Tipton: Creating Trek Comics
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When Scott Tipton learned that IDW Publishing had a license to create Star Trek-related material, he was eager to get in on writing comics featuring characters he enjoyed, and wasted no time suggesting ideas in hopes of getting a Star Trek assignment.
One of the ideas was for a Klingon series, and that resulted in Klingons: Blood Will Tell, of which Tipton is still proud. “I’m happy to say that I think Klingons: Blood Will Tell holds up really well these four or so years later,” he said. “I glanced through it for the first time in years when it was recently re-released in IDW’s Star Trek Omnibus, and I was pleased to see that I was overall very satisfied with it.”
Although Tipton enjoys writing for each of the series and the various characters; some are more fun than the rest. “Every series brings with its own unique pleasures,” he said. “I’ve gotten to work with Spock a lot, and I think I’ve got a good handle on him. Picard is a delight to write, to tinker with the cadences and find that line or phrase you could really hear Patrick Stewart deliver. I expected to have trouble with Sisko, but found that his voice seemed to just come together naturally. But I think by far the most fun is the Kirk/Spock/McCoy triangle. McCoy really allows you that opportunity for humor that’s a little harder to come by in some of the other series, and playing off that relationship between the three of them gives you so much to work with.”
Tipton has a website, Comics 101, that is updated each Wednesday. “…Comics 101…continues to be updated every Wednesday with my weekly column on comics history, humor and whatever else comic-related strikes my fancy,” said Tipton.
Fans of Space Seed and Star Trek: II: The Wrath of Khan are eagerly awaiting the Khan: Ruling in Hell series, to be written by Tipton and his brother David. “The Khan series has been a blast,” said Tipton. “We’re looking at Khan’s lost years, between the events of Space Seed and The Wrath of Khan, his years marooned on Ceti Alpha V. We want to explore what happens to a man so powerful, so capable, who’s confronted with this kind of loss, the ultimate ‘no-win scenario,’ if you will. It’s the first time I’ve ever written a tragedy; it’s been quite an experience. The art is by Fabio Mantovani, and he’s turning in beautiful, emotionally rich pages. I can’t wait for readers to take a look.”
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