"Turnaround, Part I", the first Second Stage comic, and only issue marked with the Second Stage title
Star Trek: Second Stage was a general title used by IDW Publishing to refer to its second year of Star Trek publications. The brand was announced in a press-release on 27 December 2007 which also officially announced four new miniseries by the company. Star Trek editor for IDW at the time, Andrew Steven Harris, described the intent of Second Stage as follows:
- We're expanding our slate of titles to four issues a month, so that there's a feeling of weekly appointment reading for our audience, like a Star Trek TV show. At the same time, we want each title to have the significance of a Star Trek film, so that each series is a seminal comics event. That's the level that we're shooting for with STAR TREK: SECOND STAGE.
The launch of Second Stage also marked an increase in established talent IDW recruited to produce their comics, with veteran Star Trek writers such as Peter David and D.C. Fontana contributing to series under the banner.
The press release suggested every issue that was part of the Second Stage would be marked with a logo. However, only the first issue of the first Second Stage miniseries, "Turnaround, Part I", featured the Second Stage title.
Second Stage miniseries[]
The initial press-release for Second Stage announced four new miniseries, it is not clear if subsequent series are included as part of Second Stage as the suggested branding was never implemented.
- Turnaround
- By Peter David, art by Stephen Thompson
- Advertised as the official continuation of the Star Trek: New Frontier series, and noted as the first New Frontier comics miniseries (though not the first comic, see Double Time).
- Year Four: The Enterprise Experiment
- By D.C. Fontana and Derek Chester, art by Gordon Purcell
- The continuation of IDW's Year Four concept, carrying on the USS Enterprise's five-year mission beyond the conclusion of the TV series.
- Assignment: Earth
- Written and illustrated by John Byrne
- Bringing the spin-off of the episode "Assignment: Earth" that never was to life as a comics miniseries. Also noted as Byrne's first Star Trek miniseries (following on from his one-shot for IDW, "Alien Spotlight: Romulans", to be published shortly after the press release).
- Mirror Images
- By Scott and David Tipton, art by David Messina
- A TOS series set in the mirror universe showing James T. Kirk's rise to command the Enterprise.
- Chris Ryall was also listed as writer on the series, but did not ultimately contribute to the series. The press release also suggested a second TNG-focused Mirror Image miniseries would follow, written by Andrew Steven Harris and George Strayton - this series did not appear, instead evolving into the Myriad Universes miniseries The Last Generation by Harris, and an additional issue to the Mirror Images series in the form of a single issue TNG flash-forward mid-way through the series.