Star Trek & the Green Lantern Join Forces in THE SPECTRUM WAR

It's not often that you see cross-overs between the fictional universes of competing comic book companies.  Maybe it is because they don't want to dilute their brands and intellectual property rights by meshing them with characters they don't have ownership rights over; or they don't want to provide a competitive or financial advantage to one of their competitors; or it just might be a big hassle publishers don't want to spend time and effort dealing with.  Comic book publisher IDW seems to be an exception to the cross-over prohibition though as it has had some fun creating entertaining limited series that unite one of it its key licenses Star Trek with other brands to attract new customers to its comic books and exhilarate its current base of fans.  First they had a cross-over 8 issue limited series a few years ago with sci-fi favorite Dr. Who that pitted the crew of the Enterprise along with the Doctor and his companions in a fight versus a united threat created by the Cybermen and Borg working together.  More recently IDW teamed up with rival Boom Studios for a 5 issue Planet of the Apes/Star Trek mini series that teamed up Colonel George Taylor with Captain James T Kirk versus villainous Klingons and gorillas as they deal with the "Primate Directive" on an Earth ruled by apes. Based upon the success of these two previous cross-overs, IDW is now joining forces with DC Comics for THE SPECTRUM WAR which unites the characters from the new Star Trek movies with the Green Lantern Corps.

Star Trek/Green Lantern #1 hits stores on Wednesday, July 8 2015 kicking off a six issue comic book saga called The Spectrum War which depicts the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise meeting the Green Lantern Corps. According to the teaser for this IDW/DC Comics joint venture, "Kirk and Spock make an unusual discovery on a lost world in the process igniting events that will change the fate of empires."  If you enjoy super hero adventures and sci-fi stories this seems to be a great fit that combines two popular brands within this comic book story.

I'm looking forward to picking up this first issue to check it out for myself.  Star Trek/Green Lantern #1 is 32 pages and priced at $3.99.  So what do you think.  Are cross-overs that merge franchises great or should characters just stay tied to their own fictional universes?

STAR TREK goes to the APES

With the recent box office successes of the movies RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES and DAWN OF THE PLANET OF THE APES, the Planet of the Apes franchise is a hot commodity again.  Based upon that renewed popularity, BOOM! STUDIOS the publisher of Planet of the Apes comic books is hoping to have the apes explode off the printed page by creating an epic crossover miniseries with another classic SciFi brand STAR TREK.  Have you ever wondered what it would be like to "mind-meld" with a sentient ape...I have to say I haven't but I am sure there are some folk out there who have...or wanted to see a Klingon on horseback brandishing a rifle?  Boom! Studios threw out those scenarios when it announced at Comic Con that its partnering with IDW Publishers, who holds the comic book license for Star Trek, to present an alternate future where Star Trek and Planet of the Apes crossover.


IDW will publish the mini-series which will pair the original U.S.S. Enterprise crew with Taylor, Nova, and the cast of the original Planet of the Apes film.  This will mark the first time Boom! Studios has partnered with another publisher for a comic book series.  Together they will bring Star Trek, licensed by CBS Consumer Products, and 20th Century Fox's Planet of the Apes together in a product the publishers exclaim will delight existing fans of these two franchises and create new fans for each of these two brands.

In a press release IDW President & Chief Operating Officer, Greg Goldstein and Boom! Studios Founder and CEO Ross Richie comments on this upcoming min-series which they called the "crossover event of the year."

"Planet of the Apes and Star Trek are groundbreaking science-fiction properties and both deal with many of the same social issues and themes,”  Greg Goldstein noted.  “A crossover between the two is a natural and long overdue.”

“Before I could read comic books as a child, I could watch science fiction on my television. My dad used to wake me up way past my bedtime to watch Star Trek in syndication—it came on after the nightly news—and I took a Planet of the Apes lunchbox with me to kindergarten every day,” said Ross Richie. “Suffice to say, teaming up these two titans of science fiction on the page in a way that they probably will never meet each other on the silver screen is a huge moment for me personally and emotionally.”

The creative team on this project will be a mix of veteran comic authors Scott and David Tipton scripting the series and the interior and cover art being created by British newcomer Rachael Stott.  The Tipton's recently worked on another high profile Star Trek cross-over with the recent Star Trek: The Next Generation/Doctor Who mini-series that IDW published.

“With the Klingons secretly backing a renegade gorilla general in a coup for control of Ape City, Captain Kirk finds himself in the uncomfortable position of having to help out Dr. Zaius’ orangutans,” explains David Tipton. “Taylor won’t be happy with that!”

“What an epic pairing! I’m so excited to see Taylor, Kirk…and those damned dirty apes…in our upcoming comic,” says IDW editor Sarah Gaydos, “We’re eager to team up these exciting creative forces to bring this to life.”