YEAR'S END: A Look Back At 2023's Top STAR TREK Comics
STAR TREK Comics 2023.
DECEMBER 29, 2023 - IDW has given us plenty of Star Trek comics this year. We’ve had prequels, extensions, and mash-ups that we never expected, yet now can’t live without.
These are the top 10 comics/series that we got in 2023. Click on the section headings to learn more about any of the titles.
10. Star Trek: Day of Blood #1
One-off comic
Immortal emperor of the Klingon Empire, Kahless II has consolidated power, raided ancient tombs and secret bunkers, taken the power of gods for himself, stolen the Bajoran Orb of Destruction, and commenced a slaughter across the stars. But this genocide of gods was just the beginning. For with the power he has stolen, Kahless is about to declare war on all those who do not follow the Red Path. To prevent genocide unlike any since the ancient days of Qo'noS, the crew of icons led by the emissary known as Benjamin Sisko (Star Trek) and the renegades who follow a desperate and violent Worf (Star Trek: Defiant) must unite for a common cause. Only they can hope to stop the Day of Blood.
9. Star Trek: Warriors of The Mirror War
Trade paperback
Expand upon the world of The Mirror War in these short stories focusing on some of your favorite characters: Data, Geordi La Forge, Benjamin Sisko, and Deanna Troi! When Barclay becomes preoccupied with revenge, Data determines to help him right past wrongs so that the human can return to peak operating efficiency. Then, Geordi La Forge is on a scouting mission for Picard when he suddenly finds himself ambushed and teleported into an agony booth. When Benjamin Sisko is tasked with taking out Intendant Kira Nerys' political rival at a very public party, things quickly escalate from tense to dangerous when another figure from Sisko's past makes a dark appearance. And, in the finale, at the rise of a new dawn for the Terran Empire, Deanna Troi reflects on how far her ambition has driven her on her calculating quest to seek power and escape among the stars.
8. Star Trek: Resurgence
5-issue series carried over from the end of 2022
On a windswept planet bordering the notoriously hostile Talarian Republic, a scientist on the cusp of developing technology that will revolutionize warp goes missing. The crew of the U.S.S. Resolute is tasked with an urgent stealth mission to recover Dr. Leah Brahms and keep her research out of enemy hands. Tune in to the exclusive five-issue comic prequel to Dramatic Labs' highly anticipated narrative adventure game, Star Trek: Resurgence!
7. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The Scorpius Run
Another 5-issue mini-series that began in August 2023, final issue coming in January 2024
Come back to Strange New Worlds with a never-before-seen adventure of the hit Paramount+ show! Set course with Captain Pike and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise to the Scorpius constellation! As they venture into the unknown, the Enterprise crew learn what it truly means to traverse through the strange and unfamiliar when they lose contact with Starfleet and find themselves trapped in unexplored space!
6. Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Illyrian Enigma
4-part mini-series, filling the gap between the end of season one and the beginning of season two
Journey to new reaches in this exclusive comic tie-in set between seasons one and two of fan-favorite Paramount+ series Strange New Worlds! With Una accused of unlawful genetic modification by Starfleet, Captain Pike sets out in search of evidence that could prove his first officer's innocence.
5. Star Trek: Picard’s Academy
Another 5-issue mini-series
Before becoming the Federation's finest, Jean-Luc was an ordinary student at Starfleet Academy with sights on the stars. His path forward was charted: blow his classmates out of the water on the infamous Evasive Maneuvers exam and graduate early. But there's a detail Cadet Picard hadn't factored into his plan: the exam was a group project and he'd need to make friends with, ugh, people if he stood a chance at passing. Federation starships aren't run by a party of one, after all!
4. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine – The Dog of War
5-issue mini-series
BORK! An extremely rare purebred corgi from Earth makes its way aboard Deep Space 9 when Quark cuts a deal to procure it for a high buyer. After all, a Ferengi without profit is no Ferengi at all! But Latinum the corgi comes with unexpected cargo that shakes Captain Benjamin Sisko to the core: a Borg component discovered by a crew sent to uncover Cardassian technology after the station's reoccupation. Don't miss out on this exclusive "lost episode" celebrating the 30th anniversary of the fan-favorite show Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
3. Star Trek: The Motion Picture – Echoes
5-part mini-series
When a space anomaly thrusts a bounty hunter and her target - a criminal mastermind - into their universe, it's up to Kirk and his crew to stop them from unintentionally starting a war with the Romulans and unleashing a superweapon of foreign tech onto the system. But the strangers from another universe are more familiar than they assume for underneath their helmets are their doppelgangers from an alternate reality!
2. Star Trek: Lower Decks – Shax’s Best Day
One-off comic
You’ve seen Captains Benjamin Sisko and Worf with their crews of the U.S.S. Theseus and Defiant stop the fascist, god-killing clone Kahless II from declaring war on non-followers across the galaxy in a brutal battle on Qo’noS. But you haven’t seen it from the eyes of the man, the myth, the legend, Lieutenant Junior Grade Shaxs!
And finally, because it just doesn’t get any better than the original TOS crew combined with classic silly animated comic styles:
1. Star Trek: The Animated Celebration
4-part mini-series came to us in September 2023
Even includes Archie’s Gang-type animation in issue #2.
“Everything you know about the universe is wrong! We are living in an animated TV show! And your story arc is about to end!”
“It appears we have entered a world even more brutal than Klingon Society - - Earth HIGH SCHOOL!
If you’ve missed any of these, you can still find them at most local comic shops or on your favorite online store (or the links provided for each series straight from IDW.)
Thaddeus Tuffentsamer is an internationally selling author. His books have been sold in the US, the UK, Sweden, Germany, Singapore, South Korea, Japan, Italy, and France. He has a series of young reader novels, a satirical self-help book, (which, according to reviews, actually has some pretty solid counsel), and has joined the list of professional Sherlock Holmes authors.
He promises that his works will never contain profanity, gratuitous violence, or anything else that would prevent the entire family from enjoying them together.
He spends his days working in healthcare administration and in his evenings, in between plans for becoming “Lord Emperor of everything,” he types away at his keyboard letting his imagination out for the world to read.
He is fortunate to have a wonderful wife and two beautiful daughters. He currently lives in Goodyear Arizona with his wife.
