the licencing fees are too expensive that they have not yet released any ENT, DS9 or VOY titles?

I personally, would love to see them publish an Enterprise comic series, in a similar vein of what Pocket Books is doing, exploring in greater detail the formation of the Federation.

I'm a big fan of IDW's Star Trek comics as well. And yeah, they only have the rights to Classic Trek and TNG. Still, they're putting out a compilation of old DS9 comics, and if that does well, perhaps they might consider investing in other Treks.

By the way, I hadn't been excited about the Next Gen stories until I got to "The Last Generation." That was great! You should see what they do to Wesley's hair and it's penciled by Gordon Purcell.

 

[toughlittleship]

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/IDW_Publishing_publications#Deep_Space_Nine

 

[ToddKent]

http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/IDW_Publishing_publications#Deep_Space_Nine

Dan Taylor noted likeness approvals for Scott Bakula/Jonathan Archer are problematic

I wonder what the issue is?

 

[Therin of Andor]

I wonder what the issue is?

With Bakula's likeness approvals?

Obviously he signed a contract with additional clauses, perhaps giving him likeness approvals of his drawn image in internal art of comics, and on cover art of tie-ins. Imagine if a comic was ready to roll, and he rejected certain panels. To ensure he was happy, the approvals might need to happen at pencils stage, and then inking stage, lest the whole thing need to be done again from scratch. This additional time, and the potential for revisions, back and forth, back and forth, might make getting an "Enterprise" comic out on time not worth the effort.

Had ENT been a huge success, there would be more likelihood of plenty of profit to make the additional time and legalities worthwhile. Sounds like Bakula had a good agent!

Each of the actors have different approvals, and they've used their "power" to influence some tie-ins over the years. eg. Playmates forgot to get a TMP trading card of Spock approved once, so he vetoed it being included with his 4.5" action figure. Le Var Burton rejected an action figure (only he and Patrick Stewart get to approve their TNG action figures, IIRC) because it had the wrong hair style. Patrick Stewart didn't sign off on an Applause figural mug, so he's the only TNG character not represented. Gates McFadden wanted some kind of approval re images used in trading cards, and didn't get it in her contract, so she can be testy about signing them, but she'll sign other material. And so on.

 

[ToddKent]

I wonder what the issue is?

Each of the actors have different approvals, and they've used their "power" to influence some tie-ins over the years. eg. Playmates forgot to get a TMP trading card of Spock approved once, so he vetoed it being included with his 4.5" action figure. Le Var Burton rejected an action figure (only he and Patrick Stewart get to approve their TNG action figures, IIRC) because it had the wrong hair style. Patrick Stewart didn't sign off on an Applause figural mug, so he's the only TNG character not represented. Gates McFadden wanted some kind of approval re images used in trading cards, and didn't get it in her contract, so she can be testy about signing them, but she'll sign other material. And so on.

That's interesting. Someone should start a thread on that topic. I love hearing weird random stuff like that.

 

[Steve Roby]

Likeness approvals may explain why Nimoy's absent from the 1996 Star Trek 30th anniversary Kellogg's Corn Flakes cereal boxes.

Susan Sackett's book Inside Trek also reports that Nimoy scuttled the planned Star Trek: The First 25 Years back in 1991, initially by signing off late on the photo approvals and then demanding changes in the book's text. I seem to recall hearing that copies of the book had actually been printed. A few copies of the dust wrapper are definitely out there.

 

[KRAD]

I still have the galley of that 1991 book that I got to review for Library Journal.

Also, Bakula is notoriously difficult with likeness approvals--this goes back to his Quantum Leap days. The later QL novels all have Sam wearing a hat because Bakula kept complainng about how his hairline was rendered.

The image of Archer on Tales from the Captain's Table was the third one we tried before we got Bakula's approval.

All the captains of the TV series, as well as Nimoy, Frakes, and Whoopi Goldberg have likeness approval. Brooks declined his and Shatner and Nimoy have relaxed their restrictions in recent times.