Space: the ol’ near-infinite panel gutter. These are the carefully recorded Star Trek voyages of Ensign Avery Kaplan. Her mission? To dutifully observe and analyze the various arms and evolutions of the wokest sci-fi Franchise to ever grace the small screen. This week, she’s reviewing the final issue of a six-part storyline, Star Trek: Lower Decks #18, in a SPOILER review.
Warp me!
Ensign’s Log — Stardate 40826
Star Trek: Lower Decks #18
Written by: Tim Sheridan
Art by: Vernon Smith
Colors by: Charlie Kirchoff
Letters by: Clayton Cowles
Design & Production by: Johanna Nattalie
Publisher: IDW
The conclusion of the six-issue arc that started waaaaay back in Star Trek: Lower Decks #12 arrived at your Local Comic Shop (LCS) last week… but because this review contains SPOILERS, we held it until today.
In Lower Decks #18, “Finalis Sine Titulo” (Finale Without Title) Part II, the final part of the epic half-year-long story has arrived. This issue walks a fine line between keeping the story true to the Lower Decks formula and welcoming one of the most upper decks guest stars to visit the comic or series yet: Captain Worf of the U.S.S. Enterprise-E. And the guest stars don’t stop there: we also get the return of (now-Provisional Captain) Doctor Pulaski as well as original Lower Decks comic character Quog the Ferengi. Amusingly, Quog is now captaining the Ferengi ship Enterprise (they just call it “Enterprise”). Having all these guest stars is exhilarating, but the storyline still manages to center Captain Carol Freeman (as well as the rest of the Cerritos crew, especially our Lower Deckers, T’Ana and Migleemo).
Much of this issue takes the form of a space battle. Augmented by the excellent art and colors by Smith and Kirchoff, this battle matches many of the onscreen ship battles to which we’ve been treating during the Secret Hideout era… No small feat for a comic book. With the Enterprise, Enterprise-E, U.S.S. Illinois and (of course!) the U.S.S. Cerritos in the mix, it’s no wonder.
When the climax of the six-issue long story arc arrives, it’s in line with the Franchise values of pursuing connection with one another no matter how challenging it may be to achieve. But this is complimented by the entertaining meta commentary suggesting those underwhelmed at the conclusion begin writing letters to IDW immediately.
That is far from the only laugh out loud moment in this issue, including a few 10/10 visual gags. Plus, the “next time on” page remains consistently hilarious, and if I squint, I can even pretend it is my long-coveted back matter!
Finally, revealing that Laaperia and Laapoonia have a third, “middle sister” planet (Laapiivia) is a joke that would probably be too goofy for the onscreen incarnation of Lower Decks. But paired with the positive Trek Trope of forgiving and befriending one’s enemies, it affords a reasonably satisfying conclusion to a story that lasted six issues (and then some). And besides that, Migleemo’s eagerness to leap into therapeutic action is just as funny as T’Ana’s barely concealed blood lust.
While I do hope we get more one- or two-issue-long story arcs next, I think this six-part serialization experiment was successful, and I wouldn’t be distraught if we were to see another multi-part story in the future. Good job, Lower Decks creative team! Mosaro, when the lake was smooth.
One last spoiler for the road: I thought the choice to have the E be lost via cloak and transporter timing mishap rather than exploding, as so many of assumed was the case, was ingenious. Not to mention the fact that it gives us a story setup rife with possibilities! Fantastic.
For the rest of this week’s single-issue reviews, be sure and keep up with The Beat’s Wednesday Weekly Reviews column!
Keep up with all of The Beat’s Star Trek coverage here.
