Advance Review: Starfleet Officer Dracula Reporting In `Star Trek: Lower Decks’ #3

It isn’t often that Dracula is portrayed as a good guy. But leave it to the Star Trek: Lower Decks comic book to turn the plasma-loving vampire into a would-be Starfleet officer.

While the hologram-turned-vampire doesn’t technically join the Federation, he does help out against an alien race that seems to be set on destroying the USS Cerritos and her crew. After getting a taste for humanoid blood in the last issue – replicated blood just couldn’t compare – Drac, Boimler, Mariner and crew figure a way out of the holodeck and into the rest of the ship. Hilarity ensure as he tries to help.

Written by Ryan North, this concluding issue of the limited series doesn’t deliver as many laughs as the previous two installments. Maybe they are just getting old, but North’s tongue-in-cheek commentary at the bottom of most pages used to be a highlight. Now, it seems like he’s stretching just a bit too far.

The conclusion of the story is also missing something as well, which is odd given that the issue is oversized. Perhaps he was trying to fill too many pages. Less is sometimes more, after all. Still, he’s able to stay true to the spirit of Trek and the Lower Decks series. There’s even a reference to James T. Kirk, which is welcome in any timeline.

Artist Chris Fenoglio continues to deliver pitch-perfect pages that capture the look and feel of the Paramount+ animated series. Each character and location looks like it belongs on a screen instead of the pages of a comic book. Fenoglio was clearly born to draw this book.

Unfortunately, the Lower Decks comic series ends here – at least for now. Hopefully the creative team can re-energize and get a new Trek assignment in the not-too-distant future.

Star Trek: Lower Decks #3 will be available for purchase tomorrow.