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Chris Fenoglio, Ryan North: Star Trek: Lower Decks (GraphicNovel, 2023, IDW Publishing) 4 stars

Ensign, report to the bridge! Board the U.S.S. Cerritos for a mission to the enigmatic …

Hilarious, and a genuinely great Star Trek episode, too!

No rating

I found this absolutely entertaining, fully capturing what works so well in Lower Decks and combining it with Ryan North's typical comic-book wit. I won't go into any detail, but I will say that the plot could honestly have worked well as an episode in almost any version of Star Trek that exists! (For some, the humor would have to be removed, or at least toned down.) The plot's resolution slightly resembled another major resolution in the Star Trek universe, but it's far less of a retread than many cannon episodes.

If there's one element lacking, it's growth of our main cast. This is far less a character-driven story than it is an idea story. But you know what? That's the case for many great Star Trek narratives, and it works just fine here. And at least the ideas (there are several) were fun, bringing an original perspective (if they weren't entirely original), and not relying on technobabble solutions.