Star Trek: Lower Decks, Vol 1: Second Contact is a trade paperback which comprises the first 6 issues of the Lower Deck comic. It’s written by Ryan North and illustrated by Derek Charm and Jack Lawrence. It was published by Idea & Design Works (IDW) and is released today, the 16th of September, 2025. This review is intended to be free of spoilers, but nobody’s perfect. A review copy of the book was provided. There are affiliate links at the end of this review.
Blurb
First up, a mysterious ghost ship appears just in time, as Mariner is becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of thrills aboard the Cerritos! The thrill level increases significantly when the team is beamed onto an equally mysterious surface of an unknown world populated by an alien race that wishes to learn more about mentorship…through a battle royale! Enter Jadzia Dax, Montgomery Scott, Kathyrn Janeway, T’Pol, and Jean-Luc Picard as the mentors and the Lower Deckers as the mentees!
The Cerritos’ next mission is a supply run to Tavela Minor, but they first need to stop by the Alecto system to get some supplies to, uh, supply them with. However, just before they warp, they see the Alecto system isn’t only missing; it doesn’t exist. Like at all. Now they have a space mystery at hand: What could cause a whole star system to disappear?
Then, suspicious after the Cerritos docks for its second baryon sweep in the same year, Mariner sneaks into a command meeting. There, the Department of Temporal Investigations tasks the crew with finding a time traveler who is rewriting Federation history at an alarming rate. Mariner finds her friends and tells them what’s really going on…only for the timeline to change around them! Obviously, something has gone wrong with Command’s mission, and per usual, it’s now up to Mariner, Tendi, Rutherford, and Boimler to save the day!
Review
As a longtime fan of Star Trek: Lower Decks, I’ve always gravitated toward its irreverent charm and deep affection for the franchise’s quirks, and when I saw Ryan North was behind this comic adaptation, I knew I was in for something special. North’s work has consistently hit that sweet spot between clever and heartfelt, whether through his genre-bending comics or his delightfully nerdy prose. But my admiration goes beyond the page: his now-defunct advertising platform, Project Wonderful, was a game-changer for indie creators like me back in the day when I ran other sites that depended on the revenue it provided, and benefited from the eyeballs it could bring to my site. I really liked the community-first model that helped my older sites thrive and connected me with readers who would understand what I was doing. So diving into Second Contact felt like a reunion with a creative voice I trust, in a universe I adore.
This graphic novel collects the first six issues of the Lower Decks comic series, expanding the animated show’s ethos into the comic medium with surprising finesse. The Cerritos crew of Mariner, Boimler, Rutherford, and Tendi (my fave!) are thrown into several stories involving ghost ships, universe-ending bubbles of vacuum, and, my favourite, a mentorship-themed battle royale orchestrated by a curious alien race. The twist? Their mentors include Trek legends like Janeway, Picard, and even Jadzia Dax (another fave!), each rendered with loving caricature and just the right amount of absurdity.
The episodic structure mirrors the show’s pacing, but the comic format allows for more visual gags, fourth-wall breaks, and some really fun lore additions, like the Starfleet Corps of Rhetoric Engineers and Kirk’s fanvid hobby. It’s a love letter to Trek’s legacy, but written in crayon on the back of a holodeck safety manual.
Jack Lawrence and Derek Charm nail the animated aesthetic, keeping the characters instantly recognisable while adding comic-book flair. They stick closely to the aesthetic of the show, which feels very much like the right decision. Panels are tight and punchy, with occasional splash pages that lean into the chaos. The transporter sound effect, “SVRRRRRMMMMMM,” is just one of many lovingly ridiculous details. Speech bubbles are clean and accessible, and the layout never overwhelms. It’s not pushing the boundaries of comic art, but it doesn’t need to; it’s here to entertain.
What makes Second Contact sing is its commitment to the Lower Decks ethos: celebrating the overlooked, the awkward, and the emotionally sincere. There’s a meta-textual richness here; callbacks to TNG, the original animated series, and even Trek’s more philosophical moments. But it never gets bogged down in reverence. Instead, it weaponises nostalgia for comedy and character growth. Mariner’s frustration, Boimler’s earnestness, and Tendi’s boundless enthusiasm all shine through. And while the stakes are often ridiculous, the emotional beats land, especially in moments of mentorship and self-doubt.
If you’re a Trek fan who prefers your starships with a side of sarcasm and your lore with a wry wink, Second Contact is a must-read. It doesn’t reinvent the warp core, but it does offer a hilarious, heartfelt expansion of a show that’s already redefining what Star Trek can be. I think you’ll appreciate how this volume turns technobabble into character development and ritual into punchline.
Rating: 4/5
No Rerolls 
I didn’t know there was a cartoon based on star trek.
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