Star Trek: Lower Decks

This past week (if not two) has been rather hellish from a reading perspective (pull list comics not withstanding.

Attempting to continue my limited time use of Comixology/Kindle Unlimited after Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows, I've attempted to read something else. However, a lack of time and access to my tablet (kids, huh?), has meant I've been lucky to get through more than a couple of pages every few days.

Fortunately, I'm not so prohibited with print and so, during this week, I've been able to read the newly acquired Star Trek: Lower Decks (gotta love birthdays) by Ryan North and Chris Fenoglio.

This first trade (presumably. There's a '1' on the spine) of the series see Starfleet's favourite junior rankers, while taking in R&R on a love journey to the Cerritos' next mission, accidentally create life on the Holodeck, resulting in some Moriarty level hi-jinks. However, this isn't the best time to form a sentient holographic vampire as Captain Freeman, setting off on her mission, finds herself in trial for violating the Prime Directive. Now her crew have to find a way to help her (although maybe she'll get lucky and another ship will show up and do it).

At this point, I don't think it's a secret about my thoughts from Star Trek. On top of watching every series (except Prodigy but 'Roll on Christmas Day!') I've read City on the Edge of Forever and Mirror Broken, Strange New Worlds and the Jackson/Kelly run. In each one, I think I've made it clear that I LOVE Star Trek!!!

Of all of the shows though, Lower Decks has got to be my favourite.

With this trade, it really feels like Ryan North has perfectly imbued every bit of wit, tone and colour into both the story and the world of the Cerritos. Reading this series is like watching a previously unseen episode, with North, who I'm currently reading over on Fantastic Four, seems to return to the humour used in the Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series I've heard such mad praise about, and utilise it to perfectly recreate this California-Class crew and their shenanigans.

This is mostly seen in the dialogue. North captures the distinct voices of Boimler, Mariner and beyond with incredible accuracy, as their language is so in keeping with each respective character that I can't help but hear Tawny Newsome, Jack Quaid and many other voices from the show as I went through it. Then, there is the additional exposition at the bottom of (almost) each page which helps bring more levity (if any was actually needed) while also, clearing up any complex techno-babble, scene cuts or even North's own inside jokes.

That said, this extra dialogue was also the biggest flaw for me as it was difficult to read and also hard to grasp whose perspective it actually related to. However, the fact I read it on a bus and the fact Britain's road are not pot-hole free may have had something to do with that.

Now I've said (or maybe more implied) that North perfectly encapsulated Lower Decks, but I have to confess that this is nothing compared to the stellar art of Chris Fenoglio. Having first encountered his work in the Hello Neighbour's video game's tie-in Graphic Novel, I've seen repeated posts on his social media of a perfectly rendered Lower Decks crew. Therefore, I think it is fair to say that no one was a better choice for this comic and, as a result, Fenoglio absolutely knocks it out of the park. So on point is his work and so in keeping with the series animation is his style, it feels more like this is some lost episode. In fact, if they were to bring him in to fill in the gaps, Fenoglio could probably convert into an actual part of the tv series and no one would ever realise.

I realise that I've rambled on a little bit but, long story short, thanks to this perfect confluence of story, art and even extras (this trade contains references to Star Trek episodes which themselves are referenced in the story), this was a tremendously funny read which feels like the perfect add-on to the Lower Decks universe.

I just hope that '1' on the spine isn't some tease and it'll come back for round two.

Now, I really want to watch Lower Decks (again).