Review by Frank Plowright

Be warned, this is definitely one where you need to pick up the book. The digital version will have you all over the place and this is so well produced you don’t want any surprises ruined before they drop.

The reason is that Warp Your Own Way isn’t just the funny, yet well plotted and drawn story Ryan North and Chris Fenoglio produced for the first Lower Decks graphic novel, but one where you make the decisions. You are Ensign Beckett Mariner, and depending on the choices you make at given points, the adventure unfolds according to the page you’ve chosen to jump to. These choices can be as simple and random as your response to the computer asking what form of caffeine you want, or as big as an existential decision made when you’re aware the wrong choice will result in death.

Fenoglio’s cartooning is great at capturing the cast, yet the same style works just as well when applied to horrific scenes, of which there are plenty. Due to circumstances Beckett is seen feeling a variety of emotions, perhaps more than might be experienced in a TV episode, and Fenoglio nails them all.

Were this just a choose your own adventure version of the appealing take on the cast North has already shown in Lower Decks this would be a graphic novel worth reading, both working on its own merits as a viable plot, and funny with references by the dozen. However, North really goes the extra mile here. The options at first seem to lead into different scenarios, but the choices are actually crucial in building toward an overall ending. There’s a point where choices lead continually to death, yet the adventure continues with the reader in effect becoming integral to what’s happening via a connection with Beckett.

It’s very, very smart, and instantly catapults Warp Your Own Way to the gold standard of the admittedly small and compact category of game and puzzle graphic novels.