Nigel Raynor

Battlestar Galactica: Volume 1 collects Battlestar Galactica nos. 0-4 written by Greg Pak with art by Nigel Raynor, colors by David Curiel, and letters by Simon Bowland based on the re-imagined series that ran from 2003–2009 on the Sci-Fi Network. The stories take place in the middle of season two following the episode “Home, Part 2,” but prior to the arrival of the Pegasus in “Resurrection Ship, Part 1.” The story begins with the Galactica and human fleet encountering a burning ship, which appears to contain the deceased relatives of members of the fleet – relatives who died many years prior to the Cylon attack, including Zak Adama, and others who died leaving behind remains. Commander Adama believes it to be a Cylon plot, but others in the fleet believe that this fulfills part of the Pythian Prophesy with the return of the dead accompanying the part of the prophesy involving a dying leader guiding survivors to a new home. The story works well within the context of season two, fitting in between some of the bottle episodes. The series was still airing, so Pak does not incorporate elements of the finale, particularly those tied to the end of season three, but it was fun to read some of these issues when they first came out and to read the collection now. Worth picking up for Battlestar Galactica fans.… (plus d'informations)

Written by a staff writer on the show based on writers' room discussions during the final season, this graphic novel (while not technically canon) is best read after all Final Five cylons are revealed on the show, possibly after seeing the related film "The Plan".

From a story standpoint, this is very well done, giving a fleshed out frame for the rather chaotic backstory of the Battlestar Galactica Final Five cylons that (as far as I can tell) doesn't conflict with any of the canon material. The art, however, leaves a lot to be desired. It is nice enough to look at, but it does an awful job bringing clarity to the many confused location and time jumps, and the likenesses of the characters are (with the exception of a couple of Cavil panels) very poor, adding much to the confusion.

The confusing art aside, this comic clears up a lot of things for me, though it adds some new odd questions (I'm very much not clear on this connection between Pythia and Starbuck that the artwork indicates, for instance) and towards the end seems to confuse the locations of Kobol and the Twelve Colonies. I really wish it could have been edited or overseen by Ron Moore himself and brought properly into the canon of the show, because unncessary peeves like this aside, I'm genuinely very satisfied with this backstory and am happy to have it inform my understanding of the characters on future viewings of the show.… (plus d'informations)

I bought this to read while rewatching Battlestar Galactia from the beginning, because it professed to tell the back-story of its titular characters (the five of the Twelve Cylon “skin jobs” whose identities were not revealed until very late in the series). As is the case with most such tie-in graphic novels, the art is pretty awful. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t make much sense either. Perhaps I should have waited until I’d finished my rewatch before reading it, maybe then it would have made more sense. I can’t remember from my previous viewing of Battlestar Galactica if Earth was supposed to have an ancient technological society which then disappeared (leaving no evidence of its existence; strange, that…), or not. From what I do remember, the Galactica arrived at Earth in its prehistory – although there was another Earth-like world in there somewhere, although that planet destroyed itself in a nuclear war. Anyway, I was put off a bit by the generally bad art, and since my comics reading these days seems to be limited to translated bandes dessinée (I’m no longer interested in reading about fascists in tights), so I’ve probably lost the knack of reading US graphic novels. But maybe if I give The Final Five a go after I’ve watched all of Battlestar Galactica again… And yes, I still consider Battlestar Galactica the best television sf series ever made, and among the best television series ever made of any genre.… (plus d'informations)