Have you ever wanted to be a Star Trek Redshirt before? You know these guys. They are the nameless mass of officers on Star Trek who get blasted off to far flung alien planets, get blasted to smithereens on those far flung alien planets, and occasionally get the pleasure of the Captain’s exotic sloppy seconds. When you see an officer in a red shirt, you know he won’t be around for long. Who hasn’t had this dream of being a Redshirt? Well, if you’re a comic book loving fan who has had the dream of being one of the many nameless victims in James T. Kirk’s one-man war on the cosmos, IDW Publishing is giving you a chance to live that dream with their “Be a Redshirt” contest.

IDW has teamed up with the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund (CBLDF) to offer one lucky reader the chance to be on the cover of an upcoming issue of the Star Trek comic book.

The grand prize winner will be shown “dying” for their favorite local comic book store. All you have to do to enter is send a 300 word or less essay explaining why your comics retailer is the best. Fans need to send these essays to contests@IDWPublishing.com with the subject line “Save My Retailer”. The special edition cover that the winner will be featured on will be limited to only 300 copies; 100 copies will go to the winner, 100 to the winner’s favorite store, and the rest will go to CBLDF to help them raise funding for their continued efforts to protect free speech. The winner will also receive the original art for the cover, drawn by the Sharp Brothers.

“As redshirts are famous for always catching the phaser in Star Trek episodes, and as comic fans can be so loyal in defending their local retailer, it’s the perfect contest,” said Dirk Wood, IDW’s Director of Retailer Marketing, in a statement released by the publisher. “And partnering with the CBLDF is perfect, because no one knows more about defending retailers than they do.

I like this contest, and I’m also a big fan of the CBLDF, a group who has gone above and beyond to defend comic retailers when the need has arisen. It doesn’t take much to enter, so if you feel like it, send an entry in. The deadline for submission is December 9, 2011, so get those hailing frequencies open and send those entries in.