The Trek Collective

Behold, two of the most exciting Star Trek book covers ever! The next two books in the Seekersseries: Long Shot, by David Mack, and All That's Left, by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore. Both featuring cover art by Rob Caswell, the artist that inspired the book series. Images via StarTrek.com.

Continue below to read the blurbs for both these books, plus some new cover artwork from Corps of Engineers and Typhon Pact.

David Mack's Long Shot is this year's August book, and StarTrek.com also posted a new blurb for this one:

SCIENCE GONE MAD…Bizarre sensor readings lead the Starfleet scout ship Sagittarius to an alien world where efforts to harness a dangerous and unstable technology have thrown the laws of probability out of balance. Now, events that might have occurred only one time in a trillion are happening constantly—to deadly and dazzling effect.

A PLANET IN PERIL…As disasters and miracles multiply globally at an ever-increasing rate, it’s up to Captain Clark Terrell and his crew to shut down the experiment-gone-wrong before its storm of chaos causes the planet’s destruction. But the odds against their success—and their survival—might be too great to overcome.

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes.

Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore's All That's Left will be with us in November. Here's the blurb for that book:

Initially charted by Starfleet probes dispatched to survey the Taurus Reach, the planet Cantrel V now plays host to a budding Federation colony as well as a combined civilian/Starfleet exploration team. Ancient ruins of an unknown civilization scattered around the planet have raised the curiosity of archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, and other interested members of the Federation scientific community. Together, they are attempting to shed light on the beings that once called this world home.

After a large, unidentified vessel arrives in orbit and launches a seemingly unprovoked orbital bombardment, the U.S.S. Endeavour responds to the colony’s distress call. As they attempt to render assistance and investigate the mysterious ship, Captain Atish Khatami and her crew begin to unlock the astonishing secrets the planet has harbored for centuries. Does the survival of a newly discovered yet endangered alien race pose a threat not only to Cantrel V, but to other inhabited worlds throughout the Taurus Reach and beyond?

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp.

For more Seekers art, check out my previous interview with Rob Caswell on the first two covers in the series, and my coverage of his original artwork that inspired the book series.

And now, more covers! Cross Cult have released some new artwork recently. This is what will be on the cover for the German edition of the Corps of Engineers ebook Past Life, Robert Greenbruger's book which will be known in German as Ferne Vergangenheit, and is due out in October.

And finally, Mark Rademaker posted on Facebook this unused cover cover concept for Una McCormack's Typhon Pact: Brinkmanship, featuring his USS Aventine model.

If you're curious, these are the covers the book ended yup in the US and Germany (if you smashed them together you'd almost have Mark's version):

And don't forget, if you'd like to see Mark's USS Aventine brought to life as a model in Eaglemoss'The Official Starships Collection, make sure you sign the petition - We need to find five-thousand people who say they want one, to make it happen.

Meanwhile, for full listings of all the forthcoming Star Trek books, and links to all my previous reports, hit the prose or books buttons on my 2015 and 2016 schedule pages.

Hallmark have updated their website with listings for their three Star Trek Keepsake ornaments for this year. Their listings include much higher resolution versions of the previously released images of all three designs, plus previews in other media. Continue below to check out the range.

In-keeping with their offering for the past few years, the three ornaments continue three distinct styles of decoration. There is a starship, which this year is the USS Enterprise-C. The model is just short of five inches long, and features a battery powered light feature, which you can see demonstrated in a video on the Hallmark website.

There is a recreation of a scene, for the second time since this range began in 2004, we get a moment from The Wrath of Khan, this time the death of Spock. As is typical of this format, there is also a sound feature, playing out the dialogue between Kirk and Spock, and you can listen to that on the Hallmark website too.

And finally there's a single figurine, from the ongoing Star Trek Legends series. Lieutenant Nyota Uhura will be the sixth character in that range, which now includes almost all of the main TOS crew. However the Hallmark website notes this will be the last in this series, leaving poor old Chekov no place on the Christmas tree!

All three should be available from July, just in time for Christmas! That is also when I would expect the designs for next year's range to be revealed - I wonder if the Legends series is being replaced with something new...

Coming in October is James Swallow's new Titan novel, Sight Unseen, and StarTrek.com have now revealed the cover, featuring artwork by Tobias Richter, showcasing his fantastic Titan model (first seen on the cover of Swallow's last Titan story, The Fall: The Poisoned Chalice) once again:

While the Titan and crew have featured in a novella, Absent Enemies, and a more TNG and Aventine focused novel, Takedown (both by John Jackson Miller), this will be the first Titan novel since The Fall, so should be interesting to see how the series adapts to Riker's new job in the admiralty.

