Star Trek Reveals Exclusive New Look at Red Shirts, Strange New Worlds Series

Star Trek fans can get a look at what IDW Publishing has in store for new titles featuring the Red Shirts and Strange New Worlds. A new era of Star Trek publishing is about to gear up as we race towards Star Trek: Omega, an oversized one-shot serving as the denouement of the critically acclaimed Star Trek comic series and Star Trek: Defiant storylines. Two of the new limited series spinning out of Star Trek: Omega are Star Trek: Red Shirts and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The Seeds of Destruction, launching in July and August, respectively. We have a first hand look at covers and interior art for both titles.

Videos by ComicBook.com

ComicBook has the exclusive first look at interior for Star Trek: Red Shirts #1 and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The Seeds of Destruction #1, as well as covers for Star Trek: Red Shirts #2 and Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The Seeds of Destruction #1. The Red Shirts are the nameless individuals who are sadly used as canon fodder in Star Trek stories, and the preview demonstrates this as we watch different ways they’re killed off. As for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The Seeds of Destruction, we see the cast of Chapel, Una, La’An, and Spock gathered around a table as they have a tense discussion, and then travel alongside them as they travel around a “strange new world.”

Star Trek: Red Shirts is by writer Christopher Cantwell and artist Megan Levens. Featuring a brand-new team of characters, the Red Shirts are commonly known as Starfleet’s fearless and doomed crew members. Now, these intrepid and ill-fated red-uniformed individuals finally get their own story, and no one is safe… Who will survive their deadly mission?

“Star Trek: Red Shirts is in honor of the nameless vaporized, incinerated, and otherwise blown apart, where they’re the main characters of a Star Trek-style suicide mission unlike any other,” Cantwell said. “We will get to know these ensigns and lieutenants intimately before they are likewise crushed, disrupter’d, and sucked into space. Who will survive? Will any? And what is the true nature of their planetside mission to hunt down mysterious spies? This is a major melody Original Series-era story in the key of Death, one I’ve wanted to tell for years, equal parts fun and harrowing, subversive and celebratory of the boldest tunic color one can wear in Starfleet—security red.”

“Star Trek: Red Shirts is a dream project for me, offering the opportunity to draw an entirely new cast of Starfleet officers… and then to kill them off in delightfully horrific ways!” Levens said. “From crusty veterans to fresh-faced (not for long!) ensigns, these new heroes are charging headfirst into strange new worlds, and finding that sometimes they’re just full of strange new ways to die.”

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – The Seeds of Destruction is by writer Robbie Thompson and artist Travis Mercer. Thompson also happens to be writing on Season 4 of the live-action Star Trek series. Beloved characters Chapel, Una, La’An, and Spock – plus a new adorable robot sidekick named D6 – are put on a classic adventure with plenty of twists and turns as they explore an ice-covered planet and the scary secrets that lurk deep beneath the surface…

“As a lifelong fan of Star Trek (TOS forever!), I was absolutely thrilled to get the call from editor extraordinaire Heather Antos to pitch on a Strange New Worlds miniseries,” Thompson said. “Working on the fourth season of the Paramount+ series has been a dream come true and I’m so excited to play in this sandbox further and be a part of the amazing line of Trek comics IDW has created. I’ve been a fan of Travis Mercer’s storytelling from afar, and it’s been a blast working with him and the rest of the team. We’re taking the SNW crew to one of the scariest and coldest corners of the universe, and I can’t wait for Trek fans everywhere to see the cosmic horrors we’ve cooked up!”

“After reading what Robbie has in store for the Enterprise crew, there was no way I was going to pass up this opportunity!” Mercer said. “The entire team is bringing you a story that’s about to make Strange New Worlds a lot stranger! Strap in folks!”

“As a lifelong Trek fan, I couldn’t be more excited for what’s next in the Star Trek line with Red Shirts, Voyager: Homecoming, and Strange New Worlds: The Seeds of Salvation,” Star Trek editor Heather Antos said. “With Red Shirts, we’re pulling back the curtain on the gritty, often-overlooked reality of life in Starfleet—this isn’t your father’s Star Trek. It’s raw, it’s dark, and it asks the hard questions about sacrifice and survival. Voyager: Homecoming is a heartfelt continuation that honors legacy while carving out a bold new future for the crew we all love. And with Seeds of Salvation, Strange New Worlds plunges into uncharted, Lovecraftian horror that will challenge everything our heroes believe about science, space, and themselves. These stories push the boundaries of the Star Trek universe in ways fans have never seen before.”