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Heather Antos has been in the proverbial Jeffries Tubes of the Marvel Universe, the Star Wars franchise, and even gaming franchises like Destiny, and in her experiences across the pop culture multiverse she has a distinct, insider's view of what makes each tick. These days, as IDW Publishing licensing group editor overseeing its Star Trek comics, she has a vantage point not only to see how it works but engage like a Starfleet captain would into making sure that it works. As a result, she's delineated what makes Star Trek different, and how she steers the creators of IDW's Star Trek comics to make it so.

"What makes telling a Star Trek story different than most other universes I’ve worked in is that Star Trek tends to focus more so on big, existential ideas," Antos tells Popverse. "While we occasionally still have some stories of good vs. evil, or use those stories as a framework for some of these bigger ideas, at the core of Star Trek is always the quest for curiosity, exploration, and the betterment of humankind."

Antos' comments echo something our current cinematic James T. Kick actor Chris Pine said recently about how Star Trek works best when it is not aimed at being analogous with other blockbuster franchises and instead honors the past to plot a course for the future.

In the recent milestone comic event Star Trek #500, there were in fact explosions and battles of good vs. evil - but it also went completely meta like something out of Deadpool (which Antos also worked on), while also tackling big ideas that will be at the core of its next big event, Lore War - where Lore remakes reality in his own vision.

This comes as IDW and Star Trek's owners Paramount recently renewed their licensing deal, securing a plan to work together on Star Trek comics through 2029 (yes, that's a five-year mission, right out of the TV show).

For Antos, the future of Star Trek - both in comics and in the larger franchise itself - is "looking bold, bright, and ready for strange new adventures ahead of us."

Space may be the final frontier, but there's no end to Popverse's love of the Star Trek universe. Hop aboard the starship Enterprise with our Star Trek watch order, explore strange new worlds with our upcoming Star Trek TV shows and movies list, seek out the new life of the franchise, and boldly go where no Star Trek film has ever gone before - with Quentin Tarantino?