IDW have announced that not are they publishing Star Trek comics, but they’ll soon be publishing a graphic novel plotted by Mister Sulu himself. It may sound weird, but it’s not the first time George Takei has contributed to the comic book industry; he co-wrote Star Trek Annual v2 #1 with Peter David, a very good done-in-one tale that I’d definitely recommend to Star Trek fans.
Takei isn’t the first Trek alumni to write a comic book, or even the latest. Walter Koenig, John de Lancie, Mark Lenard, Aron Eisenberg, Wil Wheaton… even Leonard Nimoy and William Shatner got in on the racket, kind of (Nimoy came up with a setting idea that was turned into a comic, and Shatner got his sci-fi novels turned into comics).
It’s not just Trek actors: Bongo Comics’ very own The Simpsons’ Treehouse of Horror had had Mark Hamill doing one of the best love letters/parodies to Silver Age Superman stories I’ve ever read in #7, an anthology of rock stars (and Pat Boone) in #10 and #13 had comedy writers/actors such as Ian Boothby and Patton Oswalt.
You thought I was kidding about Pat Boone, didn’t you?
If that’s not enough, Mick Foley (aka Mankind, aka Brother Love, aka Cactus Jack) did a pretty damn good run on WWE Superstars, Papercutz’s toe-dip outside the world of graphic novels. Foley showed considerable depth, managing everything from neo-noir starring John Cena, to a light-hearted comedy of errors that sneaked in a reference to Marvel’s old Conan the Barbarian series, of all things.
Honestly, the idea of a celebrity writing a comic should be a really stupid idea, the textbook definition of “vanity project”. I’m not suggesting such things haven’t happened (Insane Clown Posse: The Pendulum, written by Jumpsteady – established rapper and brother to ICP founder Violent J – proves that it has) but in general I’ve found that these things are made with love. Love for the medium of comics, love for the subject material… hell, even love of having a bit of fun.
Besides, who hasn’t wanted to write a comic book?
Fnord Colour Comics 