Dynamite Entertainment 2019
Written by John Jackson Miller
Illustrated by Edu Menna & Daniel HDR
Coloured by Natalia Marques
Lettered by Taylor Esposito of Ghost Glyph Studios
Commander Adama’s worst fears have been realized: Galactica has surrendered to a superior power. Now, Captain Apollo’s cleverness is all that stands between humanity and its final annihilation. That, and one of Starbuck’s wild schemes!
I really have been enjoying this run so far. Sometimes fate seems to step in and bring creators together who end up being exactly what the other needs. Here we see this in play because the story has been strong in opening up the universe to more species and the interiors have kept me hearing the dialogue in those characters voices perfectly. There is also this excitement surrounding the book that I haven’t felt in quite some time and since the new revamped version came out it’s even harder to get excited about the original. This however perfectly showcases why it was deserving of that update because this is a science fiction franchise that was underrated and extremely well known.
I really like the way that this story is being told and how the structure of the book creates this fantastic and seamless ebb & flow between story & plot development and the action. Half the fun of this version is that there is a lot of soap opera in it, from the romances to the underhanded dealings of men like Baltar working with, well honestly for, the Cylon’s to the whole problem of keeping this fleet together, fed and fuelled. The complexity of the layering in the story that we see here rivals that of any of the best evening drama’s and this stands head and shoulders above the newer version, well at least in my humble opinion.
The characterisation here is phenomenal! There is that certain something about this where the characters feel like they have a life of their own and John is just telling their story. It isn’t something that is easy to do either, Marv Wolfman’s done it in the past but the connection between writer and subjects just has to click in that special way for it to happen. So I feel like these are people and we’re privy to their life and what is happening in it instead of just man creating something from nothing. It is kind of powerful to see when you think about it.
If you couldn’t already tell I think that the interior artwork is absolutely amazing. The faces and facial expressions are bloody well perfect and that’s some of the most difficult thing to get as right as we see it here. It is a testing point for me when it comes to an artist and Daniel and Edu are extraordinary at what they do. Also the colour work here when added into the picture is beyond words. The lights in the helmets and the shading that causes all of those little details make me wanna swear in happiness. The attention to detail as we see it brought to life through the varying weights of the linework keeps me in constant awe of the talent we’re seeing. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a stupendous eye for storytelling. While I would like to see more of the ships interiors, in the backgrounds naturally, though admittedly there are times in the series the set was sheer lighting so not going to quibble.
If you enjoy the SyFy version of the series and want to see where the idea for that came from then you really should be reading this. That people still remember and care about the original series makes my heart sing with joy. I remember watching this with my dad and loving everything about it. Now if Dynamite would bring back Space 1999 that’d be even better, oh and this creative team working on it heh. With this level of talent and storytelling happening here this is one you really don’t want to pass up.