Continue after the jump for a reminder of the blurb:

In the wake of political upheaval across the United Federation of Planets, Admiral William Riker and the crew of the U.S.S. Titan find themselves in uncertain waters as roles aboard the ship change to reflect a new mandate and a new mission. On orders from Starfleet, Titan sets out toward the edge of Federation space to tackle its latest assignment: to work with an alien species known as the Dinac, who are taking their first steps into the galaxy at large as a newly warp-capable civilization.

But when disaster befalls the Dinac, the Titan crew discovers they have unknowingly drawn the attention of a deadly, merciless enemy—a nightmare from Riker’s past lurking in the darkness. Friendships will be tested to the limit as familiar faces and new allies must risk everything in a fight against an unstoppable invader—or a horrific threat will be unleashed on the galaxy!

If you're a Titan fan, then also make sure you add your name to the USS Titan petition; if we can find five-thousand people who would like to see a model of the Luna class ship become part of The Official Starships Collection then a special extra issue can be commissioned! We're well over 70% towards that goal, we just need to find those last few Titan fans. And who wouldn't want a model of this wonderful ship??

There were two new Star Trek comics out this week, one of which was issue forty-four of the nuTrek ongoing series, the third and final part in the Eurydice story.

Continue below for a five page from this issue, which picks up directly from the previous issue, with the Enterprise and crew in peril!

Find Star Trek comics, toys, statues, and collectibles at TFAW.com!

There are two new Star Trek comics on the shelves this week, and in fact it's almost three, as one of those is the latest double-length photo-comic in John Byrne's New Visions series. Issue six, Resistance, features a familiar alien opponent not so well known to the 23rd century crew of the Enterprise - The title (and cover!) might give you a slight hint!

IDW have unusually picked out not just the first few pages (three this time), but also thirteen to fifteen, to tempt you with for this story. Continue below for those preview pages, plus the latest behind-the-scenes from the series.

You can continue reading this story by picking up a copy at your local comic book shop, or from online retails like these: Amazon.com, Things From Another World, Forbidden Planet, iTunes.

Meanwhile, you can get a glimpse further into the future of the series on John Byrne's forums, where he regularly posts work in progress, previews, and other behind-the-scenes insights from the series. In fact if you read back through the now more than one-hundred pages of the thread, you can see how the series came to be from its first inception.

Some of the most recent posts include previews from forthcoming issues; this is from issue seven, 1971/4860.2, which will guest star Gary Seven:

And this is a preview from the Gold Key inspired story on the way, Eye of the Beholder:

Byrne also posts lots of images showing his process in the series, explicitly so in this sequence which shows how he made one page:

For those interested, here's a spoiler free look at the construction of a page from the issue upon which I am currently working. I'll note that the first layer was created as a separate file, with the transporting figures added, and then the whole thing brought to this page. Normally, the figures would be a layer unto themselves. The panel borders will be added as a final step, after the addition of the missing figure in Pnl 3.

Virtual sets have become an important feature the series, allowing Byrne to create settings he wouldn't otherwise be able to source from the TV series. Here is one such environment coming in a future issue:

And here a slightly more finished look at the set in action, this scene is still missing another character with whom Spock is talking:

This virtual set is for an obscure bit of the Enterprise, the first image here shows Byrne's initial concept, which drew inspiration from some of the new sets seen on the Defiant in Enterprise's In a Mirror, Darkly, the second is a later iteration.

Finally in the recent highlights, here's a new shuttle design, again with first and later versions of the design:

Tinkering with a civilian shuttlecraft for an upcoming story.

Going for a kind of Jeep analogy -- civilian vehicles based on military designs.

You can see much more on John Byrne's forums. Meanwhile, to keep track of all the latest Star Trek comic releases, hit the comics button on my 2015 schedule page.

The novel cover reveals are coming a pace at the moment, hot on the heels of the latest Seekers and Titan covers, Pocket Books have released a couple more.

Due out in September is Kirsten Beyer's Atonement, the final book in the current trilogy within her Voyager relaunch, continuing on from Protectors and Acts of Contrition. StarTrek.com have released the cover, featuring an illustration of Admiral Janeway by Alan Dingman:

Here's a reminder of the blurb:

Admiral Kathryn Janeway faces a tribunal determined to execute her for supposed crimes committed during Voyager’s maiden trek through the Delta Quadrant. Captain Chakotay knows that the Kinara, several species now allied against the Full Circle fleet, are not all they appear to be. The Confederacy of the Worlds of the First Quadrant—a pact he cannot trust—is his only hope for unraveling the Kinara’s true agenda and rescuing Admiral Janeway. Meanwhile, Seven and Tom Paris are forced to betray the trust of their superiors in a desperate bid to reveal the lengths to which a fellow officer has gone in the name of protecting the Federation from the legendary Caeliar.

