Review by Frank Plowright

Following the plain Lower Decks and the choose your own adventure format of Warp Your Own Way, Ryan North’s version of Star Trek’s animated show is proven to hit all spots, and he continues his fine run of form with Second Contact.

As previously, North really puts in the effort supplying references to the past and in-jokes fans will pick up on, such as the opening story featuring a starship last seen in the original Star Trek animated series. He goes further, though, pulling other characters, or approximations of, from throughout the various Star Trek franchises. As you’ll discover, it’s not only Star Trek that’s mined for references. Backing that up is a great sense of humour resulting in solid laughs page after page. However, that’s just the window dressing. Although in matching the animated show the plots can be silly, strip the jokes and the references, and they’d stand up as viable Star Trek adventures.

Jack Lawrence draws the opening two-parter and Derek Charm (sample art) the remaining four chapters. As has been pointed out elsewhere, as this is based on an animated series, the artists have their visual reference, and there’s none of the awkwardness of an artist being able to draw a really good likeness of Sonequa Martin-Green, but not as capable when it comes to Anthony Rapp. Both artists give you the characters you see on screen, and their cartooning is adaptable enough to design the weirdness North supplies.

Whereas North’s opening Lower Decks story mixed officers and grunts, Second Contact definitely prioritises Mariner and her friends. If you love the humour of the TV show, you can’t go wrong here.