IDW Publishing and CBS Consumer Products have announced a brand-new ongoing comic book series to be based on J.J. Abram’s rebooted Star Trek universe. Teaming with the film’s writer/producer Roberto Orci, the new monthly series will tie into both the 2009 film and the upcoming untitled sequel.
Movies cost money. Lots and lots of money, says Orci of the new series, But comics give us unlimited budgets to take the crew of the Enterprise farther than they’ve ever been. Join us!
The comic book series will re-adapt episodes of the original television series in the “rebooted” canon, beginning with the series’ second pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before”. That episode saw the U.S.S. Enterprise traveling to the edge of the galaxy, exposing two crewmembers to an energy field that causes them evolve into godlike beings. Fearing their increasing lack of humanity, Captain James T. Kirk decides that he must maroon them on a nearby planet before they become too powerful to stop. One of the afflicted crewmen is Helsman Gary Mitchell, a close personal friend to Kirk.
Specifically interesting to fans of the film is the fact that Mitchell has been one of the many characters speculated to appear in the upcoming sequel. While there’s no assurance that this comic book version will mirror the episode to the point of his inclusion, it does make an upcoming film appearance less likely.
Incidentally, the planet on which Mitchell was marooned in the original episode was Delta Vega, the same world on which Spock leaves Kirk in the 2009 film. The original episode was also given a direct sequel in comic book form in the bizarre 1996 “Star Trek / X-Men” crossover, published by Marvel Comics.
The first issue slated for September, the upcoming comic book series arrives under the creative direction of Orci, writer Mike Johnson and artist Stephen Molnar. The first will feature covers from Tim Bradstreet (pictured below) and David Messina, plus four rare photo covers.
