A Star Trek fan since childhood, Jon's concept of new adventures set within the time of Star Trek: The Animated Series originated while watching reruns of the televised episodes. A teacher and storyteller, Jon has always appreciated the exploration of character origins and futures of minor, guest, and background characters. The decision was made to promote a few characters from The Animated Series to the lead roles for The Animated Voyages, in addition to introducing new faces exclusive to this comic series.

Jon brings to the production a trivia-master knowledge of Star Trek (like most hardcore fans), entertainment credentials in scriptwriting, producing, and design, and years of experience knowing how to deal with tribbles. At the time of completing the series in 2016, together Jon and Leah had watched every hour of Star Trek which had been produced, including The Animated Series, an amount of knowledge which should be present to readers of The Animated Voyages.

Listen to more about the making of the series in his audio interview with Blue Report Back Stage and his interview with Trek Writer's Guild.

Visit his site at www.jonmarkiewitz.com.

Leah's role in the series began unofficially as Jon's sounding board for several of his ideas presented to her during the making of Perils of Waves and War, and her input grew to be very integral to the conceptualization and story editing processes. Together the two served as a constant writer's room, with discussion of plot ideas, character arcs, and more, taking place between them most places they went during the years of the series' production. Leah brings to the series her vast knowledge of literature, science credentials, imaginative mind, and logic in storytelling.

Not only has Leah been Jon's partner in marriage for many years, she has also been his creative partner in several developments and projects. While the TAV comics are written to be enjoyed by readers with varying knowledge of the Star Trek universe (including those who are reading 'Trek' for the first time), their passion for Gene Roddenberry's vision of the future is certainly at the heart of their work for all readers. With 21 months of production, 192 pages, and hundreds of hours spanning the development process, the creative team is proud to have delivered an original story.