Rhymes With Geek

Steampunk Battlestar Galactica 1880 #1

Publisher: Dynamite

Writer: Tony Lee

Artist: Aneke

Review by: Ben Penfold-Marwick

‘Steampunk’ is a genre you may have missed that involves steam-powered technology in a science fiction setting, generally in the past. Do you remember that terrible, huge spider thing in Will Smith’s Wild, Wild West? Steampunk. Have you ever seen a woman in cosplay that involves a corset and goggles? Steampunk.

“I may not be aware of steampunk”, you say (I bet you’re lying), “but I know all about Battlestar Galactica. That show was frakking awesome!” I am one of the few people in my circle of friends who didn’t get into the 2004 take on Galactica and found it all a bit self-serious and boring. I know, I know. You all think I should give back my “geek cred” card and stay off the internet for the rest of my natural born life, but I am a huge fan of the original 1978 series that the new, snazzy one is based on. You know, the one you probably turned off when you realised there were no attractive women in it and saw that the Cylons looked like silver, overweight Stormtroopers? Yeah, can I have my card back now? Thanks.

Anyway, long introduction aside, this new series from Dynamite has decided to tell a steampunk version of the original Galactica tale, where Starbuck is a dude. This is possibly going to be the nerdiest comic book I’ve ever read, with the most narrow target audience possible. There’s only one way to find out…

Story: Steam powered, gigantic cylons are destroying Caprica, like the giants in the popular anime Attack on Titan. Some grapples can take them down, kinda like the grapples used in….. Attack on Titan, but the cylons prove too much and destroy the city. The tech is all bubbleships, steel and wood. The characters you know and love are all here, but they’ve been steamified. Baltar has a glass dome over his head. Athena is wearing a revealing corset and a burlesque-style tiny pilot’s hat. There is no hook in for the drama here. It’s just fun to see how everything has been changed from the original. Credit to Lee; if you’re a sucker for steampunk and original Battlestar, this is by no means a badly told comic book story. It’s just not really written for anyone else to jump on board. Story score: 5 out of 10.

Art: It was cool to see giant, old-school style cylons attacking Caprica, but there is nothing spectacular about the art here. That said, the costume designs are cool and it would not surprise me if Steampunk Battlestar Galactica cosplay starts popping up very soon. It wouldn’t surprise me if cosplayers buy this book for the costume designs alone, so props for that.Art score: 6 out of 10.

Overall: This is definitely inaccessible to the majority of readers out there, but who the hell is going to pick up a comic book called Steampunk Battlestar Galactica 1880 if they don’t love both steampunk and Galactica? Anyone who has the urge to read this will find some fun, but for the rest of us, this is another cultural oddity that we’ll only remember to reference in passing jokes to fellow comic book geeks. Final score: 5.5 out of 10.

Want to see what those ‘other’ comic book websites thought about this comic?  Check out comicbookroundup.com for a full scoring breakdown!