playing god
IDW brings together four Star Trek crews in crossover The Q Conflict
after teaming different Star Trek iterations with everyone from Doctor Who to Green Lantern, Scott and David Tipton have embarked on their most ambitious crossover yet. Drawn by David Messina, six-issue mini-series The Q Conflict unites the crews of four Star Trek TV series for the very first time.
“I never expected to get the chance to tackle something this big, which has never been done before,” says Scott, admitting that it was a challenge to give each of the captains equal time in the spotlight. “What helped in making sure that happens is that there are so many opportunities to explore the characters, just because so many of them will be in unfamiliar terrain, if that isn’t saying too much.”
With his reality-changing abilities, extradimensional trickster Q was the perfect catalyst for the story. “He is the only antagonist big enough to pose a threat for our assembled captains, especially once he’s in cahoots with other powerful godlike beings like Trelane and the Metrons,” explains Scott, revealing that the exact nature of the dispute between Q and his omnipotent brethren is initially a mystery. “But what’s perfectly clear in the most devastating sense are its repercussions in our universe, as a series of supernovas snuff out star systems, a cataclysm that swiftly gets the attention of Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise E. And it will be their attempts to stop it that will result in what follows: the universe’s deadliest game.” “We have seen in various incarnations of
Star Trek the dangerous situations that sometimes happen when less powerful beings interact with powerful god-like beings,” adds David. “The Q Conflict takes a look at how those godlike beings interact with each other, and what sort of damage they can do to those who are caught in the middle.”
Star Trek: The Q Conflict #1 is out this month.