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp, iTunes.

Coming in January will be David R. George III's Ascendance, a follow-up his forthcoming DS9 novel, Sacraments of Fire. David has released that cover on his Facebook page, which features both the new DS9 and the Defiant (with something exciting happening to it!), with the artwork by Doug Drexler:

Continue after the jump for the blurb for this one too, plus news of some new posters featuring novel artwork!

On the original Deep Space Nine, Captain Kira Nerys watches as the nearby wormhole opens and discharges a single, bladelike vessel. Attempts to contact its crew fail, and the ship is soon followed by another vessel of similar design. When an armada subsequently begins to emerge from the wormhole, it seems clear that DS9 is under attack. Kira orders her first officer, Commander Elias Vaughn, to board the U.S.S. Defiant and defend the station, and alerts Starfleet to send additional forces as her crew prepares DS9’s shields and weaponry for the onslaught to come.

Meanwhile, on the lead ship, Iliana Ghemor considers launching an attack on DS9 and finally ending the life of Kira, the fountainhead of all the ills in her miserable life. Her vengeance demands more than mere death, though—it requires pain. Ghemor refocuses, choosing to follow her plan to mete out her revenge on the captain by first decimating the population of Bajor…

Pre-order:Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp.

After the recent run of cover releases, there is just one novel left this year that is so far coverless, Greg Cox's Pike-era TOS story, Child of Two Worlds.

Meanwhile over in Germany, Cross Cult have announced they will producing a limited run of posters based on some of their most recent cover-artwork for German editions of Star Trek novels. Available at FedCon next week, and online a couple weeks after (if there are any left), will be two prints, both featuring artwork by their regular artist Martin Frei. They will be offering the diptych covers from their edition of Greg Cox's Eugenics Wars duology, plus the artwork for McCormack's book in The Fall,

For full listings of the the latest and forthcoming Star Trek books, and links to all my previous coverage, hit the books or prose buttons on my 2015, and 2016 schedule pages.

Ever since he joined Twitter, The Official Starships Collection's manager, Ben Robinson, has been pouring out hints and images, and generally discussing the series at length with tweeting collectors. Continue below for the latest highlights from those tweets, starting with two new images of the original USS Enterprise, which is coming as issue fifty in the series, due in the UK in July (and following at the usual pace in other markets).

Issue fifty-nine, due out in November, comes from much further along in the timeline, the 29th century Wells class timeship, USS Relativity. Ben posted the first ever image of this model (still work in progress), with its subtle purple/green iridescent paint job.

Continue after the jump for more news and previews from the series.

Ben also teased two ships not yet confirmed (with issue numbers) for the series, the Bajoran Raider, and the SS Aurora (as seen in the remastered version of The Way to Eden). I think we can take the fact Ben is examining CG models for these as a good indicator of them showing up in the series at some point.

Discussing some of the other ships in the works, Ben suggested October/November will be the likely release date of the extra ISS Enterprise issue - a regular sized issue, outside the normal issue run.

He also discussed the shuttle models, which are currently on offer to German and French subscribers as part of a premium subscription offer, and are due to be released in other markets by other methods. He mentioned he is considering giving the shuttles different names in different markets. Currently Germany is down for getting the Galileo as the TOS shuttle, Goddard for the TNG type 6, Chaffee for the DS9 type 10, and the Cochrane for the Voyager type 9.

Meanwhile, the most recently released issue in the UK was the Enterprise-C, and Ben posted a flurry of images to mark the occasion. Here are pictures of the physical model:

Plus some unused renderings of the CG model:

Ed Giddings made that new CG model, and it's now his first for the series, he also built the new DS9 model, which you can see more images of on his own website, CG Reactor, where you'll also find other projects from the Trekverse and beyond.

Likewise, on Mesh Weaver you'll find some of Adam "Mojo" Lebowitz's renderings for the series, like these:

PS, don't forget, if you'd like to see some of the best non-canon ships in The Collection, make sure to sign the petitions for the USS Titan and USS Aventine. We are inching ever closer to the magic five-thousand names for the Titan!

For a listing of all the ships in the Starships Collection, including links to all my previous previews and reviews, see my index page.

And if you're on Twitter, make sure you follow Ben, and me!

The Perth Mint in Australia has revealed their second set of Star Trek coins, a TNG pair, featuring Captain Picard and the USS Enterprise-D. These follow the previous TOS coins, and are part of a series of five releases, which will presumably encompass all five of the prime captains and ships.

Like the previous release, these coins have a face value of one dollar, but you'd be unwise to pop along to the shops in Tuvalu, where they are legal tender, as they've been struck in silver, so are somewhat more valuable!

