IDW Publishing will offer three Star Trek comics for May, one of which will be revealed later this week.

The titles are: Star Trek #9 and Star Trek Classics, Vol. 3: Encounters With the Unknown.

In Star Trek #9, the original series episode The Return of The Archons is re-imagined as “Kirk, Spock and their Enterprise crewmates seek to find a lost Starfleet ship that just might hold important clues to the Federation’s future.”

Star Trek #9, overseen by Roberto Orci, is written by Mike Johnson, with art by Stephen Molnar and covers by Tim Bradstreet and Joe Phillips. The issue is thirty-two pages in length and will sell for $3.99.

In Star Trek Classics, Vol. 3: Encounters With the Unknown, four Star Trek: Voyager stories will be featured. They include: False Colors, Avalon Rising, Elite Force and Planet Killer.

Writers include: Nathan Archer, Janine Ellen Young, Doselle Young, Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith. Artists include: Jeffrey Moy, David Roach and Robert Teranishi. Cover art was done by Drew Struzan.

Star Trek Classics, Vol. 3: Encounters With the Unknown is two hundred-and-four pages in length and will sell for $21.99.

For fans of both the Star Trek and the Doctor Who franchises, the news from IDW Publishing regarding a crossover comic series should make them happy.

In May, a Doctor Who/Star Trek: The Next Generation crossover comic series will be released.

The series will feature The Doctor, Rory, Amy, Captain Picard, Will Riker, Data, Geordie LaForge, Worf, Deanna Troi and more.

This will be the first officially sanctioned crossover for the Doctor Who universe. Star Trek has had crossovers with X-Men and the Legion of Superheroes, the latter of which is still in progress.

In Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #4, “the Starfleet officers and Legionnaires have split into two teams, with members of both groups on each team.”

“One group travels back in time to the moment when their own histories were truncated and this new blended timeline came into being, while the other team travels to the heart of the Imperial Planets of Earth. So as one team finds themselves witnessing what happened in the deep past to change history, the other team discovers the far reaching effects of the aftermath in the present.”

Written by Chris Roberson, Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #4 features covers by Phil Jimenez and Chris Sprouse, and art by Jeffrey Moy and Phillip Moy.

The thirty-two page long Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #4 will sell for $3.99.

Click on the thumbnails below for larger photos. More pages can be found at the referring site.

According to TrekMovie.com, one of the writers of the new series admitted in the latest issue of Star Trek Magazine that clues could be found in the comics.

“One of the great things about working with Bob [Orci] is that we are able to use the ongoing series to very subtly lay in clues to the next movie,” said Mike Johnson. “There might even be a tiny hint of a subplot in the first issue.”

The first “subtle hint” may be found in the first issue, which released in September, and that some “thematic foreshadowing” may be found in issue #4, which releases today. “When you see the movie,” said Johnson,” you will be able to look back to the comics and say, ‘oh, I see what they did there.’”

In Star Trek #4, “Mr. Spock faces a deadly choice as he tries to save the crew of a stranded shuttle,” in a story that “re-imagines” the original series’ Galileo 7, but with the new Star Trek crew.

The comics include: Star Trek #7, Star Trek 100-Page Spectacular 2012, Star Trek Vol. 1, and Star Trek/Legion of SuperHeroes #6.

In Star Trek #7, a “major element of the plot centers on the Vulcans, some of whom are just trying to survive in the wake of their homeworld’s destruction. Others, of course, pursue what they consider the only logical response to the Romulan aggression – revenge.”

Set in the Abrams’ Trek-verse, Star Trek #7 was written by Mike Johnson, with art by Joe Corroney and cover art by Tim Bradstreet. The thirty-two page issue will sell for $3.99.

The Star Trek 100-Page Spectacular 2012 will feature several classic Star Trek comic book stories, including one with a “mischievous alien wreaking havoc, and a heroic-yet-tragic captain.”

