Review: Battlestar Galactica Classic Omnibus Vol 2

From a certain point of view, it could be argued that all the big mainstream comic book characters are in fact licences.Â A cynic could argue that nothing major ever happens to, for example Batman, in his own book because he is worth so much more in toys, cartoons and saving the DCEU cinematic universe.Â If you look at books in that light, then you can hardly blame companies like Dynamite for pursuing license tie-in books, especially when they are done as well as this whole package is.

This omnibus takes us back to Dan Abnett’s, who partnered with his writing partner Andy Lanning for a short while, at least in this volume, run on the last Battlestar, Galactica.Â Also thrown in for good measure is Robert Place Napton’s 2014 annual.Â Say what you like about the late 70’s show and the sappyness that was inherent, the way it kind of finished, with its open end certainly allows for further storytelling.Â I just hope we never get to see a Galactica 80 book!

This volume plays with the format somewhat, giving the book an almost Star Trek Voyager feel than I would not have expected.Â Time travel and alternative lives for characters who may have lived or died is just one staple of the world of sci-fi that Abnett and Lanning take us on.Â Each arc covers the usual mini series format used by a number of publishers.Â It is a great way to notÂ over saturate the market place.Â The writing on show works well for the most part; Abnett is the mainstay so its easy to fall into the trap of only seeing his name on the book.Â Regardless, there is a level of consistency and continuity to proceedings, which is helped by Abnett’s involvement.

The art on the other hand, doesn’t fare as well.Â Don’t get me wrong, there are some great space battles on show and plethora of artistic talent on show can all draw a fine Galactica.Â But with tie-in books, they can live or die on character likeness.Â Reading the book, I think that Cezar Razek, beats out Dietrich O. Smith with the former’s style giving the environment a claustrophobic feel, which I think suits better than the expansive styling of Smith.Â Part of this may have to do with the colors, a well done drab affair inÂ Memorial by Vinicius Townsend to a whole day-glo look for The Death of Apollo coloured by Frank Gamboa. Simon Bowland provides the majority of the lettering, showing how to make use of the understated art style to help convey the aliens encountered and coldness of the Cylons.Â Finally a huge shout out to Chris Eliopoulos’ variant covers shown with the whole range of covers that graced the floppy issues.

Seeing all the issues, one after the other, in trade form goes to show what Dynamite and Abnett were trying achieve.Â When the reboot show was around, everyone kind of looked down their noses at this “wagon train in the stars” show.Â Dynamite have shown that once again, there may “still be brothers of man… who even now fight to survive – somewhere beyond the heavens!”

Writing – 4 Stars
Art – 3.5 Stats
Colors – 3.5 Stars

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Written by; Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning and Robert Place Napton
Art by; Cezar Razek, Dietrich O. Smith and Kewber Baal
Colors by; Vinicius Townsend, Alex Guimaraes, Vinicius Andrade, Mark Roberts and Frank Gamboa
Letters by, Simon Bowland and Joshua Cozine
Published by; Dynamite Entertainment

Author Profile

Johnny "The Machine" Hughes

I am a long time comic book fan, being first introduced to Batman in the mid to late 70's. This led to a appreciation of classic artists like Neal Adams and Jim Aparo. Moving through the decades that followed, I have a working knowledge of a huge raft of characters with a fondness for old school characters like JSA and The Shadow

Currently reading a slew of Bat Books, enjoying a mini Marvel revival, and the host of The Definative Crusade and Outside the Panels whilst also appearing on No-Prize Podcast on the Undercover Capes Podcast Network