Star Trek Reveals New Details, First Look at Day of Blood Crossover

IDW Publishing has revealed new details about the first-ever Star Trek summer comic book crossover event story, . This arc begins with “Prelude to Day of Blood,” an introductory story included in IDW’s Star Trek: Day of Blood Free Comic Book Day issue, releasing on Free Comic Book Day, May 6th. The event then begins in earnest in July, unfolding in the pages of the flagship ongoing and the upcoming , which begins in March. “Prelude to Day of Blood” is co-written by Star Trek writers Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly and Star Trek: Defiant writer Christopher Cantwell, featuring artwork by Mike Feehan.

In “Prelude to Day of Blood,” the U.S.S. Santa Cruz visits the Kovat colony, the site where Curzon Dax once tried to broker a lasting peace with the Klingons, for the Kot’baval festival. While it’s meant to be a straightforward observational mission, things turn ugly when the godkiller cult uses the event to reveal themselves to the galaxy.

“I’ve been nothing short of ecstatic to be a part of this new, larger Star Trek initiative at IDW,” says Cantwell in a statement on StarTrek.com. “There were moments in our writers’ room with Jackson and Collin where I couldn’t believe we were really doing this — not just telling one Star Trek story but weaving together multiple Trek stories at the same time, with plotlines from Star Trek and Star Trek: Defiant converging. We threw all our boldest ideas and best character pairings into a story of pure chaos, starship battles, and real epic dramatic resonance you can only achieve in the scope of comics.”

“It’s time for Benjamin Sisko to face the past,” says Lanzing, “and for readers to finally get a look at the true fallout of the Dominion War. Deep Space Nine is the inspiration for this entire line, so it feels only right that the crew of the U.S.S. Theseus come back to where it all started.”

“As lifelong Star Trek fans, Jack and I have been dreaming of this kind of thing since we can remember. This is the kind of event you could only do in comics, with enormous stakes and two starship crews colliding in the middle of a truly deadly crisis. This is our season finale, and it all begins in Free Comic Book Day’s Prelude to Day of Blood.”

“Star Trek: Day of Blood is what this last year of comic book planning has been all about,” says senior editor Heather Antos. “It all leads to this moment. Was Sisko the correct choice of the Prophets? Will Worf’s Klingon honor serve him well? Or will the two remain in the crossfires of the godkiller? Jackson, Collin, and Chris are asking some of the biggest questions we’ve ever seen in Star Trek comics, and it’s time to answer them in the franchise’s first-ever classic summer crossover event.”