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During its Friday evening panel at New York Comic-Con, IDW Publishing introduced an extraordinarily ambitious crossover event that will tie together some of its most popular licensed titles. Running from January to April, "Infestation" will see one major threat from the IDW-native "Zombies vs. Robots" universe overwhelm the worlds of "Transformers," "G.I. Joe," "Star Trek" and "Ghostbusters." "Infestation" #1-2, bookending the event, will be written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (the writing team known collectively as DnA) and illustrated by "True Blood" artist David Messina. Abnett and Lanning will also write the February-shipping "Transformers: Infestation" #1-2 with artist Nick Roche, while "Star Trek: Infestation" #1-2, alternating weeks in February with "Transformers," are penned by Scott and David Tipton with art by Casey Maloney. March's "G.I. Joe: Infestation" #1-2 are by the creative team of Mike Raicht and Giovanni Timpano, and Erik Burnham and Kyle Hotz team up for "Ghostbusters: Infestation" #1-2. CBR News spoke with editors Tom Waltz and Andy Schmidt about the crossover's story, origins and the challenges of bringing it all together.

"Without giving too much away, I can say that we start in the IDW universe with a zombie outbreak of epic proportions. The threat is contained (or is it?), but not before it infests other realities - the realities of our licensed books," Waltz told CBR. "The individual series will show just how our intrepid heroes - folks like Optimus Prime, Dr. Peter Venkman, Mr. Spock, Baroness, and so many others - face down this new and obviously shocking threat, and their desperate efforts to stop it before it can completely consume - both literally and figuratively - their realities."



The tones of the several series involved - "Transformers," "G.I. Joe," "Ghostbusters," and "Star Trek" - are quite different, suggesting that the heroes of each may have their own distinct ways of dealing with the zombie outbreak. "With 'Transformers,' an inter-dimensional threat doesn't seem out of place. They handle the threat in stride - I mean, until all hell breaks loose, anyway," Schmidt said. "With 'G.I. Joe,' it's a bit trickier. We don't have aliens and extra dimensions in the 'G.I. Joe' comics and (you'll have to read it to see what I mean) we still don't. 'Joe' was the toughest nut to crack here, but I think DnA, along with 'G.I. JOE: Infestation' writer Mike Raicht, really did figure out how to make this work, make it accessible, and make it one heck of a story."

"To me, that's the true beauty of this event, because the methods of counteracting the threat are as diverse as the licenses and the creators involved," Waltz added. "I don't want to give anything away, but rest assured, each book will be fresh and exciting and different - each license facing down the same dangers, but no two in the same way. Success and survival are not guaranteed. Our creators have surprises up their sleeves and things will never be the same for any of these titles when all is said and done."



"Initially, the thought process was that we wanted to do something cool that would draw attention to our own intellectual properties - 'Zombies Vs. Robots,' 'Covert Vampiric Operations (CVO),' etc. - but we knew that was an uphill battle from the get-go, as non-licensed properties aren't exactly being embraced by the Direct Market these days, despite the fact that many of them deserve the same kind of audience the licensed properties possess," Waltz said of "Infestation's" origins. "The obvious solution, then, was to try and find a way to tie our I.P. into the broader audience our licensed books would provide, but how to get all those licenses on-board was the catch - we just didn't see all the licensors going for such a crazy idea. But crazy never, ever stops us at IDW (I actually think crazy is part of the company credo. If not, it's certainly part of the job description in IDW editorial). So, we all pulled together to come up with a plan that we eventually dubbed 'Infestation' - an insane mission that brings our IDW Universe and our licensed universes of 'Transformers,' 'G.I. Joe,' 'Star Trek' and 'Ghostbusters' together into one massive event, one where they all face a common foe - a true and dangerous threat that contains future ramifications for all the titles beyond just this initial event. We crossed our fingers (and toes and, in Andy Schmidt's case, our Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow swords) and presented the plan to our licensors and, from the very start, have been absolutely flabbergasted by how supportive and excited they've been to be a part of our efforts from A to Z. To put it bluntly, without the licensors being as cool as hell and helpful as they've been, there's no way 'Infestation' happens at all."



Schmidt added that the key to getting licensors on board was a matter of having the right conversations. "It's all about conversation. And a lot of conversations with a lot of creators, between the editors internally, and with each licensor separately," Schmidt said. "This isn't the kind of thing you pull together over night. It's a logistical nightmare, but hopefully also a lot of fun for everyone."