The Modern Home of Trek Comics
IDW Publishing (2007–Present)
IDW has now held the Trek licence longer than any other publisher in the franchise’s history, and the output reflects that tenure — over 500 issues across dozens of series, covering every television era, both film timelines, and crossovers with properties nobody could reasonably have predicted. It is the most substantial body of Trek comics ever produced under a single publisher.
The material is organised here by track rather than chronologically, because the IDW output doesn’t read as a single continuous narrative. The classic continuity track, the Kelvin timeline, the modern TV tie-ins, John Byrne’s photographic comics series, and the wild crossovers are all genuinely different reading experiences. TPB coverage is strong across most of the catalogue — far better than any previous publisher.
Stories set in the Prime Universe expanding on the original television series. Year Five is the flagship — 25 issues tracking the literal final year of Kirk’s five-year mission, completed 2019–2021, and one of the strongest sustained Trek comic runs IDW has produced. The TNG Mirror Universe material is a standout: Mirror Broken and Through the Mirror develop a distinct internal logic rather than simply inverting familiar characterisation.
Countdown is essential reading for anyone who watched the 2009 film and wanted the full context of how the Prime and Kelvin universes connect — it bridges the Prime TNG universe and the film by showing the Hobus supernova and Nero’s backstory. The ongoing series supervised by Roberto Orci adapted classic TOS episodes for the new cast and told original Kelvin stories across 60 issues.
Companion comics to the streaming-era series, most functioning as canonical prequels or between-season expansions. The Picard Countdown — following Raffi and Picard during the Romulan evacuation mission — is the most substantial and most directly relevant to understanding the television series.
John Byrne took actual screenshots from the original television series, digitally composited and manipulated them, and wrote and drew brand-new photographic Trek comics. Twenty-two issues and several specials, all TOS, all using television footage as raw artistic material. Nothing else in Trek comics history looks remotely like this.
IDW leaned into franchise crossovers with commitment. The Doctor Who crossover — Cybermen and Borg against the Eleventh Doctor and Captain Picard — is well-executed. The Transformers crossover places the animated Trek crew alongside G1 Transformers. The Planet of the Apes crossover somehow works better than it has any right to. The Green Lantern duology gives Starfleet officers power rings and does something coherent with the concept.
For new readers: Year Five #1 for TOS in the Prime Universe; Countdown for the full context of the 2009 film; Mirror Broken for TNG. For crossovers, the Doctor Who series is the most ambitious and the Transformers series is the most fun — both self-contained.
You want to read Trek comics being produced today, or you want the most comprehensively collected era in history. IDW’s TPB output makes most of the reading list readily available in trade, which is why this is the most accessible era to read systematically.
Review coming.