In 1979 Star Trek made the leap to the silver screen with the release of Star Trek: The Motion Picture. Now, 44 years later, IDW Publishing is returning to pick up with the immediate aftermath of the events of the film in a brand new miniseries.
Acclaimed screenwriter, producer, and comic book writer Marc Guggenheim (CW’s television series Arrow and DC’s Legends of Tomorrow, Star Wars: Han Solo & Chewbacca) will assume the captain’s chair for an all-new, five-issue comic book series, Star Trek: The Motion Picture—Echoes, set immediately after the events of the film.
Featuring spectacular artwork by Oleg Chudakov and colors by DC Alonso, Echoes pits the venerated Captain James T. Kirk and his crew against enemies both terrifying and shockingly familiar! When a space anomaly thrusts a criminal mastermind—pursued by a very determined pilot on a mission—into our universe, the Enterprise must stop them from unintentionally starting a war with the Romulans and unleashing a superweapon of foreign technology into the system. But things get infinitely more complicated when these newcomers to our reality remove their helmets, revealing that they’re doppelgängers of our beloved heroes!
“Despite watching the occasional fragment of a Star Trek episode here and there with my father, my true introduction was going to see Star Trek: The Motion Picture with my grandparents—I was entranced. I’m thrilled that IDW and Paramount Global have allowed me to revisit that time period, which was so impactful to me and my love of Star Trek,” says Guggenheim. “Almost all Trek stories are told from the point of view of the Enterprise crew, but I was interested in telling a story from the perspective of an outsider as a means of recapturing how it felt for me when I first saw Star Trek: The Motion Picture.”
“What does it mean to draw this new Star Trek adventure? It’s like revisiting my childhood, but at the same time learning something new. It’s amazing!” says Chudakov.
“When everything in life feels like it’s moving too fast towards the future, it’s always important to step back and revisit where it all came from. And that’s exactly what we’re doing with this comic focusing on the Star Trek: The Motion Picture time frame,” says series editor Heather Antos. “No one knows more about this period in Trek history than Guggenheim, we’ve learned…and we could think of no one better suited to take Captain Kirk and his crew on this wild adventure. Paired with Chudakov’s energetic, character-driven inks, this is one mission that the crew of the Enterprise soon won’t forget. Oh, and did we mention that there are possible easter eggs to some of our other Trek books, too?”
Arriving in stores this May, Star Trek: The Motion Picture—Echoes #1 will be available with multiple cover variants for retailers and fans to enjoy, including Cover A by Jake Bartok, Cover B by series artist Oleg Chudakov, and retailer incentive variants by Luke Sparrow and Rod Reis.
