Roberson: Crossing Star Trek With Legion Of Superheroes

Writer and Star Trek fan Chris Roberson had the enjoyable task of writing a comic that had the crew of the original series interacting with the characters from the Legion of Super Heroes.

Roberson believes that the idea for the crossover was inspired. “If the concept of the Enterprise crew meeting the Legion of Super Heroes doesn’t appeal to you, there may be something wrong with you,” he said.

Contacted “out of the blue” by IDW Publishing, Roberson took no time in saying “Yes,” to the project. “I didn’t hesitate for a second before accepting,” he said. “But the project was so much in my wheelhouse, as a lifelong fanatic for both franchises, that I suspected for weeks that someone was playing a prank on me.”

It was no prank though, and Roberson got down to work. “I really started doing the research for this project when I was eight years old, so I didn’t really need to do much more,” he said. “But it was a great excuse to sit down and watch a bunch of original series Star Trek episodes and reread a huge stack of old LSH comics!”

Roberson explained what he liked about Star Trek and the Legion of Super Heroes. “I think what I found appealing about both Star Trek and the Legion was that they were immersive, well-realized future worlds with lots of depth (backstory and history) and breadth (expansive setting),” he said. “Optimistic, almost utopian futures in which humanity has gone out into the stars, made friends with alien races, and formed a democratic union of planets which is defended by an organization composed of representatives from all of the member worlds.”

The Star Trek/Legion of Super Heroes story takes place “during the tail end of the five-year mission, sometime not long after the end of the original series,” said Roberson. “So that all of the televised adventures we’ve seen have already happened, but the characters are still in much the same forms. (Scotty hasn’t grown his mustache yet, for example.)”

Fans of Trek and the Legion should be alert while reading, says Roberson, as there will be Easter eggs hidden throughout the comics.