‘Not Your Father's Star Trek’: New Updates On a Genre-Busting Star Trek Story Featuring the Iconic Red Shirts

IDW Publishing gives fans some major insight into one of the most horrifying Star Trek series of all time.

Speaking to CBR, Star Trek Group Story Editor Heather Antos opened up about the hotly-anticipated Star Trek: Red Shirts limited series set to release next month, as well as the three pieces of overtly brutal cover art gracing its first issue. "For me, that line of (Red Shirt) covers was like, ‘If everyone knows Red Shirts die…’ I think Chris Cantwell and I did the research, and I think the oldest Red Shirts live to be 45, or something like that, if they're lucky," Antos explained. "And they're very grizzled at 45! And it's like, ‘How do you recruit people to be this role that you know you're probably gonna die, in a very terrible way.’ So I wanted to do these military propaganda posters, that I think really came across. They're super fun, and I really enjoyed them."

Star Trek: Red Shirts #1

• Written by CHRISTOPHER CANTWELL
• Art by MEGAN LEVENS
• Main cover art by CHRIS SEHAN
• Variant covers by J.J. LENDL and DECLAN SHALVEY

Star Trek: Red Shirts is just one of three new limited series from IDW Publishing that are set to shake up the franchise in some truly shocking ways. The others, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The Seeds of Destruction and Star Trek Voyager: Homecoming are slated to follow with first issue debuts in August and September, respectively. Each series follows hot on the heels of the recently released Star Trek: Omega #1, which concluded the events of major storylines such as Lore War, all while setting up numerous new stories to come.

Regarding what Star Trek: Red Shirts has in store for readers when it arrives, Antos described some genuinely horrifying moments to come, as well as how the series redefines one of the most indelible parts of the entire franchise. "This book truly is the first idea I had for a Star Trek comic when I took over the line," Antos said. "But I knew Paramount wasn't ready to approve something like what this book is. Page one, we open with the Mugato scratching Miller's eye out of his face, right? It's very gruesome from the get-go. And then you have a splash page, 9-panel grid of all these Red Shirts dying in pretty terrible ways."

"I wanted to make it clear that this was not your father's Star Trek comic," Antos added. "This is not going to be like any other Star Trek comic you've ever read. If you have an idea of what Star Trek is, this is to challenge that idea. This very book, in and of itself, challenges the ideals of the Federation. The Federation allows these people to sacrifice themselves for their ideals, right? And that's the question and conversation that this book is having."

Source: IDW Publishing