Writer: Christopher Cantwell
Artist: Megan Levens
Colorist: Charlie Kirchoff
Letterer: Jodie Troutman
Cover Artists: Chris Shehan, JJ Lendl & Declan Shalvey
Publisher: IDW
Price: $4.99
Release Date: July 16, 2025
Ensign Chip Miller was elated to graduate from Starfleet Academy. Then, Starfleet Command made Miller a Security Officer. Despite his unsatisfactory combat skills, Miller survived his first away mission when the rest of his squad died. He regards the future with a scarred face and a pale eye. How will Ensign Miller fare when Lieutenant Midge DeMatrio assigns him to Operation Squawk Box? Let’s grab our phasers, leap into Star Trek Red Shirts #1, and see!
Story
Once, he served on the USS Constellation under Commodore Matt Decker. For the moment, Ensign Miller calls the USS Warren home. Lieutenant Midge DeMatrio has selected Chip for an away mission. Miller doesn't know his teammates. But his faded cornea and facial scars are excellent ice breakers. There's a camaraderie among the Security officers DeMatrio has assembled. Some want to be there. Others yearn for glory. But they’re red shirts, and that means they stand by each other.
In Star Trek: Red Shirts #1, someone has hacked a remote antenna array. Lieutenant Webster Cromarty has been on Arkonia 89 for nine months, but cannot determine who is monitoring the stellar wind data. He prefers to continue investigating on his own, but his superiors demand answers. Who is using the antenna to access Federation networks? Tasked with the assignment, Lieutenant DeMatrio hand-picks a landing team to bait a trap. When the snoops arrive to investigate, her team will capture them.
Ensign Chip Miller takes a dim view of Security. Like Lieutenant Cromarty and some of his teammates, Miller believes the Federation views red shirts as disposable assets. But Christopher Cantwell’s story reminds us that space travel is inherently dangerous. Accidents happen. Even if the Federation of Planets is devoted to peaceful exploration (and forming the occasional “humanitarian armada”), battles occur.
Some members of Operation Squawk Box survived the Klingon War. Even in peacetime, seemingly safe decisions can have disastrous consequences. If Commodore Decker hasn’t lost his entire crew, he will soon. Still, that doesn’t mean that every leader exercises the best judgment when planning away missions. Lieutenant DeMatrio proves that in Star Trek: Red Shirts #1.
Art
Charlie Kirchoff opens the first page with a splash of scarlet. Blue light shines into Miller’s eyes. Commodore Decker, clad in his yellow shirt, clutches Miller’s shoulder. Despite Decker's sympathetic words, Miller sees the world through one brown eye and one gray eye. Likewise, Kirchoff opens the next chapter of Miller's life aboard the USS Warren in spectacular fashion. The Constitution-class starship flies through space, undaunted by the orange flames licking its hull from a blazing sun. In the light gray hangar bay, a sea of red shirts gathers amid Class F shuttlecrafts like the Galileo.
Megan Levens opens Star Trek: Red Shirts #1 by transporting us through space and time. The first page takes place on the planet Neural, and the second aboard the USS Constellation. Nine images fill the third page, as Ensign Chip Miller shares memories of the missions he has survived. Megan Levens pairs this with a similar page in the hangar bay. This time, Lieutenant Midge DeMatrio occupies the center panel among seven. Her expression reveals an acceptance of death that Ensign Miller has yet to learn.
Jodie Troutman locates in time and space with yellow letters in black boxes. Black uppercase letters fill white balloons and boxes. Comm transmissions occupy blue balloons with lightning bolt arrows. Color tags identify the speakers. Energetic and colorful sound effects enhance transporter beams, explosions, phaser beams, and animal roars. And on the planet Arkonia 89, anyone can hear a centipede scream. Thanks to IDW for providing a review copy.
Final Thoughts
Every leader knows they will suffer losses. But not all leaders are created equal. Some make every effort to protect their people from harm. Others deploy Security Officers like pawns in Tridimensional Chess. While security officers aboard the USS Enterprise regularly die, Star Trek Red Shirts #1 reminds us that not every Federation captain or admiral cares about their crew like James T Kirk.
Rating 8.8/10
To look inside see my review at Comic Book Dispatch.
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