Star Trek: Are you catching up with the IDW of Lower Decks Comic? May 14th, 2025, Star Trek: Lower Deck #7 will shine in the local comic shop. This issue is written by Tim Sheridan on the art, colours and the main cover of Lobby Cook. The final order cutoff for Low Deck #7 is Monday, April 7th, 2025, so tell LCS that you need a copy as soon as possible!
Cover with a chef.
Here’s an explanation of the problem from the publisher:
“There’s nothing like a mother-daughter relationship, and finding the Captain’s monolith never knows that it was a carefree little sign that accidentally wiped out the entire crew in the experiment. Somehow. ‘On the other hand, what Mariner wants to know is how Freeman can escape such hair to Pulaski.”
Prior to the arrival of the matter, Comic Beat got the opportunity to chat with Sheridan via email. We asked him about his history with Star Trek, balancing sci-fi and comedy on the deck below, and (of course) balancing what he orders from a food replicator. Plus, The Beat is proud to be able to present two exclusive preview pages from the questions along with the interview!
Avery Kaplan: Does Star Trek have a personal history, including Star Trek? What makes the franchise special?
Tim Sheridan: I’m a lifelong trekker! I grew up deep in the woods in Rhode Island in the 1980s. There were three TV stations on the VHF dial, and one or two TV stations could have a good reception on the UHF dial (this is how people really lived… it’s scary to look into it). So, there are far fewer options than today, so you were just looking at anything and hoping it would be good.
Thankfully, Star Trek was in the cinemas during this period. Because at least one of the channels we got meant to show a rerun of the original series. And I was hooked from the start. Then Star Trek: The Next Generation happened, and it was on a whole new level. I began reading all the DC Monthly comics at age 11 before going to my first convention.
Then, as a teenager, when everyone else was on a date with sports, I was reading all the trekking novels I could get. This franchise is a huge part of my life and work, and for me it’s all the way to the show of the most perfect love letters that Star Trek wanted to get.
If you want to understand how good Lower Decks is, my husband (not even my best efforts, but not a trekker, and not a trekker – I know!) loved the show and requested Star Trek Group editor Heather Antos and IDW to accept the challenges when they called.
Kaplan: How did you become involved in IDW Lower Decks Comics?
Sheridan: I’m a huge fan of IDW trekking comics and I have a friend who contributed to the canon. They all speak very, very high, in practically unison like Borg, especially in collaboration with Heather and her team.
So when we met Heather at the convention, we were both appearing, and she asked me what my favorite era of Star Trek was (like picking my favorite kids, but great whatvs), I simply told her that the deck below was the most trekking trek ever trekked. I saw her leaving behind a Cheshire cat smile and didn’t talk to her again until last year pulling me out of my table at San Diego Comic Con and asking if I was interested in writing the deck below.
You need to ask her, but I think she was thinking about my trekking fandom as well as my years of work in animation and my years of work in comics. When I was almost hired to write something fierce, dramatic like the animated Batman, Long Halloween movies and Alan Scott: Green Lantern Comics, Heather took a chance on me and my stupidity. (By the way, my friend was right. Working with this editorial team was a complete joy from day one.)
Kaplan: The deck below is a serious Star Trek, but that’s also very interesting. How did you balance the comedy and SCIFI?
Sheridan: I don’t. I mean I’m still trying to find that balance. I once asked the animation Great Lauren Faust if there was anything I could do better with my writing (thank you for her honesty) she said I tend to sacrificed my heart and make jokes. No one ever got me that fast!
So it’s hard to have any fascinating gags I really want to put in, but I might have to go back to the plot or it might be interesting, so I’m “comic” the characters so I have to resist. The great thing about the low deck is that there is a perfect blueprint sitting on Paramount+. You can see it every time you get lost. Mike McMahon and his team have always found the perfect balance between jokes and stakes, so they keep watching them and their work, hoping that some of them will wear out.
Kaplan: What research has entered deck #7 below? Have you ever had a legacy episode you discussed about this issue?
Sheridan: That much. First off, we started by rewatching it, of course, as the story is a direct response to the scene from Episode 4 of the lower deck. Then, knowing that we are telling a flashback story set 15 years ago of the Lower Deck, I felt it was important to put us between seasons 2 and 3 of the Next Generation and rewatch some of those Season 2 episodes back.
What worked out about the Lower Deck show was to involve key characters and cast members from across the franchise. I really wanted to live up to that tradition, so bringing the characters of that era makes sense. Now, let’s make it clear that Dr. Pulaski feels that he is always underestimated. And I was reminded of how good Diana Murdauro is during the rewatch. I’m a big Murdaur head and return to her appearance in Star Trek: Original series and don’t start LA law.
We couldn’t really get to know Pulaski during our short time on TV, so it felt like we had given us a little license to have fun with her. But in the end we put her feet back on the ground. I hope it gives you some new reasons to love her.
But in the end, this is a story about Carol Freeman. This was a completely different thing! I asked a lot of questions about Carol’s history that I had to answer before delving into writing. Her age and rank and Beckett’s age and rank, as well as the fact that she was serving in Illinois 15 years ago, brought up questions that made my head almost explode with possibilities. Thank you to Mike and Paramount. Therefore, in Nos. 7 and Nos. 8, we can see not only new aspects of Pulaski, but also Freeman.
Kaplan: If you have misguided readers who haven’t yet grasped the issues with the deck below, can you tell me if this is an issue that should bring them to a local comic shop?
Sheridan: You don’t need to read the 1-6 issue to jump into #7, but with the TV show wrapped, what are you waiting for? It’s a lower deck for goodness ‘s sake! But let’s say that the fine was read Questions 1-6 for discussion. However, your memories have been erased by Paksan to hide their world – it feels like you are beginning with issue 7.
In that case, I say as a TNG nerd you know, you’ll love spending some time in Illinois with Freeman and her fellow Lower Deckies. If you’re like me and you think Freeman is great, then that’s just how different the difference between her mom and Mariner…it’s kind of weird that it’s buckle up.
Kaplan: If you can order something from a food replicator, what would you get?
Sheridan: Anything my mother made. Literally anything. She wasn’t a flashy panties chef, but man, whatever she cooked, whatever she tasted like love and home, if something could replicate that feeling, then you believe it was everything I ordered.
Star Trek: Lower Deck #7 arrives at LCS on May 14th, 2025. The FOC is Monday, April 7th, 2025.
Click here to keep up with all of the coverage of Star Trek in Beat.
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