There’s a lot to love about Star Trek, particularly its concept of how humanity sets aside its petty differences to explore the stars. 60 years later, it’s a concept that’s led to some of the best stories in science fiction, especially when it comes to the various alien races that Starfleet encounters. Whether it’s the warlike Klingons, the logic-seeking Vulcans, or the alluring Orions, the Star Trek universe has plenty of distinct cultures throughout it. Now, a new comics collection is set to dive deep into these cultures, giving more depth to the “final frontier” in the process.
IDW Publishing is slated to release its Star Trek: Aliens–IDW Classic Collectionspaperback next week. A pocket-sized collection of comics, the Star Trek: Aliens paperback features stories from the Star Trek: Alien Spotlightminiseries and the Star Trek: Aliensone-shots that were released in 2022. As their names suggest, both series focus on the various aliens within and beyond the Federation of United Planets, highlighting the true scope of the Star Trek universe. Whether you’re a longtime Trekkie or new to the franchise, these comics are worth checking out.
The ‘Star Trek: Aliens’ Comics Highlight What Makes Each of Star Trek’s Alien Races So Unique
The beauty of Star Trek: Alien Spotlight and Star Trek: Aliens lies in their deep exploration of the customs of various alien cultures. Why are Klingons so driven to seek honor in combat? What pushes Vulcans to seek logic above all else? Do Tribbles actually have thoughts? The answers to these questions might surprise fans, but they also make these species feel fleshed out in ways that the different Star Trek series only briefly touch upon. Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberrynever shied away from speaking about how he created the series to serve as a message that humanity should strive to accept each other, no matter their differences:
“Star Trek was an attempt to say that humanity will reach maturity and wisdom on the day that it begins not just to tolerate, but take a special delight in differences in ideas and differences in life forms. If we cannot learn to actually enjoy those small differences, to take a positive delight in those small differences between our own kind, here on this planet, then we do not deserve to go out into space and meet the diversity that is almost certainly out there.”
Star Trek: Alien Spotlight and Star Trek: Aliens honor Roddenberry’s words by exploring different aliens and continuing the franchise’s trend of aliens who seek their own paths. Spock (Leonard Nimoy) often had to deal with being torn between his Vulcan and human heritages. Worf (Michael Dorn) was one of the first Klingons to join Starfleet, and proved that he could honor his culture while also bringing peace to the stars. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell) slowly found her identity, both as a Starfleet officer and as part of a symbiotic bond with a Trill. These characters are a prime example of Star Trek choosing to explore what makes us different rather than running away from it, and it’s only fitting that the comics explore a similar path.
Collider Exclusive · Sci-Fi Personality Quiz Which Sci-Fi Hero Are You Most Like? Paul Atreides · Captain Kirk · Princess Leia · Ellen Ripley · Max Rockatansky
Five iconic heroes. Five completely different ways of facing an impossible universe. One of them shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of refusing to back down. Eight questions will tell you which one.
🏜️Paul Atreides
🖖Capt. Kirk
✊Princess Leia
🔦Ellen Ripley
🔥Max Rockatansky
01
How do you lead when the stakes couldn’t be higher? The way you lead under pressure is the most honest thing about you.
02
What is your greatest strength in a crisis? The quality that keeps you alive when everything else fails.
03
What is the thing you’d sacrifice everything else for? Your deepest motivation is your truest compass.
04
How do you relate to the people around you? Who you are to others under pressure is who you really are.
05
You’re facing a threat that no one else believes is real. What do you do? How you respond when you’re the only one who sees it defines everything.
06
What has your heroism cost you personally? Every hero pays. The question is what — and whether they’d pay it again.
07
How do you feel about the rules of the world you’re in? Every hero has a relationship with the system. What’s yours?
08
When everything is on the line, what keeps you going? The answer is the most honest thing about you.
Your Hero Has Been Identified Your Sci-Fi Hero Is…
Your answers point to the iconic sci-fi hero who shares your instincts, your values, and your particular way of facing the impossible.
Arrakis · Dune
Paul Atreides
You carry a weight most people would crumble under — the knowledge of what you’re capable of, and the burden of what you might have to become.
You see further ahead than others and you plan accordingly, even when the vision frightens you.
You are driven by loyalty to your people and a sense of destiny you didn’t ask for but can’t escape.
Paul Atreides is not simply a hero — he is someone who understands the cost of power and chooses to bear it anyway.
