Space: the ol’ near-infinite panel gutter. These are the carefully recorded Star Trek voyages of Ensign Avery Kaplan. Her mission? To dutifully observe and analyze the various arms and evolutions of the Spirk-iest sci-fi Franchise to ever grace the small screen. This week, she’s reviewing IDW’s Star Trek: Celebrations (2026) #1.
Ad astra per aspera!
Star Trek: Celebrations (2026) #1 is a one-shot anthology with six individual stories. Each of them is lettered by Jodie Troutman, who brings out an impressive array of fonts to give each story an extra dash of character. And the issue is well-designed by Neil Uyetake.
This anthology comes in at a lean 32 pages, but fortunately it’s all killer, no filler (please insert your own phaser joke here). So without future ado, let’s consider each of the six stories individually.
“Girlfriends”
Written by: Ashley Cooper
Art & Colors by: Jack Lawrence
The anthology makes the excellent decision to start off with the inimitable Star Trek: Lower Decks. In “Girlfriends,” we see a story set between episode 6 (“Hear All, Trust Nothing”) and episode 9 (“Trusted Sources”) of Lower Decks Season 3, during the time Beckett Mariner and Jennifer Sh’reyan are dating.
Obviously, that love story doesn’t have a happy ending. However, as someone who enjoyed the relationship while it lasted, I appreciated seeing a story set during their romance. Plus, I liked that this story was set in a bar, showing us some of the universe beyond Starfleet’s jurisdiction. Finally, this story seemingly confirms that all-gender bathrooms are standard in the future, which is also nice.
As expected for an artist who has previous worked on previous Lower Decks comics, Lawrence nails the art and colors here. A great looking and enjoyable story that will have you clamoring for more Lower Decks!
“Mx. T’Lir’s Night Out”
Written by: Ben Kahn
Art by: Mikael Lindeberg
Colorist by: JP Jordan
This is the only story centered on IDW Comics-introduced characters, and I’m glad some of the original characters were included in this anthology. Once again, I appreciated how this story showed us some of what life is like outside of Starfleet in the 24th Century. I always though the Fenris Rangers deserved more exploration than they received in Star Trek: Picard, so the inclusion of that element was welcome here.
In this story, the titular T’Lir goes on a mission to a club, where they must dress accordingly. Because Star Trek is so often centered on characters in uniform, it’s refreshing to read a story about a character who must choose their own attire. And it perhaps goes without saying that this theme fits very well in a queer-themed anthology!
Both Lindeberg and Jordan bring their A-game: the characters are delightfully expressive and have great outfits, there are some excellent details (including replicated food) and the lighting at the club is especially well done.
“Worst-Case Scenario Protocol”
Written by: Meghan Fitzmartin
Art by : J. Clarke
Colors by: Xenon Honchar
Trek Trope alert! In this story, Seven of Nine and Raffi Musiker get trapped in the holodeck while enjoying a program Seven had hoped would make for a relaxing date. As a result, they end up skipping through several scenarios from Star Trek: Voyager, including Captain Proton and Fairhaven.
Thus, Raffi gets an inside look at Seven’s development during her time on VOY, as well as a new appreciation for how important the crew of the ship was to her self-actualization. Wisely, Chakotay does not play a significant role.
What I liked best about this story was seeing Seven and Raffi together again. Thanks to Seven’s rank, you can tell this story is set before Picard Season 3. Hopefully, the couple will be romantically reunited in IDW’s upcoming ongoing Star Trek series, which is set after Picard Season 3.
“Klingons Don’t Flirt”
Written by: Karim Diané
Art by: Andrew Drilon
Colors by: Katherine Shuda
In a neat bit of “stunt writing,” actor Diané, who plays Jay-Den Kraag on Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, wrote this story about his character. As the first onscreen gay Klingon, Kraag means a lot to a lot of people. It’s clear from this story that Diané understands this, and understands the character.
In “Klingons Don’t Flirt,” we follow Kraag as he flirts (that’s right) with Kyle Jokovich at the bar near Starfleet Academy. It’s a straightforward story, but it gives us more of the romance between the two characters, for which audiences have been clamoring. Plus, it is very entertaining to see any kind of Klingon courtship, and queer Klingon courtship is no exception.
In terms of art, both Drilon and Shuda do an excellent job, very accurately reproducing the look of the two main characters and filling the bar with excellent details and extras.
“Love’s First Bloom”
Written by: Jarrett Melendez
Art by: Kiku Hughes
Colors by: Bex Glendining
Kelvin Timeline ahoy! In this story, we see Hikaru Sulu join Bones on a mission to Ram’See-319. There, Sulu meets Benjamin Jung, his future husband (briefly glimpsed in 2016’s Star Trek Beyond).
I enjoyed this story a lot! It is very sweet and shows a pure, wholesome meet-cute. Plus, Hughes’ art does an excellent job of capturing the look of the three characters, but presenting them in a pleasing comic-booky aesthetic. Meanwhile, Glendining’s colors add an adorable additional layer. Finally, Bones is extremely Bones-y in this story, and that’s always welcome.
“Lovesick”
Written by: Jamila Rowser
Art & colors by: Helena Janečić
The final story in the anthology focuses on the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds incarnation of Nurse Christine Chapel. Chapel treats Sanchez, a member of the crew who has been poisoned on an away mission to the planet Soli’i. Key to the successful treatment is a sapphic legend from Soli’i. Then, after curing Sanchez’s poisoning, Chapel and Sanchez enjoy a dinner date together.
This story has perhaps the most stylized art of the issue, and it works very well, especially when it comes to the U.S.S. Enterprise, Chapel’s adorable freckles and both characters’ hair styles. While the story is self-contained, I would have read more about these two characters.
Star Trek: Celebrations (2026) #1
Overall, I enjoyed this issue a lot. It’s been a very long two years since the previous Star Trek: Celebrations anthology came out, and reading an issue that’s all about the Franchise’s queer characters was a soothing balm — especially after the grating compulsory heterosexuality of Strange New Worlds Season 3. And it was great to see some of the queer elements from Starfleet Academy Season 1 continued here! Plus, many of these stories are more “slice-of-life” than most Franchise comics, and I adore slice-of-life Star Trek stories.
There is so much potential in the Franchise’s queer characters, and I want to make sure I give credit to IDW for pursuing that. While I’m already looking forward to the Star Trek 60th Anniversary Special one-shot, I do hope we’ll see another Celebrations anthology in 2027. And hopefully, that will include some more of the Franchise’s trans characters… I’m thinking specifically of Strange New Worlds‘ Captain Angel, but there’s also Star Trek: Discovery‘s Adira Tal and Gray Tal, who appear on the main cover of this year’s anthology but not in any of the stories inside.
But I’m getting ahead of myself! For now, pick up this issue at your Local Comic Shop and check it out for yourself. You won’t be disappointed!
Star Trek: Celebrations (2026) #1 is available beginning today at a LCS and/or public library near you.
Keep up with all of The Beat’s Star Trek coverage here.
