Star Trek’s best new series is returning with an official sequel. IDW, who holds the license to produce Star Trek comics, is helping celebrate the franchise’s 60th anniversary with a plethora of new titles. The first, the adjective-less Star Trek, will chronicle the adventures of Seven of Nine as captain of the Enterprise. Her lover Raifi will star in the other new title, called Zero Point. Both of these books are looking to capitalize on the line’s runaway success.
Star Trek: Redshirts, released last year, was a key part of IDW’s hot streak with the franchise. Written by Christopher Cantwell and drawn by Megan Levens, the miniseries riffed on the infamous “redshirt” trope, taking it to its violent and bloody extreme. Redshirts showed a side of the Star Trek universe that had only been hinted at.
Redshirts showed a side of the Star Trek universe that had only been hinted at.
The term “redshirt” derives its name from the color of the uniforms worn by Starfleet security personnel in the mid-23rd century. In many Star Trek episodes, these hapless redshirts would beam down with Kirk and Spock, only to be killed or maimed by whatever threat awaited them on the planet below. These deaths happened so often, and in great numbers, that it became an in-joke among Star Trek fans. The book, however, was far from funny, showing bad things happening to bad people and even worse things happening to good officers.
Return to the Dark and Violent World of Starfleet Security With Star Trek: Redshirts: Ghosts of the 21st Century
Gerry Duggan is Perfect for This Unique Star Trek Project
Now, as reported earlier on Popverse, IDW is returning to the violent world of the redshirts in Star Trek: Redshirts–Ghosts of the 21st Century. Written by Gerry Duggan, and featuring art by Scott Buoncristiano, Ghosts of the 21st Century, a redshirt discovers a dark, sinister conspiracy that stretches to the highest echelons of Starfleet.
IDW has released a first look at Ghosts of the 21st Century. The publisher is quoted by Popverse as saying:
Revenge is a dish best served on time delay. From Gerry Duggan (Deadpool, X-Men: Fall of the House of X) comes the next Red Shirts bloodbath. On the Federation’s farthest frontier, red shirts don’t just die—they’re used. When conscripted security grunt Harry Deubert finds contraband hidden inside a fallen comrade’s body, he uncovers Section Null—a secret Starfleet directorate turning disposable red shirts into assets in a sprawling criminal conspiracy. Teaming with Lyna Taval, an Andorian officer with her own covert agenda, Deubert digs too deep…and becomes a target.
Someone inside Starfleet Security is selling out the Federation. And once Deubert and Taval learn what red shirts are really for, there’s no going back.
In addition to information about the book’s plot, IDW has also spotlighted two of the book’s covers. While not providing any more information on the story, the covers do offer a clue as to when Ghosts of the 21st Century is set. Harry Daubert, the book’s protagonist, is wearing the “movie-era” uniforms, unveiled in The Wrath of Khan.
IDW’s new Ghosts of the 21st Century book is in perfect hands. A lifetime fan of the Star Trek franchise, Duggan was quoted in Popverse as saying:
It’s my pleasure to reunite both with Heather Antos from our Deadpool days, and with Scott Buoncristiano from our collaboration on The Dark Room series. I’ve not been able to enlist in Starfleet until now, but I can promise this new volume of Red Shirts is going to leave a very big bruise on Star Trek. The Romulans have an insidious plot to destabilize the Federation and it’s my privilege to help them and drop as many bodies as we can along the way. Set your phasers for fun, and see you in space.
As Duggan noted, he had worked with Star Trek Group Editor Heather Antos at Marvel while writing Deadpool. Duggan’s time penning the violent and darkly funny adventures of the Merc With a Mouth make him perfect for a book like Ghosts of the 21st Century.
The First Redshirts Book Took a Long, Hard Look at Life in Starfleet
Ghosts of the 21st Century Promises to One-Up Its Predecessor
The first Redshirts series was a unique Star Trek book, and nothing quite like the franchise had attempted before. It was dark and brutal, depicting young officers meeting their ends in gruesome fashions. At the same time, Redshirts took an unflinching and honest look at the perils and pitfalls of deep space exploration. Ghosts of the 21st Century promises to take this deep dive into the darker side of the Star Trek universe to another level, showing that crime and conspiracy are everywhere.
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Ghosts of the 21st Century is also making a point about yet another running gag in the Star Trek fan community: conspiracies that stretch to Starfleet’s highest levels. Several Star Trek episodes, such as Deep Space Nine’s “Paradise Lost,” have been built around this premise, as have at least three Star Trek films. The mysterious “Section Null” is the latest in a long line of such conspiracies.
Ghosts of the 21st Century is going to mix riffing on these tropes, creating an even more violent and even more over the top experience than before. Redshirts’ was one of the most novel Star Trek stories in years, and now it’s getting an official sequel promising even more gore and a bigger body count.
Star Trek: Redshirts—Ghosts of the 21st Century is on sale July 22 from IDW Publishing!