Review by Ian Keogh
Security officers in red uniform shirts seen transporting down to new planets would almost invariably die there on 20th century Star Trek TV shows. Awareness of that spread well beyond Star Trek fandom, yet the knowing title conceals a more sympathetic view of the security officers in what’s set during the Captain Kirk days with a deliberate 1960s retro look.
Red Shirts starting with a dozen unfamiliar characters profiled is somewhat intimidating, but Christopher Cantwell introduces them well in the body of the story, and following procedure, quite a few aren’t around for very long. The mission is laid out on Megan Levens’ sample art. An experienced officer has been hiding on a planet where Starfleet has noticed communications are being tapped, and a squad is to be implanted to see who turns up when communications cease.
Cantwell’s given some thought as to the type of person who might want to be a security officer given the fatality rate, and his cast range from thrill-seekers through the gung-ho warrior to the veteran whose skills outweigh his lack of respect for the chain of command. The disfigured cover star is Chip Miller, who survived his first mission through luck, but heavily scarred. With false bravado he lets everyone assume bravery played a greater part in his survival than chance. For all the building of personalities, the plot inevitably involves one death following another until a desperate last stand.
The figures can be stiff, but Levens brings out the dangers of an unpredictable mission and really packs the action into small panels. Her designs also impress. Some known alien races feature, but Levens also creates new forms of humanoid alien, and a giant wild insect creature loose on the planet is terrifying.
Attitudes among the security staff are novel. Miller in particular doesn’t see Starfleet as an organisation generating wonder and exploration, but one caring little for the lives of their employees as long as their targets are achieved. He nevertheless continues to do what’s right.
From a small, almost insignificant start, Cantwell builds the problems until they escalate to a three vessel standoff, one of them elaborately discovered, and plays on the hubris of alien commanders for an excellent final chapter with one big surprise still to offer. Red Shirts really hits the spot.
