Star Trek: Day of Blood is the title of IDW Publishing's first-ever Star Trek comic book crossover.
The five-issue event which will also have a lead-in story in Prelude to Day of Blood, IDW's Free Comic Book Day offering on May 6, launches in July with the Star Trek: Day of Blood #1 special and then continues in the monthly August and September issues of the flagship Star Trek ongoing series (issues #11 and #12) and the upcoming new ongoing series Star Trek: Defiant (#6 and #7).
In Prelude to Day of Blood FCBD special co-written by Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Christopher Cantwell, illustrated by Mike Feehan and with cover art by Malachi Ward, the U.S.S. Santa Cruz travels to the Korvat colony for the sacred Klingon festival Kot'baval, which honors Kahless the Unforgettable's defeat of the tyrant Molor in combat for you non-Klingon scholars out there.
"But what was supposed to be a simple observation of the festival quickly turns into a bloodbath when the cult of the godkiller reveals themselves to the universe," reads IDW's description.
"I've been nothing short of ecstatic to be a part of this new, larger Star Trek initiative at IDW," says Cantwell.
"There were moments in our writers' room with Jackson and Collin where I couldn't believe we were really doing this - not just telling one Star Trek story but weaving together multiple Trek stories at the same time, with plotlines from Star Trek and Star Trek: Defiant converging. We threw all our boldest ideas and best character pairings into a story of pure chaos, starship battles, and real epic dramatic resonance you can only achieve in the scope of comics."
Described as "dark and edgy" and "the Dirty Dozen meets Star Trek," Star Trek: Defiant launches in March 2023 and features Worf assembling "a hand-picked crew to face a galaxy-spanning threat."
That crew features an all-star team of characters from past Star Trek franchises, including Spock, Data's malevolent 'brother' Lore from The Next Generation, B'Elanna Torres from Voyager, and Ensign Ro Laren (TNG).
The main IDW Star Trek series that launched last year features Deep Space Nine's Benjamin Sisko after his return from Bajoran Wormhole. With his omnipotent godhood failing, he captains the U.S.S. Theseus along with two other TNG veterans - Data and Beverly Crusher - on a mission to stop a killer murdering the Star Trek Universe's gods.
"It's time for Benjamin Sisko to face the past," says Lanzing of the crossover, "and for readers to finally get a look at the true fallout of the Dominion War. Deep Space Nine is the inspiration for this entire line, so it feels only right that the crew of the U.S.S. Theseus come back to where it all started.
"This is the kind of event you could only do in comics, with enormous stakes and two starship crews colliding in the middle of a truly deadly crisis. This is our season finale."
According to IDW senior editor Heather Antos Star Trek: Day of Blood is what the publisher's last year of comic book planning was all about.
"It all leads to this moment," she says. "Was Sisko the correct choice of the Prophets? Will Worf's Klingon honor serve him well? Or will the two remain in the crossfires of the godkiller? Jackson, Collin, and Chris are asking some of the biggest questions we’ve ever seen in Star Trek comics, and it's time to answer them in the franchise's first-ever classic summer crossover event."
Check out first look preview art from Star Trek: Day of Blood.
Star Trek is getting a new lease at IDW as Transformers and GI Joe left the publisher at the end of 2022.
