The series, set 400 years in the future, follows the crew of the USS Orville, a mid-level exploratory craft commanded by Captain Ed Mercer (MacFarlane, who also created the show and serves as one of its writers and executive producers) and first officer Kelly Grayson (Adrianne Palicki). The series, which debuted in Sept. 2017, was an immediate hit and quickly renewed for a second season, which began in Dec. 2018.

The first of the two comic book storylines, “New Beginnings,” sees Ed and Gordon’s journey to a fleet conference interrupted by a distress call from what appears to be a Union ship that’s older than a century, while Kelly has to intercede in a domestic dispute on board the Orville itself as Bortus plans to enroll his child in school despite their young age. The second storyline, “The Word of Avis,” begins in The Orville No. 3, as the ship discovers what appears to be a Union ship headed toward Krill space — but the reality is something far more complicated and potentially deadly.

The Orville launches into comic book stores July 17.