Dynamite Entertainment 2016
Written by Karl Kesel
Illustrated by Alec Morgan & Can Schkade
Coloured by Chris O’Halloran
Lettered by Tom Napolitano
THE CYLONS WERE CREATED BY MAN... THEY REBELLED... THEY EVOLVED... THEY LOOK AND FEEL HUMAN... SOME ARE PROGRAMMED TO THINK THAT THEY ARE HUMAN... THERE ARE MANY COPIES... AND THEY HAVE A PLAN.
At first I was kind of disappointed that this wasn’t about the original series like the other series is. From it’s description I was hoping we’d see the very first Cylon ever created and the havoc that ensued from there. However I quickly got over that because the story that Karl delivers is really rather interesting. I like that it takes place in the new version and that we’ve got crazy mad doctor Baltar involved and the pregnant Sharon with a human/cylon hybrid baby.
I like the opening it just has this human element we can all relate to, the news. Of course this leads to Dr. Baltar, who still sees his Cylon lover, being jealous and wanting to be the one in the spotlight. So of course in his deranged thinking this leads him to create something perhaps in someone saner wouldn’t be considered as good an idea. He’s going to create a new Cylon Centurion one that’s programming is redone so it’s completely under his control.
The story is well thought out and intelligently written. The characterisation here is really spot on. The multiple story angles that are going on throughout give it that night time soap opera feel that the television show had. You’ve got Baltar and the Sharon storylines going on side by side and even intersecting in an unusual way. There’s a mining operation happening on an unstable planet that the fleet needs to mine for necessary materials and all in all it’s pretty much exactly what would have been a viable arc of the show.
Not as crazy about the interior artwork. It’s definitely a unique style but for me it lacks any real emotion. It’s flat and comes off really amateur or extreme indie in style and doesn’t have that really nice detail to bring this past a flat 2-D experience. With no sense of movement or perspective it seems too rushed. Plus the lack of backgrounds makes it seem worse considering how little time it feels like was spent making the characters look like caricatures of people. There’s very little to relate it visually to the series in any incarnation and the flat uninspired feeling it leaves me I could do without.
While the story is intriguing and the way it plays out and the surprise on the last page pique the interest and curiosity the interior art leaves me feeling cheated. I think this would be a pass from me and if I had to rate it on a scale of 1-5 at best it’s a 1.5.