It’s years before the newly restored and revamped Battlestar Galactica would premiere. Similarly long before the spinoff Razor, or the Hollywood Writers’ Strike that would cripple the series and leave it on hiatus filming wise for weeks on end.
And yet at this time Battlestar Galactica is in the public eye again.
It’s 1995 and Rob Liefeld (he, if memory serves, one did a biographical comic about -- himself) did the continuing saga of Battlestar Galactica in comic format. This short mini series featured the original classic cast, newly revisioned ship designs and new ways to look at the whole series including a new way to draw Cylons, and -- a large T-Rex versus a Viper, something about Eden (and Adam & Eve the people), and the continuing search for Earth… yeah, I bet you totally missed this release, didn’t you.
Written by Rob Liefeld and Robert Napton, the story opens with Lorne Greene… I mean Adama about to pass on. With the fleet on the run, pushed by the relentless march of the Cyclons, it is almost a welcome release to suddenly find the fleet in orbit over what seems to be the Earth… except for the fact that the planet is occupied by dinosaurs and a strange artifact that seemingly marks the planet as Earth (and all that 13th Tribe stuff). Yeah, didn’t they find Earth in the old TV Series and it was like our Earth and not this world? I think so, which means if this isn’t Earth then it must be… a trap?
I don’t know what’s worst about Liefeld’s Galactica. That’s it’s completely overbearing and rambling (fans of the new Galactica are so not going to like this vision of the series) or the fact that Rob Liefeld didn’t draw this and yet it looks like his artwork throughout (some of the characters look like leftover cast from his old work on his X-stints).
I’d have to say that the title is totally a 360 flip from the kind of Galactica you’ve become addicted to as of late. Instead of the hardcore sexy nasty totally deep sci-fi you’ve been enjoying it’s campy, whacked, abit overdone and overall not something if you are a present fan unless you are totally into all things Galactica. Unless you are trying to make the ultimate collection with all incarnations of the series (including this) then you might as well not go through the trouble of finding this one in some back box in the bargain bin of your local well stocked comic shop (either this graphic novel or the original issues).
If I were to hold this up as a title to tempt people into the series… I’d hide it, it’s not the face of Galactica I want people to see if they’re making up their minds about being fans.
Still… it’s there, you can’t ignore it since it is a piece of the old history (good or ill), and it’s at least average… if again too campy for words. Rob Liefeld, wherever you are (and whatever you’re doing now) you tried your best (I think), but really… an autobiographical comic about YOURSELF?!? I hope by now you got over you already. 3 out of 5, Rob, live with it.
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