Star Trek Officially Celebrates Its 60th Anniversary With a Delightful Collection of All Star Creators

This review contains no spoilers for Star Trek 60th Anniversary Special , on sale in September from IDW Publishing .

In September 1966, Star Trek debuted for the very first time as a one-hour TV series on NBC on Thursday nights. Now, 60 years later, IDW Publishing is celebrating that very monumental point in pop culture history with a Star Trek 60th anniversary special . IDW is pulling out all the stops by having an all-star collection of talent produce this special.

Not only that, but the special will also serve as a launching point for IDW's new Star Trek ongoing series . There is a real sense of joy, and also, more importantly, honor throughout the special. It serves as a fascinating mixture between the many different eras that make up the history of Star Trek .

Star Trek 60th Anniversary Special #1 is from writers David Gerrold, Brian Michael Bendis, Mike McMahan, Ryan North, David F. Walker, Chris Fenoglio, Dana Gould, Dave Baker, Meghan Camarena, and Christopher Cantwell, artists J.P. Buzio, Michael Gaydos, Michael Allred, Derek Charm, Isaac Escorza and Esau Escorza, Chris Fenoglio, Megan Levens, Nicole Goux, Mari Rolin, and Isaac Sánchez González, colorists Christine Franzen, Michael Gaydos, Laura Allred, Derek Charm, ​​​​​​Isaac Escorza and Esau Escorza, Chris Fenogolio, Charlie Kirchoff, Nicole Goux, JP Jordan, and Igor Montil, and letterers Clayton Cowles, Jodie Troutman, and Jeff Eckleberry.

As you can see, this is truly an all-star collection of writing and artistic talent for this excellent celebration.

The comic book leads off with a story by David Gerrold, J.P. Buzio, Christine Franzen, and Clayton Cowles that is one of the most direct celebrations of the special, as it is the only one that is written by a member of the original writing staff on Star Trek (I believe Gerrold is the only remaining member of that writing staff that is still with us). Gerrold, of course, is best known for being the creator of the Tribbles (the script of "The Trouble With Tribbles," was, amazingly enough, the very first professional sale of his career ), but he was also a key part of the second appearance of iconic Star Trek rapscallion, Harry Mudd, in Season 2's "I, Mudd."

Gerrold did a rewrite of the episode, and came up with the idea of Mudd being trapped at the end of the episode by 500 android copies of his overbearing wife, Stella (Gerrold ended up not being credited for the episode, though). So it makes perfect sense that Gerrold's contribution to this collection is a follow-up story seeing Mudd trying a new stunt to deal with the situation. It's a cute story, and a very nice tribute to a classic episode by a classic Star Trek writer.

Comedian, writer, and actor Dana Gould is joined by the Star Trek: Red Shirts art team of Megan Levins and Charlie Kirchoff to do his first Star Trek story, with a follow-up to one of Scotty's most memorable episodes of the original series, "The Lights of Zetar," where the episode was about SCOTTY'S love life for a change. This story shows how he and Lt. Mira Romaine parted ways, and how the interaction helped inspired Scotty in another matter.

Comic book superstar Brian Michael Bendis teams up with his Alias collaborator, Michael Gaydos, to tell his first Star Trek story, a tribute to Lt. Hikaru Sulu. If you're familiar with the type of stories that Bendis and Gaydos used to tell on Alias, I think you'll be surprised at the style of this short story. It takes a very different approach from their standard stories, but it works very nicely.

Ryan North and Derek Charm cleverly do a story that is set in the world of Star Trek: The Animated Series . Charm is one of the best mimics out there with his art style, and he is able to make his work fit the style of that classic cartoon, and North tells a story that feels very much of that era. It also serves as a retroactive introduction to some memorable characters from Star Trek: The Next Generation (although, to be pedantic, the episode it is referencing happened in the second season of that series, so Riker shouldn't have a beard like he does in this story).

The ability to tell a good story while also making it feel like an actual story from the early 1970s is a VERY impressive achievement by North and Charm, but that shouldn't come as much of a surprise, as they're both great (I believe Charm is also one of the most recent comic book artist to draw TWO ongoing books for the same time).

Dave Baker and Nicole Goux tell the untold story of how Picard and Crusher finally got together (which, of course, led to the birth of their son, Jack Crusher). It's a very sweet tribute to the relationship between Picard and Crusher, as even before it became an outright romantic one, it was still very important, and Baker and Goux get that across really nicely.

David Walker and the Escorza Brothers tell a touching story of Worf's childhood, showing how he adjusted to be raised by humans, and how that upbringing reflected upon his "current" setup (as of Season 3 of Star Trek: Picard ). Walker is really good at cutting to the heart of characters.

Star Trek: Lower Decks showrunner Mike McMahan teams up with Mike and Laura Allred for a glimpse at what a theoretical sixth season of the series could have looked like. It is filled with really delightful concepts.

Meghan Camarena, Mari Rolin, and JP Jordan tell a cute Star Trek: Starfleet Academy story where Genesis Lythe debates with a fellow cadet whether a book should be considered science fiction or fantasy.

Chris Fenoglio does a fun one-pager where someone tries to find Captain Archer (there is, of course, a Quantum Leap reference. Of course).

Finally, Christopher Cantwell, Isaac Sánchez González, Igor Montil, and Jodie Trautman set up the upcoming Star Trek ongoing series nicely with a bold dilemma involving a major Star Trek character.

This is a nice collection of stories that mostly serve to honor the past, but the final story clearly sets up the future in a big way.