Comic Review: Star Trek – Lower Decks #17

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Captain Freeman and her remaining crew race back to Lapoonia in a stolen ship to save their missing friends from the mysterious warship that’s stolen two entire planet’s population. Mariner infiltrates her way on board and swiftly lays waste to their soldiers, as well as finding an unlikely ally.

OUR TAKE

ZOMG, Boimler, Tendi, T’Lyn, and Ransom aren’t dead! I know, I’ll give you a minute to get your jaws off the floor from the surprise of that shocking twist. You good? Okay, well then there’s the actual surprise, that they were rescued by none other than CAPTAIN Worf of the Enterprise E! Because it wouldn’t be Lower Decks without a legacy character cameo, for better or worse. The first page of this issue even has a flashback (technically flash forward since it happens chronologically AFTER Lower Decks), to the third season of the Picard series where it was jokingly implied that, after succeeding as captain from Picard, the Enterprise E was unusable because of something involving Worf. And while I’m sure plenty were wondering what that exact incident was, I’m sure most did not expect it to possibly be explained in a spin-off comic for a completely different show. But hey, this comic might be ending with the next issue, so if they have a chance to possibly fill in that gap, then by god, they’re gonna try. But other than the meta relevance of that, Worf hasn’t really had anything to do with…ANYTHING going on in this story arc, so I guess it’ll depend on how he’s utilized next time to see if this was really worth it or not.

As for stuff involving characters actually from the show this comic is based on, this issue is mostly focused on Mariner and Freeman, both fearful of the worst regarding their team, but pushing through their worries (sometimes through denial in Mariner’s case) to finish the mission they started. When Mariner does start to lose hope that her friends may be alive, she does start to tear up, which is a bit impactful in showing her vulnerability in that moment, though it’s sort of brushed over so we can get back to the action. Again, not like it would have mattered anyway, but then why have that moment for her in the first place. Anyway, she does manage to find both stolen populations housed in this warship, as well as a briefly revived Sun-Sanchez, and rallies them all to take over the ship themselves before Shax can arrive and really bring the pounding. However, while their captors obviously did the kidnapping, they deny the possibility that they killed anyone, and remove their helmet, which I suppose we’ll get the reveal for in the concluding issue too. If they’re covered up, it must be to hide that it’s some group that readers might recognize, but I’m blanking on who it could be. The point is, this is definitely an improvement on last month’s issue, and it gives me hope that this arc, and potentially this series, may end on a stronger note next time, as this arc draws to a close.