Each coin is available separately in an an illuminated display case, or together in a novelty transporter room inspired case. Continue below for more images.

This is the Picard coin, which like all the coins in the series features a colour print element, and Queen Elizabeth II on the reverse.

And this is the Enterprise-D coin.

And here is the display case for the pair, which illuminates when opened.

The avalanche of new book cover continues! And the latest new releases come from a diverse range of forthcoming titles.

Insight Editions have plans for several non-fiction Star Trek books, and the first of those will be comprehensive exploration of costume design throughout the history of the franchise, in Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann's Star Trek: Costumes - Five Decades of Fashion from the Final Frontier. The book is due out in September, and StarTrek.com released the cover:

I think this is likely to be one of the most interesting non-fiction books in some time, and I hope it does well, as it might open the door to exploring other aspects of Star Trek production in the same fashion. Here's the blurb:

From the classic Starfleet uniforms and daringly provocative outfits of The Original Series, to flowing Vulcan robes, flamboyant Ferengi fashions, and formidable Klingon wedding attire, Star Trek: Costumes explores how these designs have played a key role in transporting fans to distant worlds and alien cultures over the last five decades.

Filled with exclusive photography, stills from the saga, rare concept art, and other striking visuals, Star Trek: Costumes also focuses on the talented individuals who have brought the Star Trek universe to life, including original costume designer William Ware Theiss and his successors, Robert Fletcher, Robert Blackman, and, most recently, Michael Kaplan.

Featuring extensive information on the creation of each featured costume, with insight and anecdotes from interviewees including Blackman, Kaplan, J.J. Abrams, LeVar Burton, Jonathan Frakes and Ronald D. Moore, this book is a comprehensive and captivating celebration of the incredible artistry that has made Star Trek’s costumes as innovative and imaginative as its futuristic technologies.

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp.

Also newly released is the cover Child of Two Worlds, Greg Cox's Pike-era TOS novel. This book is due out in December, and with the release of this cover, all the 2015 novels have now been revealed! Continue after the jump for a reminder of the blurb, plus the latest Cross Cult cover art.

The year is 2255, not long after the events of the Original Series episode “The Cage.” A young Spock is science officer on the U.S.S. Enterprise, under the command of Captain Christopher Pike, when an outbreak of deadly Rigelian fever threatens the crew. Reviewing the Starfleet medical database, Dr. Phillip Boyce comes up with a highly experimental and untested new treatment that might save the crew. Just one problem: it requires a rare mineral substance, ryetalyn, which is not easily obtained…except on a remote alien colony near the Klingon border. But borders are somewhat blurry in this part of galaxy. Pike will need to tread carefully in order to avoid provoking an armed conflict with the Klingons—or starting an all-out war.

Pre-order: Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp.

Over in Germany, Cross Cult continue to deliver new German translations of Star Trek books, many featuring new cover art. The latest designs from their regular cover artist, Martin Frei, have been posted on their Star Trek books Facebook page. This is for Rätselhaftes Schiff, J. Steven York and Christina F. York's Corps of Engineers ebook, originally known as Enigma Ship. The German edition of this will be out next April.

And this is Kriegsgeschichten 1, aka War Stories, Book One, by Keith R.A. DeCandido, due out May next year.

In other books news, TrekFM's Literary Treks' podcast recently had Dave Galanter on for a lively discussion about his new TOS novel, Crisis of Consciousness. As ever, best to wait to you read the book to listen, but a great "extra feature" once you have, with some interesting insights into how the book was developed.

To check out all the other recent cover releases, have a look back through my covers label. And for full listings of the the latest and forthcoming Star Trek books, and links to all my previous coverage, hit the books or prose buttons on my 2015, and 2016 schedule pages.

Last month the covers were released for the 2016 Ships of the Line calendar, but unusually the back cover did not showcase all the images within. Well now that has been amended, as Amazon have now posted a new back cover featuring all thirteen images, and revealing all the artists who won a place in the calendar, following the new competition submission process for this edition.

Continue below for a run-down of what's featured there, and a closer look at some of the images.

So as best I can squint the tiny names on that image (please let me know if you're a contributor and I got it wrong), the images are as follows:

The big image, titled simply, Enterprise, is by Brian McMahon, and features the original TOS Enterprise, and presumably the Ambassador class ship is the Enterprise-C, one or both of them perhaps having just slingshot round the sun to meet each other.

The first small image is by David Gian-Cursio, and shows the refit USS Enterprise alongside an original configuration USS Endeavour, which has some nice Trek-lit links, as David let me know: "the Endeavour, which was a double Trek-lit reference, both because of her starring role in “Vanguard” and “Seekers,” and since “A Flag Full of Stars” mentioned she was next on the list to be upgraded once the Enterprise was finished". David has also posted a blog about this image.

