IDW Publishing and CBS Consumer Products are continuing the five-year mission of the original Starship Enterprise in Star Trek: Year Four, debuting this July. It is written by David Tischman, who wrote Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between. The art will be the IDW debut work of Steve Conley, who was responsible for Astounding Space Thrills. The series will follow The Next Generation format of presenting an entire “episode” in every issue. The debut issue begins “an all-new exploration for the crew of the USS Enterprise when they discover the Strand—a multi-planet construct of a dead civilization. There they find a brilliant scientist who’s obsessed with the Strand’s technology. Kirk uncovers the scientist’s secret, triggering a revolt amongst his genetic creations, and forcing Kirk to make a hard decision and push the Enterprise into the crossfire.”
“I had a tremendous time working on Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Space Between,” said Tischman, “but Star Trek: Year Four is my Kobiyashi Maru. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are the holy trinity of science fiction, and writing for these characters is like drinking tranya at the best Orion lounge in the Quadrant.”
IDW is trying to emulate the style presented in the ’60s-era Gold Key Star Trek comics, as this image shows.
Star Trek: Year Four #1 will be the first of a six-issue mini-series. The 32-page issue will have a cover by Steve Conley and a variant cover by Klingons cover artist Joe Corroney.