Scanning My Collection: Liefeld’s Galactica Week finale

Here it is, folks. The last of the comics from the first mini-series. Yes, because “#1’s sell more”, they started releasing stuff as mini-series in order to fleece gullible collectors take advantage of the comics collecting bubble, when some people didn’t realize why Superman #1 sold more than Superman #553.

So when we left off, Adama and the others had screwed up the Bible by finding naked people in sarcophagi, Iblis was messing with Sheba, and Baltar was using a knock-off of the device the Serpahs gave the Colony to get to Earth faster. Meanwhile, I’m still stuck on why they felt the need to age everybody in an industry that usually decrees not to age anybody. Comics confuses me.

I miss the bland cover from last issue.

Battlestar Galactica #4 (final issue)

Maximum Press (November 1995)

For those of you playing at home, the previous issue is cover dated as September 1995. This means they skipped a month, but this wasn’t a bi-monthly comic. I’ll be tracking that when we get to the next batch of mini-series.

It’s a Liefeld cover all right. If you need any more proof, look at the lower corner. Adam is thrusting his chest out for some reason and Eve looks like every other “sexy” female Liefeld has ever drawn.

We start with a now “properly attired” (says you, Adam) Adam and Eve meeting the explorers as everyone gets caught up with the TV show. Meanwhile, the Base Ship have arrived near Earth and Baltar (who I just realized as a ponytail) orders the attack.

Back on the Galactica fails to convince Sheba to kill Apollo and just decides to brainwash her with his powers. At least that’s what the change in text would have you believe but haven’t we been told in previous issues that they have to follow him willingly? Not that it matters. To go a bit out-of-order, when Apollo arrives on the ship after Baltar’s attack, she shoots him and he appears in the Seraph’s ship, with John telling him now he must stay and join them. (Why? Beats me. I thought Apollo was destined for something other than joining the aliens.) He convinces them that she was coerced and they send him back, saying that they can’t resurrect him anymore. In other words, there was no point whatsoever to this sub-plot that, properly constructed, could have been an “A” plot of its own, just like Iblis’ revelation that he indeed was a factor in the Cylons’ origin story. Why, Maximum Press, why? Right, the 90’s.

Oh, and she comes up to the bridge to apologize and he tells her he came back to be with her. That’s sweet.

I suppose it covers more than fig leaves do.

By the way, just before the fight, Athena (who finally gets to do something in this story, and this is a woman who fights monsters and assists in their suicide) tells the fleet not to land. Then in her next scene she tells the fleet to land. Make up your mind.

In between those scenes, Baltar convinces Iblis to teleport him to the pyramid so he can kill Adama. Seriously, are my memories of the show that bad, did Baltar go nuts in 15 yahrens or has he always wanted to kill Adama this bad. It’s like the exact opposite of Starbuck. Starbuck has been written just like Dirk Benedict played him, but Baltar is nothing like John Colicos played him. I know he doesn’t like Adama and probably would like to kill him or at least see him dead and smirk at the corpse, but it’s been an obsession with him this story.

So Baltar arrives with three Cylons. Adam goes to attack him but Baltar goes to shoot him. Adama takes the blast meant for Adam, Baltar goes into out-of-properly-written-character to gloat and Adam activates the pyramid’s power. Before we get to see what they can do, the Seraphs send an extra gift to help out, Commander Cain (who isn’t looking so dead at the moment) and the Battlestar Pegasus. Why? Why not. With two Battlestars they begin to overcome the Base Ship and a blast from the pyramid sends Iblis running with his tail between his legs. Baltar calls to say he grabbed a Colonial shuttle (which we never see, and if they hadn’t wasted so much space with three panels on two pages they would have had the time) and tells his snarky lieutenant to warp out of there. And the story ends with Cain offering to toast a victory (nobody told them that Adama’s dead) and then we see the two Battlestars orbiting the Earth with Adama’s journal giving us the usual show ending. You know, the “Fleeing the Cylon tyranny” part.

The Superman and Supergirl of Battlestars.

Thus ends the first story arc for Maximum Press’s Battlestar Galactica. Is it the worst thing ever? No, but there is so much that’s unnecessary. The poor usage of panels, setting the comics so far into the future while giving them stuff they didn’t need, putting the Serpahs and Iblis in this story when it should have been a story in itself, Baltar going off the deep end, bland covers, there’s just so much here to dislike.

I actually offered this up to BW Fav Linkara, but I never heard back from him. Either he’s full with submissions, never received the e-mail, or just isn’t interested. (Maybe he wasn’t a fan of the original show.) Personally, I’d love to see him rip this apart. Even a four-part special edition article doesn’t do justice to showing how far this comic went off the rails. All I cared about back then was that there was a Battlestar Galactica comic. Now I think it was $10 (for all four) poorly spent.

So that concludes Liefeld’s Galactica Week. But it’s not the last time we’ll see Liefeld’s Galactica. The next mini-series is only three issues long and was written by Apollo himself, Richard Hatch. Will it be any good? Someday I’ll get into it, but for now it’s back to the usual ramblings here at BW Media Spotlight.

Related Articles

• Scanning My Collection> Liefeld’s Galactica Week (Day 2) (bwmedia.wordpress.com)
• Scanning My Collection: Liefeld’s Galactica Week (Day 3) (bwmedia.wordpress.com)
• Return to Galactica? (bwmedia.wordpress.com)