Comics offer a great deal of flexibility as another medium to enjoy the continuation of TOS. There have been a number of attempts by publishers in the past: Gold Key had a run in the seventies; DC picked up the original Trek franchise characters in the 80's but more recently, IDW Publishing has picked up the challenge and has been releasing titles that not only reflect some awesome material that was not exploited back in the days of the original series, but also utilizes incredible talent from the comic industry, like the legendary John Byrne. In 2008, IDW released a mini-series of stories titled Star Trek: Assignment Earth, after the TOS episode "Assignment: Earth". All Trekkies worth their salt will remember this episode as a pilot project for another possible Roddenberry series that didn't take off. Again another unfortunate storyline that would never be seen on television. The premise was based on the adventures of an agent named Gary Seven, human, but trained by benevolent aliens who saw that Earth had potential and were willing to influence its development to more positive ambitions. Another interesting side-note was that this was actress, Terri Garr's first TV appearance. Byrne is known as an exceptional artist, but he is also one of the few artists who can write as well as draw comics. He scripted a series of stories that captured the essence of the original premise of the failed TV series and re-imagined it for the entertainment of die-hard Trek fans as well as introducing it to other generations.