If you’re a Star Trek fan, then you’re probably very familiar with the trope regarding the infamous Red Shirts. The security officers of Starfleet are known for the bright red shirts they wear, along with constantly being the first officers to die in the field. Star Trek fandom loves to debate the “Red Shirts always die” trope because that’s the type of thing fans enjoy doing. You can look at series such as Star Trek: The Original Series and The Next Generation for examples on both sides of the debate. Just as it appeared that the Red Shirt trope was debunked, a new Star Trek comic officially puts the debate to rest. WARNING: Spoilers for Star Trek: Red Shirts #1 below.
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Star Trek: Red Shirts #1 is by Christopher Cantwell, Megan Levens, Charlie Kirchoff, and Jodie Troutman. It takes readers behind the typically nameless faces inside the Red Shirts and humanizes them. Yes, we do lose some Red Shirts in the issue, but what it really accomplishes is embracing the idea that Red Shirts are more likely to die. This runs counterpoint to a Facebook post from 2024 that “busted” the Red Shirt myth. The post used statistics of mortality rates in Star Trek projects to make the point that Red Shirts don’t have a higher mortality rate than any other Star Trek officers. But Star Trek: Red Shirts #1 tosses this debate to the trash bin and embraces Red Shirt deaths.
Red Shirts Die A Lot In Star Trek, And That’s Okay!
The opening pages of Star Trek: Red Shirts #1 show all the gruesome ways that Red Shirt officers die in the line of duty. We’re talking death by gun ray blast, head squished by a robot, falling off a cliff, head pounded by an alien, evaporating, body turned to jello, and eaten by a giant ant-looking creature. One by one, a Red Shirt falls. Star Trek: Red Shirts leans into the popular trope that all they do is die. Honestly, it’s probably what the majority of the readers picking up the book at their local comic book store are expecting, and the main reason why they bought it.
We learn that the Starfleet handbook basically dictates that Red Shirts must be cannon fodder. “Security is the first line of defense in Starfleet,” Ensign Chip Miller says. And he should know, since he almost had his eye ripped out by a mugato on his first security assignment as a Red Shirt. It left Miller with permanent scars over his right eye. He then gets recruited on a mission to Arkonia 89, where Starfleet is trying to sniff out mysterious spies. In true Red Shirts fashion, the team can’t merely teleport to the surface. No, they have to do something outlandish, like being shot onto the planet’s surface while inside torpedo casings.
All but two of the Red Shirts make it onto Arkonia alive. The other two crashed to the surface and died when Lt. Webster Cromarty lost power to the satellite he was controlling. Cromarty has been embedded on Arkonia for nine months and doesn’t look kindly at having to babysit a team of Red Shirts. You can’t blame him, since he’s fully aware of what comes with being a Red Shirt.
Star Trek Closes The Book On The Red Shirt Debate
Anyone working a security detail goes in with the knowledge that it comes with an inherent risk factor. This is true for Red Shirts in the Star Trek Universe. It’s also apparent from how Red Shirts were used right from the start. Of course, you couldn’t kill main characters like Captain Kirk or Spock, so enter the Red Shirts. It helped bring a level of danger and excitement to Star Trek episodes. Instead of taking time to try and debunk the death rate of Red Shirts, fans should embrace it.
Star Trek: Red Shirts #1 makes it very clear that there were a lot more deaths of security officers than were shown, and makes a bit of a mockery of the “debunking” debate. Let the Red Shirts die already. It’s literally what they’re there for. The good thing about Star Trek: Red Shirts as a series is that it features nothing but Red Shirts, so fans will become attached to them while slowly losing them one by one.
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