Writers for this issue include Scott and David Tipton, and Stuart Moore. Artwork was created by Elena Casagrande and J.K. Woodward, with cover art by Joe Corroney. The one hundred page issue will cost $7.99.

In Star Trek Vol. 1, several Abrams-verse stories are “re-imagined” original series episodes as seen “through the filter of the alternative timeline.”

Written by Mike Johnson, Star Trek Vol. 1 features art by Stephen Molnar and cover art by Tim Bradstreet. The 104 page issue will cost $17.99.

Finally, Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #6 will conclude the IDW/DC Comics crossover collaboration. In this issue, “Kirk and his crew and Cosmic Boy and the rest of his Legionnaires play out the quest to restore their respective histories. However, with one half of their teams held prisoner in the future and the other half stuck in the past, it may be too late.”

Written by Chris Roberson, Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #6 features art by Jeffrey and Philip Moy, with covers by Phil Jimenez and Jeffrey Moy. A variant cover features artwork by J.K. Woodward.

This issue of the Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes series is written by Chris Robertson, with art by Jeffrey and Philip Moy, with covers by Phil Jimenez and Mike Grell.

In Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #3, “Captain Kirk and the crew of the Starship: Enterprise have come face to face with Cosmic Boy and the other members of the Legion of Super-Heroes, and each team assumes that the other is responsible for the change in the timeline that landed them in this strange world. But will they find common ground in time to defend themselves from an attack by an elite group of imperial enforcers, some of whom are very familiar to the two teams?”

Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #3 is thirty-two pages in length and sells for $3.99. Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge the photos. More pages can be found at the referring site.

The three new comics include: Star Trek #6, Star Trek Classics Vol. 2: Enemy Unseen and Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #5.

Star Trek #6 will complete the reimagined Operation: Annihilate! story. In Star Trek #6, Kirk and his estranged brother will work together to prevent the extinction of a colony.

Written by Mike Johnson, with art by Joe Corroney and cover art by Tim Bradstreet, the thirty-two page issue will cost $3.99 and will come in one of two covers; a photo cover or a Bradstreet sketch cover.

Star Trek Classics Vol. 2: Enemy Unseen is a reprint book containing three Star Trek: The Next Generation stories. Running 224 pages in length, the stories in Star Trek Classics Vol. 2 are: Perchance to Dream, Embrace the Wolf and The Killing Shadows. Authors for the above stories are Keith R.A. DeCandido, Christopher Golden, Tom Sniegoski and Scott Ciencin. Artwork is by Scott Benefiel, Andrew Currie, Dave Hoover and Peter Pachoumis, with cover at by Drew Stuzan.

Star Trek Classics Vol. 2: Enemy Unseen will cost $21.99.

Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #5 is the fifth of six stories in a series. In this comic, “the most unlikely of allies race the clock to return to their respective timelines and set things right.”

Written by Chris Roberson, the thirty-two-page issue features art by Jeffrey and Philip Moy, with covers by Phil Jimenez and Mike Allred, and a variant cover by Mario Alberti.

Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #5 will sell for $3.99.

The comics to be released this holiday season include: Star Trek #4, Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Gorn Crisis and Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #3.

Star Trek #4 will continue the adventures of the Star Trek XI crew in this alternate version of the original series The Galileo Seven episode.

Written by Mike Johnson, Star Trek #4 features art by Stephen Molnar and covers by Tim Bradstreet and Joe Corroney. Star Trek #4 is thirty-two pages in length and will sell for $3.99.

In The Gorn Crisis, Captain Picard and crew turn to the Gorn for help during a brutal war, but the Gorn have problems of their own and they remember a previous encounter with Captain Kirk in Arena.

Written by Kevin J. Anderson and Rebecca Moesta, The Gorn Crisis features art and a cover by Igor Kordey. The Gorn Crisis is a reprint of a trade paperback; is 104 pages in length and will sell for $15.99.