The Enterprise-D features on the next image, by Gary O'Brien, this image is also going to be used as the front cover.

I believe this is in fact a manipulated image of the DST Enterprise-D model, with lots more detail added, like that open shuttlebay. This is how Gary makes many of the images you can see on his website, and here's a video of how he does it, in this case with Voyager:

Next up is one of my favourite fan designs, now made official! Mark Kingsnorth's Insignia class, this is unique in this edition of the calendar in having a little technical information insert. You can see lot more about the Insignia class, and other designs by Mark, including some of his other entries into the Ships of the Line competition, on his website.

Next up is Colin Morella's Enterprise-E, with the Argo on approach. You can see more of Colin's work on DeviantART, including a whole album of Star Trek pieces.

Richard Smith takes us back to the other end of the Enterprise linage, with the NX-01 comet chasing.

Michael Yeager give us an interior spacedock view of the pre-refit Enterprise, with one of the shuttlecraft flying past.

Robert Heckadon gives us a new TOS-era ship, a sort of USS Kelvin arrangement, but with a Nebula class-like pod on top and NX-like deflector placement. You can see more Trek art from Robert on DevinatART too.

Robert Thompson gives us the Klingon Vor'cha class, in a faithful recreation of a shot from the episode Redemption. I believe Robert is another person who achieved this by photographing physical models. You can see more from Robert on his DeviantART as well, including the non-calendar cropped version of the image:

There's an armada of Romulan ships in Thomas Raube's image, which he originally titled A new Home for the Rhiannsu? This is the Romulan fleet approaching their new homeworld in Star Trek Online, following the Hobus supernova, Rator III. You can see much more Star Trek work by Thomas on his DeviantART, including the image I would have picked for the calendar, a glorious reimaging of TAS's Kukulkan.

There's an even bigger STO link with Shawn Weixelman's image, which started out life as a design for the Enterprise-F competition. It didn't win that competition, although did still eventually find it's way into the game, as the inspiration for another group of classes. You can see loads more about this design, including images, video, and the story of its development, on Shawn's website.

Here are some orthographic veiws of the design too:

The Romulans strike again, although there's just a lone warbird in Chris Ford's image, which is based on a photo of a HUGE model kit. You can see another image of the build on Modeler Magic.

Finally, a spread from the calendar that has previously been released, David Combe's Defiant approaching a Borg Cube:

So there we go, a whole new group of Ships of the Lineartists, giving us a diverse range of ships, settings, and techniques. The 2016 Ships of the Line calendar in due out August. On top of that, there's also the new poster calendar format this year, featuring Ships of the Line art, plus the Ships of the Line poster collection on the way, and the recently released second edition of the Ships of the Line book!

In an off-hand close to a blog post discussing social and economic impacts of geek-culture, Simon Pegg, one of the writers of the next Star Trek movie, confirmed the title will be, as rumoured by TrekMovie some weeks ago, Star Trek Beyond.

Pegg's very thoughtful blog came on the back of a recent interview in which he pondered whether the growing popularity of genre entertainment, and the escapist spectacle many such films present, is dumbing down a generation:

Obviously I’m very much a self-confessed fan of science fiction and genre cinema but part of me looks at society as it is now and just thinks we’ve been infantilised by our own taste.

It is a kind of dumbing down, in a way, because it’s taking our focus away from real-world issues. Films used to be about challenging, emotional journeys or moral questions that might make you walk away and re-evaluate how you felt about … whatever.

Interestingly in the same interview he made a comparison between the Marvel mass popularity, and Star Trek current success, or indeed, relative failure:

They had a script for Star Trek that wasn’t really working for them. I think the studio was worried that it might have been a little bit too Star Trek-y.

Avengers Assemble, which is a pretty nerdy, comic-book, supposedly niche thing, made $1.5bn dollars. Star Trek: Into Darkness made half a billion, which is still brilliant. But it means that, according to the studio, there’s still $1bn worth of box office that don’t go and see Star Trek. And they want to know why.

His pro-offered solution it to:

...make a western or a thriller or a heist movie, then populate that with Star Trek characters so it’s more inclusive to an audience that might be a little bit reticent

Which I think is pleasingly Star Trek-y! It is one of the great strengths of Star Trek, that it can take just about any other genre and make a Star Trek story out of it. That, hand-in-hand with Pegg apparently pondering the lack of depth in big budget spectacle, gives me hope he will offer the script for Star Trek Beyond as the solution! And if that happens to also make a billion plus, and spawn a Marvel-style movie and television mega-franchise rebirth, well so be it!

