Warning that spoilers are ahead for last year’s Star Trek: Red Shirts series

I was a really big fan of Star Trek: Red Shirts. It was a gloriously, gleefully brutal and gory comic which usually featured multiple character deaths per issue. A running tally of who was left alive to suffer through the upcoming events was included at the outset of each issue too. It was glorious, well told, with great art and more than a few twists and turns.

Particularly in its shocking climax, which revealed that the survivor of the deadly mission, Chip Miller, was a Romulan spy. And he got away with it, too.

This sequel series opens with the Romulans meeting to discuss their clandestine Starfleet agent, and rooting out a traitor in their own ranks. We then head to a shady space station and meet Miller’s even shadier team of ne’er-do-wells, who undertake dangerous missions on his behalf, while he keeps his distance.

Among this team is Ensign Harry Deubert. The Ensign has his eye on an Andorian Science Officer, and skips out on a mission which turns deadly. And that’s just the beginning of much more to come for Deubert, it seems…

Though writer Christopher Can’t well doesn’t return for this sequel series, Gerry Duggan steps up to the plate and does a great job of shifting the tale 10 years into the future, with the aesthetic moving from The Original Series Trek to a very Wrath of Khan-era feel. As one of my favourite periods of Trek, I was definitely on board with the look of the characters and the universe here.

Though I wasn’t initially sold on the more cartoonish look of the art here, by Scott Buoncristiano, what he does deliver on are the sometimes shocking moments of gore. And there’s one scene in particular that goes way OTT with the blood and guts, and it’s brilliantly done. A few of the violent panels are truly, darkly hilarious too.

Overall, there’s a very different tone to this series than the original, and its aesthetic, as well as the dark comedy, gives it a unique vibe too. That’s certainly not a bad thing though; this first issue is a really strong start and I’m looking forward to seeing more blood, gore and expendable Starfleet officers meet their end as the story continues.

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