Star Trek: Picard, the upcoming streaming series featuring Star Trek: The Next Generation character Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) won’t hit CBS All-Access until 2020, but two prequel projects for the show will be released first!

First up will be a deluxe 3-issue comic book miniseries from IDW Publishing, to be followed up by a novel from Simon & Schuster Gallery Books, both of which will center around events that take place before the beginning of the Star Trek: Picard streaming series.

I don’t know why I never thought of a Star Trek and Green Lantern crossover before, but it makes a lot of sense when you think about it. IDW Publishing, DC Comics, and CBS Consumer Products made the announcement this weekend at WonderCon 2015 that they are teaming up to release Star Trek/Green Lantern: The Spectrum War this July. The six-issue mini-series will be written by Mike Johnson with art by Angel Hernandez.

The Spectrum War will feature Hal Jordan and the Green Lantern Corps going into the world of Star Trek‘s 23rd Century, joining forces with the Federation after some of the Federation’s greatest enemies find themselves in possession of some Power Rings.

Star Trek #32
Written by Mike Johnson
Story Consultant: Robert Orci
Pencils by Erfan Fajar
Inks by Erfan Fajar & Yulian Ardhi
Colors by Sakti Yuwono and Ifansyah Noor of Stellar Labs
Letters by Neil Uyetake
Edits by Sarah Gaydos
Cover by Erfan Fajar
IDW Publishing
Release Date: April 23, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

Star Trek #32 continues the adaptation of the classic Star Trek series episode, “I Enterprise,” updated to fit into the new Star Trek continuity!

For this issue, writer Mike Johnson does a great job at wrapping up “I Enterprise.” We get some new spins and a couple of surprises, but what we get most of this issue is some GREAT character development. We all know who Kirk, Spock, and McCoy are, but things have changed a little in this new universe, and with it, so have those characters. We get to know a little bit more about them through the conflicts that they go through in this issue. And, it’s a surprisingly nice change of pace. This is a fantastically written installment by Johnson, who has been a bright spot in this series.

The omnipotent Q, a fan-favorite character from the Star Trek universe, is making his way to the JJ Abrams 2009 alternate timeline for a 6-issue run in IDW Publishing’s ongoing Star Trek comic book series.

Titled The Q Gambit, the 6-issue arc begins with Star Trek #35 and will see Q (who was played in Star Trek: The Next Generation by actor John de Lancie) together for the first time with the Captain Kirk (played on film by Chris Pine) of the recent films.

Star Trek #30
Parallel lives, Part 2 of 2
Written by Mike Johnson
Story Consultant: Roberto Orci
Art by Yasmin Liang
Colors by Zac Atkinson
Letters by Gilberto Lazcano
Cover by Cat Staggs
IDW Publishing
Release Date: February 26, 2014
Cover Price: $3.99

The previous issue of IDW’s Star Trek comic book series began the Parallel Lives storyline by introducing us to Jane Kirk, Captain of the USS Enterprise, and her crew. This issue, Star Trek, written by Mike Johnson, brings to a close one of the finest ‘episodes’ to come out of the divergent J.J. Abrams timeline.

When confronted with Jane Kirk and her predominately female crew, the first thing I noticed was the realization that I am a total misogynist. I didn’t realize it (my wife knew), but I suppose I was living denial. Having all the genders reversed showed how male-dominated crew positions on the Enterprise tend to be. Something I would not have noticed before.