Meanwhile, with the title now confirmed and production weeks away from shooting, I've set up my Star Trek Beyond Guide page. As I did with Into Darkness, I'll be compiling all the latest news and updates from the movie production, and tie-in comics, toys, and such, into that one easy to find place, linked to from the menu bar at the top of the site. Amazing that there is little over a year until we see the film!

IDW have released their solicitations for August, which include three Star Trek titles. There's the start of a new two part story in the nuTrek ongoing series, the second issue in the Green Lantern crossover, and an omnibus book. Continue below for full details of all of those, plus some other Trek comics news:

Star Trek (nuTrek ongoing) #48: Five-Year Mission - Deity, Part 1
Written by Mike Johnson, with art by Tony Shasteen.

In this all-new 2-part story called DEITY, the crew of Starship Enterprise discovers an uncharted world whose inhabitants worship vengeful gods... gods who now turn their wrath on Captain Kirk and his crew!

There are two covers for this one, the regular by Tony Shashteen, and the photo subscription cover.

Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War #2
Written by Mike Johnson, with art by Angel Hernandez.

The comics crossover event of 2015 continues here! Hal Jordan meets Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise for the first time as six Lantern rings choose new bearers! But which Trek characters - and which alien races - will be selected? Iconic franchises collide for the first time in this all-new galaxy-spanning epic!

There are three covers for this one, the regular by Paul Pope, a variant by Darick Robertson, and the subscription cover by Garry Brown.

Comic Book Resources recently posted an interview with Mike Johnson, discussing the Green Lantern crossover. He gave this tease at how the story starts:

The Enterprise sends an away team down to a dead planet. On the surface they find a large-skulled skeleton surrounded by six -- yes, six -- dead rings. The rest you'll have to find out when it hits the stands.

He also confirmed the Klingon pictured on the cover for the first issue is Chang, and that DC's Sinestro will feature in the series. He gave laid a few hints about how the realities will meet too:

They exist in alternate realities that come into contact in this story because… that's enough. I don't want to spoil anything. What I can say is that the majority of the story takes place in the Trek timeline, because in the Lanterns' timeline, the… [laughs] seriously, I should stop.

Meanwhile, IDW's last crossover is also set for omnibus release in the August solicitations:

Star Trek/Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive omnibus
Written by Scott and David Tipton, with art by Rachael Stott.

STAR TREK: The hope for the best of mankind's future! PLANET OF THE APES: A chilling look at the fall of humanity! How could these worlds possibly collide? What could possibly cause Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise to side with Dr. Zaius to protect Ape City? And what does Colonel George Taylor have to say about it?

Purchase:Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Amazon.fr, Amazon.es, Amazon.it, Amazon.co.jp.

A bit further along in the year, Amazon now have a listing up for the latest book in IDW'sGold Key Archives series. Volume Four of the remastered reprint collection is due in October, and will include issues nineteen to twenty-four of the first ever Star Trek comic series, as the blurb attests:

Boldly going... where it all started! Re-presenting the first comic book adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise and her crew! Fully remastered with new colors, Volume 4 collects issues #19-24, including stories "The Haunted Asteroid,""A World Gone Mad,""The Mummies of Heitus VII,""Siege in Superspace,""Child's Play," and "The Trial of Captain Kirk."

There's also a new omnibus release over in Spain, where a month or so ago Drakul released their latest Spanish translation, John Byrne's Leonard McCoy Frontier Doctor, published in Spain as Leonard McCoy, Médico Fronterizo. I think Byrne's comics are among the best Trek IDW has done (and the best Star Trek comics outright for that matter), and the pre-Motion Picture adventures of Dcotor McCoy have a particular charm, as you can see from the covers alone; these are the front and back covers for the new Spanish edition:

You can see a couple of interior preview pages of Drakul's website.

For full listings of all the upcoming Star Trek comic releases, and links to my previous coverage, hit the comics button on my 2015 schedule page.

Remember back in the day, before Captain Picard broke his little ships on the Enterprise-E, he had some bigger ones on the D? Well, part way into the run of TNG thy took them off the conference room wall, and they ended up in a skip, from where writer Ronald D. Moore rescued them, and now all these years later, they are finally back on a wall, as Moore poster on Twitter:

Neat!

So, time for ThinkGeek to make ones we can all put up now?

China has developed a bit of a reputation in recent building-boom-years, of creating some pretty, unique, buildings; some gloriously creative expressions of modern architecture, some just plain weird. There's lots of blobitecture, all sorts of quirky skyscrappers, and novelty buildings including giant gods, a big glass violin, and a huge stargate! That wondrous collection now includes a starship too, reportedly officially licensed by CBS no less!

Completed last year, but only just discovered by the western parts of the internet (thanks to Mashable), the new headquarters of NetDragon Websoft is modelled on a Star Trek starship. This is due to the company's chairman, Liu DeJian, being a huge Trekkie, and being in a position to indulge in this multi-million dollar extravagance!

