IDW Announces a New Star Trek Mini-Series Crossover Comic

Malachi Ward's cover for STAR TREK: DAY OF BLOOD #1. Image: IDW.

DECEMBER 1, 2022 - IDW’s new series, simply called Star Trek, released its second issue today, and boy is it good. As we covered when we attended New York Comic Con in October, the comic producers announced a slew of new series, one of which, Star Trek: Defiant, will be a direct spinoff of Star Trek.

Dave Gibbons' iconic cover for WATCHMEN #1. Image: DC.

Now they’ve announced a new miniseries, the first of its kind, which will be a crossover between the two ongoing Trek comic series, entitled Star Trek: Day of Blood. We know from IDW’s NYCC panel that Worf, who joined Sisko and the crew of the USS Theseus in the latest issue of Star Trek, will have a falling out with his captain, leaving him to steal the Defiant with a crew of ne’er-do-wells which includes Data’s brother Lore and Ro Laren. It’s likely that Day of Blood will be the first time the legitimate crew of the Theseus and the crew of the Defiant. Given Malachi Ward’s cover offers a glimpse of blood flowing down a Federation support officer’s uniform, it seems like the reunion won’t go well. (As an aside, the cover appears to be an homage to Dave Gibbons’ cover for the seminal comic Watchmen #1. It’s tempting to think the reference may be a hint to the mini-series’ plot.)

Star Trek fans love their crossovers. Remember when Scotty (who is the Theseus’ Chief Engineer) stopped by the USS Enterprise-D? Or how about when Sisko and his crew traveled back in time to meet Captain Kirk and his crew? But crossovers don’t only happen on the screen. IDW has crossed the Trek franchise over with any number of unlikely properties, including Dr. Who and the Green Lantern Corps.

But, as any gatekeeper will tell you, those comics aren’t considered “canon.” The IDW team at NYCC made it clear that going, forward, the comics will be canon, filling in the gaps the television storytelling has left open. Day of Blood co-writer Jackson Lanzing reiterated the sentiment in an interview with ComicBook.com, saying,

…we are working with the shows. We are in communication with the teams. We are encyclopedic Star Trek knowledge boys, so we're on Memory-Alpha all the time, but our brains are effectively little Memory-Alphas. We're already fed by all the canon that we grew up with, that being TOS to Voyager. So all of that stuff, if it was on the show, it's canon.

It seems likely that Star Trek: Day of Blood will be the first of many crossover comics IDW will produce while they’re writing the ongoing series. DSTN will cover plot details and such as they are announced. For right now, we can tell you that you’ll be able to pick up a free preview copy of Prelude to Day of Blood at participating comic book shops on May 6, 2023.