Star Trek: Lower Decks #1 Captures the Feel of the Show

While the USS Cerritos prepares to make second contact with an advanced civilization, Ensigns Mariner, Boimler and Tendi visit the holodeck for some R&R and nothing could possibly go wrong. Or could it? Star Trek: Lower Decks #1 is written by Ryan North, with art by Chris Fenoglio and letters and design by Johanna Nattalie.

Mark Turetsky: I don’t know about you, Tony, but Trek has been, and always shall be, my first fandom. And the sheer amount of Trek that’s been released has exploded exponentially over the last few years. There are currently five ongoing streaming series in production, with more confirmed to be on the way. My only major blind spot for Trek stuff is the comics. 

Tony Thornley: I would say a couple other things have definitely supplanted it as my MAIN fandom (if there is such a thing) Star Trek is probably my first, and one I always go back to. Sorry GI Joe. I may not be as plugged into to everything Star Trek as I once was (damn you LG for not having a Paramount+ app on your smart TV’s), but it’ll always be one of my favorites.

I have to say Star Trek and comics aren’t always my favorite combination (and I’ll talk about that in a minute), this issue really nailed it for me. What did you think?

Mark: For me, this comic was effective enough that when I was re-reading it for this review, there were a few points where I couldn’t remember if certain gags had happened in the comic or in the current season of the TV show (streaming now on Paramount+ in the US and elsewhere internationally! Or not?). The art style fits in perfectly with the style of the show and North’s writing is already well-suited to Lower Decks, loaded as it is with references, jokes and meta-jokes. 

Tony: One of my favorite things about Lower Decks as a series is how much love it has for classic Star Trek while mocking and parodying it. For every cheesy joke it makes about a ridiculous trope, it lovingly embraces another in the next breath. North absolutely captures that in this issue.

Mark: Yes! For instance, the gag where they keep switching Enterprises in the Holodeck, which included nods to Star Trek: The Animated Series (a source of many jokes on the show) as well as the bizarre choices that went into the Star Trek: Enterprise finale and North’s obsession with the Ambassador class of starship. What always gets me with Lower Decks is when they take it a step further and reference something in the wider fan culture. Whether it’s the infamous Spock helmet toy or, A Klingon Challenge, the VHS video-based board game featuring Gowron actor Robert O’Reilly, Lower Decks reaches beyond the “text” of Trek to engage with Trek fan spaces, which have only exploded in popularity over the last 50-odd years. I was very glad to see Tendi and Boimler recreate the popular Garak “especially” meme that is literally everywhere.

Tony: Absolutely. And North packs in the episode references too. The main plot is Holodeck hijinks, honestly one of my favorite Trek tropes. Lower Decks already did it on the show with the WONDERFUL Badgey episode so instead he does a spin on a classic – “Elementary, Dear Data”- and adds the absolutely best thing you can add to a classic. A Dracula. 

Mark: Honestly, it reads like a Dinosaur Comics premise: Dracula vs. Sherlock Holmes on the holodeck. But that’s not remotely a bad thing. Two public domain tastes that have gone together for a long time. And not only is he Dracula, he’s a Dracula capable of defeating “the best android ever” (are we going to get a surprise twist and learn the Cerritos computer considers a different android than Data the be “the best android ever?”). 

Tony: That sequence was a cascade of references that I just loved. I kind of wish we’d gotten to see Mariner as Holmes versus Dracula a little bit before the malfunction, but otherwise, perfect scene, no notes.

Mark: My one real gripe is that Rutherford is barely in the comic, appearing in a total of four panels. He’s a member of the quartet of leads! As an engineer, you’d think North would be eager to include him in the hijinks. Hopefully he’ll get some more page time in the remaining two issues. 

Tony: That’s a concern I’ve had with Lower Decks in general. When the A story involves three of the leads, the odd man out just fades into the background completely instead of being heavily involved in the B story. I’m not sure why it happens, but I’ve noticed it happen with both Tendi and Rutherford.

Mark: Well, that’s one thing when you’ve got a whole season of episodes to move the spotlight around. It’s a bit different with a 3-issue miniseries telling a single story. 

Tony: I did have one extremely minor quibble and that’s how North’s “alt text” jokes seem out of place here. Some of them do land, and some provide some fun context, but they all just feel a little out of place. It’s minor and they’re easy to miss and skip (I was actually a third of the way through the issue before I noticed them).

Mark: I dunno, if this were based on a different Star Trek series than Lower Decks, it’d stand out more. But Lower Decks is already much more self-aware than the rest of Trek, so I’m fine with it. But I can see where you’re coming from. It doesn’t really fit into the Trek format, although come to think of it, a Pop-Up Video-style Trek show might be fun.

What do you make of the B story, the visit to Qvanti, or maybe not Qvanti?

Tony: Considering the A story is “things being not as they seem” and “holodeck” I have a sneaky suspicion that it’s all A story. So we’ll see.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book! There’s something about Star Trek comics that is always a little bit off. That’s not to say that most of them aren’t at least good at a minimum. However, there’s something about franchise that gets lost when it’s translated into still images on a comics page. You might think their quiet, more contemplative nature would lend itself well to comics but not always. So it’s a pleasant surprise to see that the issue doesn’t miss a beat. It’s funny, it gets the characters, and really has a lot of love for the franchise. I don’t know that I’d want a full ongoing but a miniseries every time a new season pops up would be a lot of fun!

Mark: Agreed! I’m definitely looking forward to next month’s issue!

Mark Turetsky

Mark Turetsky is an audiobook narrator and voice actor who sometimes writes about comic books. Originally from Montreal, Canada, he now lives in Northern Louisiana.

Tony Thornley

Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.