IDW Launches Star Trek New Frontier in March

[ENGLISH] San Diego, CA (February 26, 2008)- New York Times best-selling novelist Peter David, author of the first Star Trek® series designed exclusively for print, celebrates the 10th anniversary of the Star Trek: New Frontier saga with its first-ever comic book series. The five-part epic, debuting from IDW Publishing (www.idwpublishing.com) in March with artist Stephen Thompson (Beneath the Valley of Rage), features all-new stories and the official continuation of the runaway hit novels from Pocket Books.

Star Trek: New Frontier #1 also marks the debut of IDW’s Star Trek: Second Stage, an all-new publishing lineup for the company’s sophomore year of Star Trek storytelling, showcasing some of the top Star Trek storytellers in comics, books and television, including legendary comics artist John Byrne, IDW’s new rising stars Scott and David Tipton and the grande dame of Star Trek writing, D.C. Fontana. The new lineup takes flight following IDW’s launch year, which included marquee titles like Star Trek: Year Four, the hit miniseries Klingons: Blood Will Tell and the fan-favorite Alien Spotlight one-shots.

To mark the debut of the Second Stage lineup, IDW will launch Star Trek: New Frontier with a special limited edition retailer incentive that includes a new Quad CoverTM format, with four separate covers bound directly onto the same issue, « so people can get four covers without having to buy the issue four times, » says Andrew Steven Harris, Star Trek editor at IDW Publishing. The first cover is painted, while the other three are drawn. Another limited edition incentive cover will feature David as a Starfleet captain on the bridge of his ship, crewed by a number of notable guest stars.

New Frontier

In the new story, Turnaround, the most dangerous experimental vessel in the galaxy-a prototype time ship-has vanished, and it appears that the man who stole it is none other than Starfleet Admiral Edward Jellico. Only Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the crew of the Excalibur have a hope of finding him before the ship, intended purely for scientific exploration, is used to disrupt the space-time continuum.

« Peter has written a cracking good story for us, » says Harris. « It’s like a Star Trek version of The Hunt for Red October, with all sorts of gripping sequences and a number of remarkable twists. The moment I read the pitch, I was totally hooked. Peter is an incredible writer, so you can pick up this book if you’ve never read New Frontier stories before and you’ll be able to follow it right away. At the same time, if you’re familiar with the stories and characters, it feels like it’s being written for the long-time fans. »

This is the first time this crew has been featured in a comic book series, though they appeared in a one-shot published by Wildstorm in 2000, also written by David. Paired with David this time is artist Stephen Thompson, a relative newcomer who previously worked for Fangoria Comics before the horror publisher discontinued its comics line.

« He’s a real find for us, » says Harris. « He’s almost a complete unknown here in the States, and he really delivers the goods. He’s taken a lot of people by surprise, and fans online are already raving about him when we post previews of his work. It’s got a slightly darker, grittier look than if we were doing a typical Kirk-and-Spock story, and it’s exactly what we were looking for. This is everything that New Frontier should be in comics form. »

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