-
Star Trek: Lower Decks #1
- Writer:
- Ryan North
- Artist:
- Chris Fenoglio
- Letterer:
- Johanna Nattalie
- Cover Artist:
- Chris Fenoglio
- Publisher:
- IDW Publishing
- Price:
- $3.99
- Release Date:
- 2022-09-14
- Colorist:
- Chris Fenoglio
As season 3 of Star Trek: Lower Decks debuts, hardcore fans can keep up with the crew between episodes with the first part of an all-new miniseries. Written by Ryan North, best known for his award-winning work on the Adventure Time comics and Marvel's The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, with Chris Fenoglio on art and colors, and with letters and design by Johanna Nattalie, Star Trek: Lower Decks #1 picks up where Season 2 left off with an epic adventure.
Star Trek: Lower Decks #1 is a grab-bag of side story plot threads, centering as always around the U.S.S. Cerritos and its lowest ranking officers. After a brief opening drag, everyone's favorite Ensigns, Boimler, Mariner, and Tendi try not to cause trouble on the holodeck, with most of their efforts coming to naught. Elsewhere, the captain embarks on a mission with unexpected consequences.
Despite having an opening that feels designed to deliver exposition, North writes Star Trek: Lower Decks #1, assuming that the reader has watched the animated series. The central characters and their personalities aren't introduced in any meaningful way. This is totally harmless for those who have seen Lower Decks, but it does leave anybody who might be tempted to try out this universe via the comics out in the cold. The writing also struggles to make the central dynamic of the acerbic Ensign Mariner and hapless Ensign Boimler shine quite like it does in the show. Mariner's snarky dialogue mostly lands, but without the voice acting talents of Jack Quaid, Boimler feels significantly less engaging than his TV counterpart. That being said, the cheeky tone of the animated show comes through loud and clear. The charm and some great references to the larger Star Trek universe, including exploding consoles and Dixon Hill, will almost definitely keep Lower Decks fans locked in.
Fenoglio does a terrific job of transposing the central characters of Star Trek: Lower Decks into the comic book medium. The look and feel of the show have been captured in a very compelling way, down to small details like background work. The characters are brilliantly expressive, with a real sense of emotiveness in their design and reactions, which helps compensate for the lack of the usual voice acting. In the same vein, Fenoglio's colors are incredibly accurate to the texture of the TV show. Although this visual continuity is nice, it looks notably flat in comic form. The lack of interesting shading or variation makes sense in an incredibly expensive medium like animation, but it can feel a little stagnant on the page.
Nattalie's letters are solid throughout, doing a lot of work to aid North's strong dialogue. Her utilization of italics and emboldening give conversations an amazing sense of cadence and comedic emphasis. Not only does this help the humor land, but it also does a great job of mimicking the work of the voice actors.
All in all, Star Trek: Lower Decks #1 does a pretty good job of preaching to its own choir but is unlikely to convert anybody who isn't already a Star Trek: Lower Decks fan. The art, story, and characterization are functional, but this first issue doesn't really set out a clear vision of why this plot is worthy of a three-issue arc, beyond feeling like a season 2 episode outline that didn't make the cut. Hopefully, the plot will escalate in the next issue, and this is just a deceptively weak opening for a story that actually has a lot more gravity.