That gravity, that willingness to carry what others won’t, is exactly you.
USS Enterprise · Star Trek
Captain Kirk
You lead with instinct, warmth, and an absolute refusal to accept a no-win scenario — because you’ve always believed there’s a third option nobody else has thought of yet.
You take the mission seriously without ever taking yourself too seriously.
Your crew would follow you anywhere, not because you demand it, but because you’ve earned it.
Kirk’s genius isn’t tactical — it’s human. He reads people, bends rules with purpose, and wills outcomes into existence through sheer conviction.
That combination of warmth, audacity, and relentless optimism is unmistakably yours.
The Rebellion · Star Wars
Princess Leia
You are the kind of person who holds the line when everyone else is losing faith — not because you’re fearless, but because giving up simply isn’t something you’re capable of.
You lead through conviction. Your voice carries because your belief is unshakeable.
You gave up everything ordinary the moment you chose the cause, and you’ve never looked back.
Leia is not a supporting character in her own story — she is the moral centre of the entire rebellion.
That same fierce, principled, unbreakable core is what defines you.
The Nostromo · Alien
Ellen Ripley
You are not reckless, not grandiose, and not particularly interested in being anyone’s hero — you just refuse to stop when it matters.
You see threats clearly, you document the truth even when no one listens, and when the time comes you handle it yourself.
Ripley’s heroism is earned, not performed. She doesn’t have a speech — she has a flamethrower and a plan.
You share her composure under the worst possible pressure, and her refusal to pretend the monster isn’t there.
When it counts, you don’t flinch. That’s everything.
The Wasteland · Mad Max
Max Rockatansky
You have been through fire that would break most people — and what came out the other side is something the world underestimates at its peril.
You don’t ask for help, don’t need validation, and don’t wait for anyone to tell you the rules no longer apply.
Your loyalty, when it finally arrives, is absolute — but it’s earned in silence and tested in action, not in words.
Max is not a nihilist. He is someone who lost everything and found, against his will, that he still has something worth protecting.
That bruised, stubborn, ultimately human core is exactly yours.
IDW Publishing Has Been Delivering Unique Star Trek Stories
The cover to ‘Star Trek: Omega’ #1, spotlighting various characters from across Star Trek history. Artwork by Malachi Ward.Image via IDW Publishing
While it might be a surprise to learn that some of the best Star Trek stories are in comic form, rather than being televised, it’s a trend that IDW Publishing isn’t stopping anytime soon. IDW’s covered nearly every era of Trek, with a Star Trek: Lower Decksseries that picks up immediately where the fan-favorite series left off, and a Star Trek ongoing featuring a crew of fan-favorite characters led by Star Trek: Deep Space Nine‘s Benjamin Sisko on a quest to stop godlike beings from being murdered. Writers Colin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing continue to pen Trek stories with Star Trek: The Last Spaceship, which sheds light on the mysterious “Burn” introduced in Star Trek: Discovery and features a resurrected James T. Kirk.
While the recent era of Star Trek shows might be coming to an end, there are still great Trek stories worth checking out, and the Star Trek: Aliens collection is proof of that. If Paramount is looking for new paths to take the Star Trek franchise, it should look at these comics.
Star Trek: Aliens – IDW Classic Collection will be available to purchase on July 7, 2026.
Release Date
1966 – 1969-00-00
Showrunner
Gene Roddenberry
Directors
Marc Daniels, Joseph Pevney, Ralph Senensky, Vincent McEveety, Herb Wallerstein, Jud Taylor, Marvin J. Chomsky, David Alexander, Gerd Oswald, Herschel Daugherty, James Goldstone, Robert Butler, Anton Leader, Gene Nelson, Harvey Hart, Herbert Kenwith, James Komack, John Erman, John Newland, Joseph Sargent, Lawrence Dobkin, Leo Penn, Michael O’Herlihy, Murray Golden
Writers
D.C. Fontana, Jerome Bixby, Arthur Heinemann, David Gerrold, Jerry Sohl, Oliver Crawford, Robert Bloch, David P. Harmon, Don Ingalls, Paul Schneider, Shimon Wincelberg, Steven W. Carabatsos, Theodore Sturgeon, Jean Lisette Aroeste, Art Wallace, Adrian Spies, Barry Trivers, Don Mankiewicz, Edward J. Lakso, Fredric Brown, George Clayton Johnson, George F. Slavin, Gilbert Ralston, Harlan Ellison
