Comic Review: Star Trek: Lower Decks Issue 1

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Mariner’s aching for a new big adventure comes back to bite her as the Cerritos crew uncover a lost ship from over a century ago.

OUR TAKE

While the Lower Decks cartoon is finishing its final voyage, the crew of the Cerritos will continue to live on for the foreseeable future in comic form! This is not the first time Lower Decks has done comics, as there was a three part miniseries a couple years ago that took place between the third and fourth seasons where the crew dealt with a hologram of Dracula, and a Choose Your Own Adventure style graphic novel titled Warp Your Own Way that I haven’t read but sounds fun. But now we begin Lower Decks getting its very own ongoing series, meaning one that doesn’t have a set end at the moment and will likely surpass the three issues the miniseries got. Kind of a shame that it has to start coming out right when the cartoon it’s based on is about to end, but this at least gives hope that we may see where the adventures go after the fifth season concludes. That said, this series seems to be starting off taking place in late Season 4, and comics based on shows are not typically allowed to go past the end of that show chronologically, at least not until a lot of time has past. So, we may just be stuck in perpetual Season 4 until the comic writers are given the go ahead from Paramount.

And just like the show itself, this first issue is filled to the brim with nods and easter eggs to previous Star Trek media. There’s a gag in the first few pages of multiple Next Generation style gag titles showing the Cerritos moving swiftly through spectacular events as routine as ever, among them being a Christmas themed planet where the inhabitants are Original Series style energy balls. Though the main hook for this storyline starts with the discovery of the USS Bonaventure, which is a pretty deep cut even by Lower Decks standards, as it picks up a plot first introduced in the short lived Star Trek: The Animated Series. We even get some digs at the art style of that series with TAS Kirk’s head distractingly zoomed in, as well as giving a helpful recap of the events so people don’t feel the need to dig up their Paramount+ account just to watch a fifty year old episode. But unlike a TV episode, this plot can’t wrap up in just one issue, so we leave off with Ransom being warped off in the old ship to lord knows where. And the cover for the next issue seems to imply the Lieutenant Junior Grades facing off against Captain Picard, Captain Janewa, Jadzia Dax, T’Pol, and…I think Chakotay? Seems misleading but we’ll have to see next month where that’s going. And if you’re already missing some Cerritos crew fun, just come back tomorrow for our review of the latest Lower Decks episode, which is already on Paramount+!