IDW, which has published Star Trek comic books and graphic novels since 2007, has revealed the first details of three new Star Trek limited series launching later this year.
The first to arrive in July is Star Trek: Red Shirts. Written by Christopher Cantwell (Star Trek: Defiant) with art by Megan Levens (Star Trek), this five-issue miniseries follows Starfleet's redshirts. The redshirts are typically stock characters in Star Trek episodes who are often killed off shortly after being introduced.
Led by an experienced officer embedded on the snow-ridden planet Arkonia 89, the crew of the U.S.S. Warren has a small window in which to pin down spies seeking to steal classified secrets and keep Starfleet data out of their nefarious hands.
They face threats not only from their faceless enemies but from the brutalizing elements and wildlife of a planet far from home. The red shirts’ lives and Starfleet's sanctity are on the line…and no one is safe.
The crew of the U.S.S. Warren includes Ensign Zyna Raad, a 27-year-old human female born in Lebanon who long desired to be placed in Stellar Cartography but ended up in Security; Lt. Midge DeMatrio, the Brooklyn-born, Klingon War veteran who is Chief Security Officer of the ship; Lt. Webster Cromary, a Klingon War veteran and the longest serving Security officer in Starfleet; and Ensgin Chip Miller, a 23-year-old recent graduate from Starfleet who suffered serious injuries on his first and only field mission.
The cover above is drawn by Chris Shehan while the one below, Cover B, is by J.J. Lendl.
"STAR TREK: RED SHIRTS is in honor of the nameless vaporized, incinerated, and otherwise blown apart, where they're the main characters of a STAR TREK-style suicide mission unlike any other," said series writer Christopher Cantwell. "We will get to know these Ensigns and Lieutenants intimately before they are likewise crushed, disrupter'd, and sucked into space. Who will survive? Will any? And what is the true nature of their planet side mission to hunt down mysterious spies? This is a major melody Original Series-era story in the key of Death, one I've wanted to tell for years, equal parts fun and harrowing, subversive and celebratory of the boldest tunic color one can wear in Starfleet — security red."
"STAR TREK: RED SHIRTS is a dream project for me, offering the opportunity to draw an entirely new cast of Starfleet officers," added Megan Levens, "and then to kill them off in delightfully horrific ways! From crusty veterans to fresh-faced (not for long!) Ensigns, these new heroes are charging headfirst into strange new worlds, and finding that sometimes they're just full of strange new ways to die."
Star Trek: Red Shirts will launch in July 2025 and will run for five issues.