There’s a general rule in comics that a title may start big, but it’ll start to see attrition over time. Some stay steady, some see less attrition, and of course there’s the big death or event issues that bump up sales here and there. But there’s one other rare case, which is an actual increase in orders from comic book stores — and that’s exactly what happened with IDW’s Star Trek: The Last Starship between issue two and three.
“Hey, we just heard some crazy news! Last Starship orders are up from issue two,” says co-writer Jackson Lanzing in a video posted on Instagram, shared with Comic Book Club.
Adds co-writer Collin Kelly, “Wait, that never happens with comics.”
And indeed, it usually doesn’t. But the title started strong with an intriguing premise… Set during The Burn, a previously mostly unexplored era of Star Trek that found most of the dilithium in the galaxy exploding, crippling Starfleet (and everyone else), for some reason, Captain Kirk is resurrected in his prime. Pretty weird to think about, but there were several other wild elements of the book that also wild premise was hiding, as revealed in the first issue. This is pure speculation here, but it’s likely that the hype from customers for the first issue led to increased orders between issues #2 and #3.
“Yeah, uh, legitimately, we’re very confused,” continues Lanzing.
“But, uh, in a delightful way, and it’s all thanks to you!” says Kelly.
Full disclosure here: as the duo of writers talks about the increase in sales, they flash to a preview/review piece I wrote about issue #2 and #3, which I swear I did not know was in the Instagram post when I started writing this article. I have journalistic integrity! Of a sort!
“Yeah, really, thank you, all of you, for taking the time to tell your local shop to share your enthusiasm, to anyone who’s covered the reviews of the issue 2 or 3 or shared these videos,” says Lanzing. “Thank you. You are helping this book live.”
Star Trek: The Last Starship #2 hits stores on November 19, 2025. You can check out the short video from Lanzing and Kelly below:
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