REVIEW: Steampunk Battlestar Galactica 1880 TP
We are in reboot mode once again, this time heading back to an alternative “There are those that believe that life here, once started out there” time of 1880 and the steampunk voyagers of the last Aethership, Galactica.
Now, thanks to a quick potted history page, we are pretty much brought up to speed as the Cyclonic Knights attack the Aetherships and destroy Caprica. So far so good. After the attack is where the cracks start to appear from what you know from the show to this new format. However, no matter how hard writer Tony Lee tries, his introduction of familiar names in unfamiliar situations, doesn’t manage to paper over said cracks.
The whole gang is here, Apollo, Zac, Starbuck, Athena, Jolly, Boomer, Balter, Lucifer, Tighe and of course Adama. There is even time for Boxey and Muffet to make an appearance, with the latter coming across as a Chewbacca wannabe. Lee’s dialogue also tries to maintain a steampunk appearance even with the scatterings of “felgercarb”, “yahreens” giving the old style of language the Galactica make over. Tony Lee is an Eagle award winning writer for his work on Doctor Who. The idea of mixing old school ideas, with a techie feel may work well in the wanderings of a displaced Time Lord, but I am not sure it works as well here. Still, it does go some way to explain where the idea of a giant Cyberman, sorry, giant Cylconic Knight came from.
Art is supplied by Aneke, who has been doing a lot of work for Dynamite over the last 12 months or so. Normally, I like it when artists complete their own inks, but in the case, I am not so sure. The inks do seem a little heavy in places which distracts my eye. The overall style is a tad tame in my opinion. Its a brave choice to make the characters look  different from their on screen counterparts; you will have to make up your own mind.
As I have said before, I love Galactica and for the first half of the book, I was surprisingly interested in this quirky version. Unfortunately, somewhere between the Chewbacca-lite and the enforced changes for changes sake I lost my way quicker than a casino guest on the Ovion home-world.
[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]
Author Profile
- 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
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