By Grabthar’s Hammer, Galaxy Quest To Continue As A Comic Book Series!
This article is more than 2 years old
In a perfect world, Galaxy Quest would have been a massive box-office hit and spawned a run of sequels that continue to this day. Alas, ours is not a perfect world, so instead the brilliant sci-fi comedy earned a mere $90 million worldwide and settled in for the long haul as a legitimate cult classic. While we probably won’t get to see the further adventures of the NSEA Protector up on the big screen, there is some freshly announced good news: IDW Publishing has announced an upcoming Galaxy Quest comic book series!
IDW broke the news at Comic-Con, announcing that writer Erik Burnham and artist Nacno Arranz would be teaming up to bring us new stories of the typecast, washed-up TV actors turned reluctant galactic heroes (played in the film by Tim Allen, Alan Rickman, and Sigourney Weaver, among others). Comic Book Resources scored an interview with Burnham, who revealed that all the major characters from the movie will be along for the ride, and that the story of the comic will be set in motion by the events at the end of the film. If you recall, Jason Nesmith used the powerful Omega 13 device to rewind time 13 seconds and thus save his crew, but messing around with time has consequences. Burnham told CBR:
Maybe that affected more than the ship. If it was more widespread, sure, most folks would just have a powerful case of deja vu. But what if it changed something else? That’s what we’re starting with. They’re the reason a new race — called the Drythans — seek them out and say, ‘You screwed something up. Fix it.’
Since Galaxy Quest was designed as a good-natured skewering of Star Trek, addressing the unexpected side effects of time travel — a plot contrivance Trek has used on many occasions over the years — is definitely an idea full of narrative potential.
This actually isn’t the first time the world of Galaxy Quest has expanded to the comics page. Back in 2008, writer Scott Lobdell and artist Ilias Kyriazis created a five-issue Galaxy Quest series for IDW called Global Warming. That series had the crew filming a pilot for a revived Galaxy Quest TV show, only to be forced back into their real-life heroic roles when an alien vessel drops into orbit and begins setting off natural disasters around the globe. I can’t find a digital version of that series, but you can grab a used trade paperback on Amazon.
As for Burnham, this isn’t his first rodeo when it comes to adapting fan-beloved material. He previously wrote for IDW’s rather good Ghostbusters series, and he’s also co-writing their upcoming Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Ghostbusters crossover miniseries with Tom Waltz and artist Dan Schoening.
The Galaxy Quest comic is due out later this year.
