Ever since J.J. Abrams put a hard reboot on the Star Trek franchise way back in the year of our Lord, 2009 (tried to calculate the stardate, but it’s all meaningless nonsense. Sorry, Trekkers), I was crazy about the new cast and couldn’t wait to see where the future would take the reboot crew.

Fortunately it took them on a path of well-critiqued and well-constructed films; but unfortunately, 2016’s Star Trek: Beyond was not the commercial success that Fast and Furious director, Justin Lin had been hoping for. While still-producer J.J. Abrams did confirm another film in the franchise, it may be some time until the proverbial ducks are gathered in a row.

But in the meantime, we have extended canon (which, in nerd speak, is defined as “more movies, but in graphic novel or regular novel form”)! This October, IDW Publishing is starting up Star Trek: Boldly Go–a shitty title to a possibly very engaging continuation of the Kelvin Timeline (J.J. Abrams’ altered Trek universe with the new cast) in which the crew of the Enterprise will face off against…The Borg.

While the Borg are my absolute favorite Star Trek baddies, I can’t help but be ambivalent to the decision to include them in comic book form instead of a new movie, which I can only hold out implausible hope for them to eventually do.

Boldly Go–ugh–will hopefully also feature the story of how Pavel Chekov (formerly portrayed by Anton Yelchin, RIP) dies or disappears in the universe. Of the next upcoming film, J.J. Abrams has said that Chekov would be written off and would not be replaced with another actor…so it’s going to be interesting to see how that comes about. Something to do with The Borg, perhaps?

It could potentially create a compelling inter-weaving story arc for Kirk to have a personal vendetta against the Borg for the death of one of his friends/crew-mates. And that’s something I’d love to see played out on the big screen.

Whether or not this story makes it that far, Star Trek: Boldly Go–uuugh–arrives on comic store shelves October 19th, and the Borg are expected to make their first appearance in December.

—X