Star Trek: Alien Spotlight, Volume I is the first miniseries in the Alien Spotlight series of comics published by IDW Publishing. The series of six issues is thematically linked in a focus on alien races, but the issues are otherwise unconnected. Each issue, set either in Star Trek: The Original Series or Star Trek: The Next Generation time frame, was written and illustrated by a different creative team.
Following the success of this first series IDW continued the concept forward into Alien Spotlight, Volume II.
Introduction[]
In the vast Star Trek universe, many diverse alien races abound, and now they finally get their due! Presenting a collection of six tales set throughout the Star Trek galaxy, each by a different creative team and featuring a different Star Trek alien race. This collection includes stories of the Gorn, Vulcans, Andorians, Orions, the Borg, and Romulans (by industry legend John Byrne), and features guest-stars such as Captains Kirk and Pike, Spock, and many other familiar faces.
Overview[]
Alien Spotlight was IDW's first Star Trek anthology series, the first time one of their miniseries did not feature a consistent creative team or artistic style. The only thing linking the individual issues together was that each of their stories highlighted an alien race from Star Trek.
How each issue went about putting the featured species in the spotlight varied from issue to issue. The Romulan issue was the only one in the miniseries not to feature Starfleet personnel or primary characters from TOS or TNG. After the Romulan issue the Andorians comes in as the issue with the greatest concentration of the featured species; with the exception of the opening pages the entire issue takes place on Andor and features Andorian characters. In contrast the Vulcan and Orion issues feature just a single member of their featured race.
Development[]
Since its earliest announcements the series underwent several changes in the creative teams involved: The Orion issue, originally to be written by Dan Taylor, was written by the Scott & David Tipton. The Vulcan issue was to written by Rick Remender was written by James Patrick, with Remender receiving a story credit. And the Borg issue was written by Andrew Steven Harris rather than the originally announced Steve Niles.
Issues[]
| Title | The Gorn | Vulcans | Andorians: The Old Ways | Orions | Borg | Romulans |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writer | Scott & David Tipton | James Patrick | Paul D. Storrie | Scott & David Tipton | Andrew Steven Harris | John Byrne |
| Artist | David Messina | Josep Maria Beroy | Leonard O'Grady | Elena Casagrande | Sean Murphy | |
| Published | 10 October 2007 | 7 November 2007 | 21 November 2007 | 19 December 2007 | 23 January 2008 | 27 February 2008 |
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Each issue of this series was available in four covers. Two covers were distributed in equally wide availability, one by Zach Howard (with colors by Leonard O'Grady) and one by the issue's interior artist. The other two covers for each issue were more limited availability retail incentive covers, each issue had both a sketch cover (the Zach Howard cover for all issues except the Romulans which used the issue artist's cover) and a photo-cover.
Chronology[]
The series featured stories from a wide range of periods in Star Trek history, the chronological order of the stories is as follows:
| Issue | Date | Setting |
|---|---|---|
| Vulcans | c. 2253 | Shortly after Spock joined the crew of the Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike, prior to the TOS pilot episode "The Cage". |
| Orions | c. 2264 | Shortly after Christopher Pike was promoted to Fleet Captain, prior to the TOS episode: "The Menagerie". |
| Romulans | 2266 | Immediately before the TOS episode: "Balance of Terror". |
| The Gorn | c. 2282 | Prior to the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, when Chekov was serving on the USS Reliant. |
| Andorians: The Old Ways | 2370 | Shortly after the final TNG episode "All Good Things..." |
| Borg | 2379 | Between the TNG movies Insurrection and Nemesis. Also has time travel to just before the TNG episode: "The Neutral Zone". |
Appendices[]
Connections[]
External links[]
- Alien Spotlight, Volume I article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
- Alien Spotlight page at the Star Trek Comics Checklist