The third IDW Trek publication due out in December is the Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #3, written by Chris Roberson with art by Jeffrey Moy and Philip Moy and covers by Phil Jimenez and Mike Grell.

In Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #3, Kirk and his crew meet Cosmic Boy and other members of the Legion of Superheroes. Both groups believe that the other group caused a timeline change that has stranded them all in a strange world. The two groups need to find common ground, while fending off “familiar” enemies.

Thirty-two pages in length, Star Trek/Legion of Superheroes #3 will cost $3.99.

The two new comics from IDW Publishing for November include a story from the crew of the Enterprise from Star Trek XI, and an IDW/DC Comics original series/Legion of Super-Heroes crossover story.

In Star Trek #3, “The adventures of the new Enterprise crew continue in this re-imagining of the classic episode The Galileo 7! Mr. Spock finds himself in command of a stranded shuttle crew fighting for survival, in a tale featuring the new cast from the blockbuster Star Trek film!”

Written by Mike Johnson, Star Trek #3 features art by Stephen Molnar and covers by Tim Bradstreet and Joe Corroney. The issue is thirty-two pages in length and will sell for $3.99.

Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #2 will also debut in November. In this issue, “Captain Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise have returned to Earth, but discover that it isn’t the Earth they remember. And a group of Legionnaires stranded in the 23rd century find that history has changed around them. But can either team uncover what’s gone wrong in time? And what will happen when they encounter each other?”

Written by Chris Roberson, Star Trek/Legion of Super-Heroes #2 features art by Jeffrey Moy and Phillip Moy, with covers by Phil Jimenez and Steve Lightle. The issue is thirty-two pages in length and will sell for $3.99.

The Star Trek 100-Page Spectacular will feature “A quartet of stories,” which will “offer an exciting—and reasonably priced!—introduction to the IDW universe of Star Trek. The first three are stand-alone stories, while the fourth, Spock Reflections, is the first chapter (but one that works well on its own) of a larger series.”

Click on the thumbnails for larger photos of the comic book covers.

One of the ideas was for a Klingon series, and that resulted in Klingons: Blood Will Tell, of which Tipton is still proud. “I’m happy to say that I think Klingons: Blood Will Tell holds up really well these four or so years later,” he said. “I glanced through it for the first time in years when it was recently re-released in IDW’s Star Trek Omnibus, and I was pleased to see that I was overall very satisfied with it.”

Although Tipton enjoys writing for each of the series and the various characters; some are more fun than the rest. “Every series brings with its own unique pleasures,” he said. “I’ve gotten to work with Spock a lot, and I think I’ve got a good handle on him. Picard is a delight to write, to tinker with the cadences and find that line or phrase you could really hear Patrick Stewart deliver. I expected to have trouble with Sisko, but found that his voice seemed to just come together naturally. But I think by far the most fun is the Kirk/Spock/McCoy triangle. McCoy really allows you that opportunity for humor that’s a little harder to come by in some of the other series, and playing off that relationship between the three of them gives you so much to work with.”

Tipton has a website, Comics 101, that is updated each Wednesday. “…Comics 101…continues to be updated every Wednesday with my weekly column on comics history, humor and whatever else comic-related strikes my fancy,” said Tipton.

Fans of Space Seed and Star Trek: II: The Wrath of Khan are eagerly awaiting the Khan: Ruling in Hell series, to be written by Tipton and his brother David. “The Khan series has been a blast,” said Tipton. “We’re looking at Khan’s lost years, between the events of Space Seed and The Wrath of Khan, his years marooned on Ceti Alpha V. We want to explore what happens to a man so powerful, so capable, who’s confronted with this kind of loss, the ultimate ‘no-win scenario,’ if you will. It’s the first time I’ve ever written a tragedy; it’s been quite an experience. The art is by Fabio Mantovani, and he’s turning in beautiful, emotionally rich pages. I can’t wait for readers to take a look.”