It appears to be based on the Enterprise-E (as you'll see in the concept art below), but I'd say it's ended up with a bit of a Voyager feel too. As you can see from this drone video, the enterprising shape only really becomes obvious from above:

This building is just one of many being built by NetDragon Websoft on their campus site in Fuzhou, continue below for a look at the building in situ, and how its design evolution.

You can see here in this promotional map of the campus how the starship building sits among the others that have been built so far. There are still plans for more buildings on the site, which are to be situated mainly in existing clearings in the largely forested coastal location. The aim is to build a creative haven and technology hub, akin to some of the high-tech company bases in the US.

It appears at one point in the design they were hoping for something much more faithful to the source material. You can see in this artwork posted by 17173, at point they had an almost straight recreation of the Enterprise-E in mind - Although look carefully, the forward edge of the saucer has already been turned into a bank of windows in this image:

Eventually that became something a bit more impressionistic, but still quite recognisably the Enterprise-E:

And then I guess reality got hold of the design and it turned into the finished building we can see above.

What I find quite interesting is that while they might have always wanted to do a starship, they didn't seem to think they could pull it off the whole time. According to the Wall Street Journal the realisation the building could be made starship-shaped came some way into its planning:

...executives didn’t make a building based on the Enterprise their first choice because much of it would have to be elevated. But one day, inspired by a poster for the franchise, they decided to put the giant ship on several columns, as if it had landed on the field for repairs.

I say that's interesting, because some of the other designs for the site also had a bit of a space ship look, but weren't so directly Star Trek-y. Open Architecture, who have worked on several other buildings on the site, had an almost flying saucer-like take on the building:

While AAUPC Chavannes and Associés took that even further, with a blobby shape with pods coming off the back, that has a not dissimilar layout to the final design, while being something much more original:

You can see in both designs the elevated main structure, which has followed through into the final building.

Meanwhile inside the building there are apparently Star Trek infused automatic sliding gates between work areas, plus huge metal slide to quickly get between floors (shall we call it a Jefferies tube?). Also, there is a T-Rex (cousin of the Voth right?). Image via Qiepa.

And if that's not enough to keep the employees entertained, elsewhere on the campus site you'll also find what appears to be a pirate ship, and this full-size X-Wing Fighter (via The Nanfang):

Big Mouth's new range of novelty Star Trek items are now in the wild, ready to populate gardens and pool-sides for the summer.

Perhaps the most distinctive pieces they have come up with, the Star Trek gnomes, have become ThinkGeek exclusives. There are four different gnome designs on offer: A Gorn confronting gnome-Captain Kirk, a dead redshirt, and figurines of Kirk and Spock-styled gnomes.

Continue below to check out all the gnomes, and other items on offer from Big Mouth.

The rest of Big Mouth's range is more widely available, and includes another Kirk and Spock pairing, this time available as drink "koolers", to insulate canned drinks in Starfleet style:

And there's also the inflatable TOS captain's chair pool float:

The first issue of IDW and DC's forthcoming nuTrek/Green Lantern crossover, The Spectrum War, already had an impressive seven covers on the way, and now with the first Star Trek San Diego Comic Con exclusives revealed, that rises to an unprecedented ten covers for the first issue alone - This is a new record for Star Trek comics, beating last year's first issue ofThe Primate Directive(the Planet of the Apes crossover), which had nine covers in the end, including a second printing variant, which very probably will happen with this new crossover too! (Thanks to the Star Trek Comics Checklist for making that so easy to look up!).

Available at the Comic Con in July, these covers are not yet finalised (at the very least they are lacking the creator credits). Previews say there will be three-thousand available of each design, all featuring artwork by Joe Corroney. Those are a wraparound cover, and two separate releases each using half of the wraparound design. Continue after the jump to check them all out, plus more new Trek art from Corroney:

To check out all the other covers available for this issue, see my previous report.

Also on the way from Joe Corroney is a new piece of art featuring Vina as an Orion, he posted this on his Instagram, although its final use has not yet been revealed:

For full listings of all the upcoming Star Trek comic releases, and links to my previous coverage, hit the comics button on my 2015 schedule page.

The latest two issues in The Official Starships Collection have been solicited, giving us a new image of issue fifty-two, the Centaur class, and the first look at the Klingon Attack Ship model from issue fifty-three. These two issues will be reaching the UK first in August, with the rest of the world following as the series unfolds in different markets. Note, I've tweaked the colours here of the images that have been released, which were insanely over-saturated.

The Klingon ship's cover hasn't been released yet, but the Centaur class has. Continue after the jump to check out that, plus the first look at the TOS shuttlecraft model, and other updates from the series.

