Star Trek has had a successful year in 2022 on television and in comic books, and the stakes for the entire franchise have been raised. This year saw the release of the second seasons of Star Trek: Picard, Star Trek: Lower Decks, and Prodigy, as well as the premiere of Strange New Worlds, which received overwhelmingly positive reviews from both critics and viewers. The franchise made a triumphant comeback in the comics at the same time that it did on television.
IDW released the historic Star Trek #400 this year. This book served as a benchmark for reviving the comics franchise. In addition to being a magnificent celebration of Star Trek history, it also served as a seed for several exciting and upcoming titles. This book served as a prelude to the debut of the new Star Trek series, which is reshaping the galaxy and giving DS9’s Sisko a startling second chance, and it also served to set up the Day of Blood crossover and the upcoming Star Trek: Defiant, in which Worf will captain a team of heroes and villains.
Star Trek Strengthened The Ties Between The Comics And The Shows
According to Star Trek’s licensing policy, licensed tie-in media like comic books, novels, and video games are only secondary to the television shows and motion pictures. Comic books and novels have long been allowed to tell their own stories (as long as they don’t break established continuity), but a television show or motion picture plot can always surpass them. Because of this, several classic comics and novels have been rendered inconsistent, which overall cheapens those stories and decreases reader interest in seeking them out.
But in 2022, more connections between the shows and the comics were made, in part because of the two co-creators. For instance, Kirsten Beyer, who has worked on the Picard and other Trek shows, frequently contributes to the Star Trek comics published by IDW. It is evident that IDW’s latest Star Trek comics are intended to be taken as complete canon, bridging the gaps between TV seasons and determining the fates of renowned heroes like Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, Benjamin Sisko, and Data’s evil “brother” Lore. Even long-standing questions have been addressed, such as why Worf returned to Starfleet after taking on an ambassadorial role and the assertion that Data was actually rebuilt between the events depicted in the movie and the arrival of Picard.
IDW has published books based on the franchise’s more recent entries, including Discovery, Picard, and Strange New Worlds. These comics can serve as a bridge between seasons in some cases. For instance, Beyer co-wrote the recent Star Trek: Picard: Stargazer, which served as a transition between the second and third seasons of the show. Similarly, Strange New Worlds: The Illyrian Enigma continues where the first season of the show left off. Finally, the comics are also being applied to other tie-in media. For instance, a prequel comic was published to coincide with the upcoming video game Star Trek: Resurgence.
New Titles From IDW Tell A Universe-Shaking Story
Star Trek #400 also heralded the start of a new line of Star Trek comics that will tell original & epic stories. The aforementioned Star Trek #400 contained a story starring ascended human Gary Mitchell that laid the groundwork for a new ongoing series starring Benjamin Sisko and a cast assembled from various incarnations of the franchise. The new Star Trek series, which premieres in November and is created by Collin Kelly, Jackson Lanzing, and Ramon Rosanas, pits Captain Benjamin Sisko, who has recently returned from a sabbatical with the godlike Prophets, against a mysterious force that is killing other godlike beings in the Star Trek universe. Starfleet provides Sisko with a new ship, the USS Theseus, and a new crew to aid him in his mission.
Data, Scotty, Beverly Crusher, and Tom Paris are a few of Sisko’s new coworkers. The first issue wasted no time in outlining the specific issues at hand. Sisko and the Theseus came across a nest of the incredibly powerful Crystalline Entities after gathering his crew, and helplessly watched as they were massacred in large numbers. The Shapers of Sardakesh, a formidable race that lived deep and unnoticed in Klingon space and was introduced in the following issue, were promised in issue three to take a side in this mind-boggling conflict. These series demonstrated that the Star Trek comics were not only canon, but that they were also altering the galaxy by eradicating some of its most potent species.
The Star Trek Multiverse’s Time Has Come
Star Trek started embracing the concept of a multiverse in 2022. Since the Original Series as well as the introduction of the Mirror Universe, the idea had been a staple of the franchise. However, the franchise started to genuinely explore this concept in the third season of Discovery after the introduction of the Kelvin universe in 2009 and other realities that were only briefly hinted at. This year, the comics took advantage of the chance and produced a full slate of works set in the aforementioned Mirror Universe, which helped to further develop it and demonstrate how it could serve as the setting for fantastic tales. Dark visions of Geordi LaForge & Reginald Barclay were shown to the audience, emphasizing how entirely self-sufficient the Mirror Universe is. The comics made it abundantly clear that the Mirror Universe is now more than just a danger to the Prime Universe; it is also a place deserving of its own epics.
With fan favorites making a comeback, canon-expanding cross-media tales, and a god-killer unleashed on the universe, 2022 saw Star Trek comics increase their relevance to the franchise and provide fans with must-read Star Trek adventures rather than just stories comparable to those they can find elsewhere. Furthermore, it appears that 2023 will make significant financial gains from this achievement.
Star Trek Comics Will Take A Bold Step Forward In 2023
IDW has made a number of exciting project announcements or teases for 2023. comic bookends The release of the Star Trek: Defiant miniseries, which is a spin-off of the recently released Star Trek comic and will be written by Christopher Cantwell and illustrated by Angel Unzueta, is even more exciting. Worf will star in the new series, which has been dubbed “The Dirty Dozen meets Star Trek,” as he leads a new crew against a pretend messiah who is profiting from the chaos the god-killer has caused. It promises to be the Star Trek of the earth, and a significant component of the dark. It promises to be the Star Trek of Earth, and it will play a significant role in the dark new Day of Blood comic crossover.
In a nutshell, the Star Trek resurgence in the words of the comic The revival of the Trek television franchise and the deeper connections that now exist between it and the comics have sparked this new wave of Trek comics. In addition to outstanding comics based on the shows, IDW has also published some incredibly compelling original Star Trek titles that up the ante for the franchise as a whole.
Source : ScreenRant