Star Wars has a lot to answer for. Not only did it lay the ground for the arrival of silver screen Star Trek, it also paved the way for a small screen explosion led by Glen A. Larson’s long-gestating brainchild Battlestar Galactica. Arriving on television in 1978, Galactica hit the four-colour funnies the following year with a 23-issue run at Marvel Comics before moving to UK perennial Look-In and then a 15-year break from the format and runs at Maximum Press, Realm Press and by 2006, its current home at Dynamite Entertainment.
Battlestar Galactica: Classic Omnibus Vol. 2 continues the collection of the Dynamite Run by collecting the 12-issue Battlestar Galactica Classic series, broken into two stories. With perfunctory interior art by Cezar Razek, saved by simply stunning cover art by Alex Ross, Issues 1 to 5 are the Memorial storyline, by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning which sees Commander Adama, plagued by nightmares of the attack on Caprica resorting to the use of forbidden temporal weapons as a last resort to stem the growing Cylon assault. Issues 6 to 12 bring us Adama Gambit with art by Dietrich O. Smith and Razek (who work well together, the art is far superior to the previous storyline) and wrapped in excellent Clint Langley covers. Chased by Cylons, the Colonial fleet dive into a dangerous storm, finding a mysterious artefact. A classic BSG adventure, this leads into the April 2014 Battlestar Galactica Annual, written by Robert Place Napton with art by Kewber Baal. Telling a tale of the young Gaius Baltar this annual does well to chart the development of one of sci-fi’s most duplicitous villains.
That just leaves the December 2014, 6-issue series Death of Apollo which centres on the aftermath of the presumed death of Apollo. With beautiful covers by Mike Mayhew, interior art by Dietrich O. Smith and story by Dan Abnett, this series backs up to the days before Apollo’s disappearance and lays out the circumstances behind his crash landing as they encounter Countess Sephoni, a beautiful psionic who claims to know the location of the fabled thirteenth colony, Earth. Of all the stories in this collection it’s Death of Apollo, which captures the gung-ho, cocky, sexy, adventurous tone of the original series best, all steered by Lanning who captures the voices and feel of the characters so well.
For completists of the original Battlestar Galactica story, this collection is a must, and while the artwork is up and down in places the covers by Ross, Mayhew, and Langley are a sight to behold. Fans of the Galactica legend should lay down their (star) bucks for this one.
BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: CLASSIC OMNIBUS VOL 2 / AUTHORS: DAN ABNETT, ANDY LANNING, ROBERT PLACE NAPTON / ARTISTS: CEZAR RAZEK, DIETRICH SMITH, ANEKE, KEWBER BAAL / PUBLISHER: DYNAMITE COMICS / RELEASE DATE: SEPTEMBER 18TH
