Battlestar Galactica #1
Written by Cullen Bunn
Art by Alex Sanchez
Colors by Daniela Miwa
Letters by Sal Cipriano
Covers by Alex Sanchez, Butch Guice, Michael Adams, Juan Doe
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: August 3, 2016
Cover Price: $3.99

In The Beginning is a great title for this particular issue. Battlestar Galactica #1 takes us back to the original series’ characters and their quest to find the legendary thirteenth colony known as Earth! But this is a tale that takes place between the episodes, exploring new territory. Quite literally!

This premiere issue starts off in crisis mode. An unexpected turn of events forces our “ragtag fugitive fleet” to take action most desperate. But as survival is their main objective, Commander Adama orders the others to follow closely as they all attempt to brave what few others would!

Traversing the danger, the fleet eventually finds itself in an uncharted territory of space. And though a few ships were lost in the flight, they are mostly unharmed. Exploring their surroundings leads to a startling discovery: a new planet with strange qualities. So strange in fact that it is hazardous even attempting to land there.

The final act of this issue involves several Cylon Centurions addressing Lucifer, the obvious leader of the Basestar, the de facto mothership for the smaller assault starfighters. There is discussion regarding the elusive Battlestar Galactica, but a few panels later they communicate that a threat has been discovered! And you won’t believe what it is!

The story is fun and easy to follow, especially since we enter into it whilst an emergency situation is underway. Cullen Bunn is a longtime favorite writer of mine and he once again delivers the goods. When I picked this to read, I had no idea he was a part of it but it’s nice to see another great story from this particular scribe. The artist here is Alex Sanchez, well-known for being quite diverse in his work. Bold lines and simple backgrounds abound. And while it’s not my cup of tea, so to speak, his work does allow the story to stand out. My biggest gripe is actually the color palette provided by Daniela Miwa; it’s extraordinarily flat and lacks realism. While there are some bright colors, it feels like an old restored black and white film that was touched up with Technicolor. In summation, I found the story to be intriguing and the art fair, while the coloring detracted from the whole issue. It would have been better served as a black and white comic, at least in my opinion.

This a decent comic, but not up to what I would consider standard for Dynamite Entertainment. Will it stop me from reading the rest of this series? Of course not, but neither will it drive me to pick up a physical version of the comic. Hopefully, this will be a hiccup and the rest of the run will be amazing and awe inspiring. But until then, I say take it or leave it. Bunn fans will want it, but passersby will probably do just that, pass it by.