by Jessica Greenlee
Staff Writer
Dynamite’s Starbuck series promises the origin story of Battlestar Galactica’s resident rogue and Viper pilot. Set well before the events of the television series, the tale begins with the first meeting between young Starbuck and the then Captain Adama as Starbuck’s community, Cimtar, is under attack. Starbuck saves Adama’s life and the latter eventually sponsors his entry into the Academy, partly at the insistence of Starbuck’s best friend, Adama’s son Apollo. The years at the Academy are covered quickly as Starbuck is mentored by a cigar-chewing, pyramid-playing pilot who becomes his idol and model.
Starbuck’s early years are competently but quickly covered as, in one issue, he goes from a young, around-seven year old to a grown cadet with years at time skipped between events. His early friendship with Apollo is nicely laid out—the two become friends quickly in the tried and true knightly fashion: By starting out fighting and then bonding. It’s the early years in the Academy that could do with more attention. Lieutenant Wyler is clearly an important part of Starbuck’s life, one that would have been better served by a little more development. Lee is clearly more interested in the question that will occupy the next three issues of this miniseries: Who betrayed Starbuck’s community? Someone dropped the shields protecting Cimtar, and, now that he is an adult and has a fragmented set of clues, Starbuck is going to be busy finding out who and, very likely, getting his revenge. Unless, of course, the evidence he’s been given is a lie. Lee leaves that option open, too, and this is likely going to play a major part in the next issue, set ten years after this one.
Cassallos has done a great job of capturing the younger likeness of characters familiar from the televised Battlestar Galactica. There are some magnificent battle scenes with broken panels playing the part of the fractured views seen as pilots dodge close to the planet’s surface. The last shot is of Starbuck’s first patrol in space: a full-page view of the ship against a starry background promising a bigger future full of adventure.
Overall, Starbuck #1 is a fine start to an adventure, very much in keeping with the tone and content of the classic Battlestar Galactica.
