IDW Publishing announced this week a major expansion of its Star Trek comics line timed to the franchise’s 60th anniversary, headlined by two new ongoing series launching this fall.
A new Star Trek #1 arrives in September from writer Christopher Cantwell and artist Dennis Menheere.
“As we look back on 60 years of Star Trek, we celebrate a story universe that has actually always been about looking forward — a shared dream swirling within the daunting wonder and awe of the stars,” Cantwell said. “I discovered Star Trek at the age of 10 and my life was never the same. The worlds, the people, the stories that wrestled with the work it takes to build community and consensus, to establish and hold sacred values like peace and harmony, the tenuousness of truce amid a galaxy of agendas and perspectives. That is the magic of Star Trek — the kaleidoscopic wonder of its complex themes and notions.”
The series follows Captain Seven of Nine leading the Enterprise-G beyond the four quadrants of the galaxy for the first time in franchise history, into a hidden region of space where time fractures and an unseen power manipulates fear itself.
Cantwell added that in building this new Star Trek adventure, they are seeking to “create something brand new, something that looks entirely forward into the hope of the complete — and at times frightening — unknown, all as our ensemble of characters stands shoulder to shoulder, facing the expanse of an adventure never dared before. There is an abundance of incredible mythos that Star Trek has given us over six decades, but with this launch we seek to shed that past even as we embrace its best qualities.”
Cantwell has been active in the Star Trek comics space at IDW. He wrote Star Trek: Red Shirts, a five-issue series with artist Megan Levens that centered on Original Series-era security officers and their tendency to die. Before that, he also wrote Star Trek: Defiant.
Then landing in October is Star Trek: Zero Point #1 from writer Charlie Jane Anders and an unrevealed art team. It will follow Captain Raffi Musiker as she commands a starship tasked with preventing future disasters, guided by an AI wearing a familiar face.
“I’ve loved Star Trek for as long as I can remember — literally, some of my earliest memories are of wearing a homemade Starfleet uniform and waiting to get beamed up. I’m putting all my favorite Trek things into this comic: problem solving, ethical dilemmas, identity crises, and above all, chosen family,” Anders said.
Zero Point marks Anders’ first time writing a Star Trek comic, but she’s a novelist and Hugo Award winner best known for science fiction prose, with comics credits that include New Mutants and Women of Marvel.
She added that she’s writing the series to be accessible to readers with no prior Trek knowledge. “Anyone who loves Becky Chambers or Martha Wells ought to be able to pick up this comic and get a fun science fiction story about artificial consciousness and exoplanets,” she said.
The anniversary year also includes two one-shots: Star Trek: Celebrations 2026 in May, featuring LGBTQIA+ creators telling stories of the franchise’s queer characters with covers by Adelle Kincel, Noah Dao and Linnea Jalando-on, and a 50-page Star Trek: 60th Anniversary Special in September with new stories by Ryan North, Derek Charm, David Walker and others. Additional titles include Star Trek: Starfleet Academy — Lost Contact #1 on April 15, plus new issues of the ongoing series Star Trek: The Last Starship and Star Trek: Lower Decks. IDW said further announcements are planned later in the year.