On Twitter and Facebook, the series manager, Ben Robinson, has released the first images of shuttlecraft Galileo. This is the first of four shuttlecraft models on offer, available as part of a premium subscription model in the most recently launched European markets. Other parts of the world are expected to be able to get them too, by a different means, but how exactly has yet to be revealed.

Ben also revealed there will be some cool new artwork to go with the shuttles:

While I'm at it, I have an announcement. Mike Okuda is creating new MSD okudagrams to go with the shuttles. He's done the artwork for the TOS dedication plaque too. He is a very fine man.

Which also confirms there will be an original USS Enterprise joining the USS Voyager and USS Defiant ones previously mentioned.

Ben has also talked a little about the forthcoming ISS Enterprise extra issue, noting some of the different details the regular USS Enterprise:

ISS registry and swords through planets but I'm not convinced by the DST color scheme. Regular saucer but Pike nacelles

Meanwhile in other parts of the world, it appears later production runs of the model ships are meaning slight revisions are being made to the models, including correcting the backwards markings on the USS Defiant, the typo on the USS Equinox, and removing the weird tiger stripes on the Ferengi Marauder. As this photo comparing the UK and Japanese versions shows (via Izo Iscariot‎ on The Collection's Facebook page).

For a listing of all the ships in the Starships Collection, including links to all my previous previews and reviews, see my index page.

Entertainment Earth have revealed the first of their 2015 San Diego Comic Con exclusives, and they're going to make sure trekkies have a whale of a time, with the new George and Gracie bobble-heads - Or more accurately, bobble-tails. Recreating the scene from The Voyage Home, the pair of humpback whales are joined by a little swimming Spock too. These will be available in a rather curious edition of one-thousand-nine-hundred-and-ninety-eight, and as is always the case with Entertainment Earth's Comic Con exclusives, while they will be available first at the event, in July, any remaining will be dispatched to those who order online.

In other wobbly news, Bif Bang Pow also have a TOS phaser on the way, joining their smaller scale Monitor Mate range of bobbling things. You can check that out after the jump, and will be able to get one yourself, from Entertainment Earth, in August.

QMx don't appear to have got their tribble breeding program under control yet, as they have just started shipping out a new generation of everyone's (non-Klingons at least) furry little friends. The new tribble is a "platinum" breed (aka grey), and like their previous releases comes in a bespoke tribble containment unit, with instruction for care.

This is the third individual tribble QMx have offered, following their previous brown ones, and last year's Loot Crate exclusive ginger ones. They also had a tribble family, with baby tribbles that could be placed inside their mother to recreate a tribble birthing scene! QMx don't seem to offer that mama tribble anymore, although Entertainment Earth are still taking pre-ordered for expected delivery (teehee, punny), next month.

Due out next month, Round 2 Models have announced a new range of Ships of the Line branded model kits! There will be four 1:2500 scale kits on offer, the TOS USS Enterprise, USS Reliant, USS Defiant, and Klingon D7. All the kits have previously been released as part of the Cadet Series range, but this time they come pre-painted, and as they are snap together kits too they'll be a quick way to build your own ships.

Each kit comes individually packaged, and is accompanied by a wide-format trading card, featuring related artwork from the Ships of the Line calendar series. The kits will be shipped in cases of twelve, with the Enterprise and Reliant being more common, with four of each in each case, while there will be two per case of the Defiant and D7s. So far only the Reliant has been previewed (image via Tower Hobbies).

Also new from Round 2 Models is their re-issue of the AMT USS Enterprise cutaway model kit. This 1:537 scale kit was first released a couple of decades ago, and the new release comes with an expanded decal sheet, a base, and a new box art (which you can check out after the jump, via Monsters in Motion):

Amazing new covers for Seekers, Corps of Engineers, and more.

Closer look at this year's Star Trek Hallmark Keepsake ornaments

Titan: Sight Unseen cover

Eurydice, Part 3 preview

Resistance preview

Books covers: Atonement, Ascendance, and posters!

Starships Collection updates: USS Enterprise, Relativity, and more hints of things to come

The Next Generation coins

More new covers! Costumes, TOS and COE.

Complete 2016 Ships of the Line line-up revealed

Next movie title confirmed: Star Trek Beyond

IDW August titles, and other Star Trek comics news

Ron Moore's little ships

New starship lands in China, comes with T-Rex and X-Wing Fighter!

New Star Trek gnomes, and summer-ready novelty goods

More Green Lantern crossover covers!

Starships Collection's Centaur class, Klingon Attack Ship, TOS shuttlecraft, and more

Wobbling whales with a spring in their tails

Platinum tribbles, for the discerning trekkie

Ships of the Line model kits on the way