Battlestar Galactica (Classic) #1 - Dynamite Entertainment

BATTLESTAR GALACTICA (CLASSIC) No. 1, November 2018

Undeniably packed full of outer space dog-fights and the utterly harsh brutality of the pitiless Cylons, this comic’s 7,238 strong audience probably still didn’t feel John Jackson Miller’s script for Issue One of “Battlestar Galactica (Classic)” quite resonated with them as well as Glen A. Larson’s science fiction television series from the Seventies did. Indeed, despite containing plenty of Adama’s brooding negativity regarding his “ragtag fugitive" fleet's headlong flight through the Empyrean Expanse, as well as Starbuck's endearing wit, such as when the Lieutenant grumpily acknowledges the return of Sheba and Silver Spa Squadron just in the ‘nick of time’, the inclusion of the lion-headed Okaati debatably seems to consistently dispel any illusion that this story is a genuine extension of the well-loved “American Broadcasting Company” programme.

Of course, that isn’t to say that the original network’s twenty-four episode long franchise was entirely devoid of aliens, as the likes of the wonderfully insect-like Ovions and their richly-varied casino customers showed in the three-part pilot “Saga Of A Star World”. But to seemingly crowbar in such an over-used sci-fi soap trope as a feline race for a fortieth anniversary celebratory mini-series like “Counterstrike” may well have struck some fans as a clichéd discourtesy, especially when instead the Memphis-born writer could have perhaps explored the fate of Carillon’s multi-limbed inhabitants following its tylium-fuelled destruction, or even offered an insight into another member of the seldom seen Cylon Alliance?

Resultantly, this twenty-page periodical only seemingly provides plenty of nostalgic joy when its narrative focuses upon the likes of Lucifer’s utterly merciless decimation of the “people of Kiernu” for allowing “the Galactica and the human fleet to cross your territory”, and Baltar’s impressive appearance at the very end of this comic when he smugly familiarises the Comitat with the concept of “the enemy of my enemy…” Sadly, the rest of this story-line smacks of its American author rather indolently penning some pretty unimaginative plot-threads, particularly as the book’s entire premise is ludicrously based upon Captain Apollo escorting a massive fleet of unknown extra-terrestrial ships straight to the highly-vulnerable location of his own people, simply because the Okaati “were being followed by [three] Cylons.”

Written by: John Jackson Miller, Art by: Daniel HDR, and Letters by: Taylor Esposito