IDW Publishing has signed a book publishing deal with Star Trek actor / activist George Takei to produce a historical graphic novel examining the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII through Takei’s firsthand experience.

The untitled graphic novel will be narrated by Takei, sharing memories of his family’s incarceration in internment camps for three years, the efforts to reconstruct their life from nothing post-war, his acting career, and how these events led Takei to become the activist he is today. Takei will oversee the story, which will be written by IDW Senior Book Editor Justin Eisinger and PR Manager Steven Scott. The artist will be named at a later date. Release is planned for 2018.

Takei is best known for his role as helmsmen Hikaru Sulu on the original Star Trek series and subsequent movies, but he is also a writer and humanitarian activist. Takei was five years old in 1942, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 after the bombing of Pearl Harbor by Japanese forces. The order cleared the way for the internment of Japanese Americans, a decision which was later found to have little to do with military necessity and more to do with racial prejudice and war hysteria. Takei’s family was removed from their home in Los Angeles and incarcerated at an internment camp in Arkansas and a second one later in California.

“I have spoken publicly on numerous occasions during my life on the unjust internment of Japanese Americans in my ongoing mission of spreading awareness of this disgraceful chapter of American history,” said Takei. “I do this, and will continue to do so, in the hope that my personal experience can serve as a cautionary reminder of our past leaders’ mistakes, and that as a society, we can learn from those transgressions and not repeat them.”

“When the opportunity to tell my story in the form of a graphic novel presented itself, I recognized the value in making it easily accessible for our youth to discover and digest the material, bringing attention to an important and relevant issue, while preserving it for generations to come. We live in uncertain times, and if stories such as mine can inspire us to do better and encourage positive change, I want to share it with as many people as possible, no matter who they are, or where they come from.”

IDW Publications is also home to Top Shelf Productions, which publishes Congressman John Lewis’s best-selling trilogy memoir March (see “IDW's Publishing Revenues Up, Profits Down” and “January 2017 BookScan--Top 20 Adult Graphic Novels”).