OK, What did you think of the Comic Books?

peter noble · September 25th, 2002, 01:43 PM

I like comics. Yes I'm 38-years-old and I love comics. I'm the biggest Marvel Zombie ever and I was just interested to see what you Galactifans out there have thought about the various comic series that have ran over the years.

It all started with the Marvel Comics Super Special in '78 which was taken from an earlier script and was drawn by ex-Richie Rich and Atlas artist Ernie Colon who obviously didn't have much access to reference material. This is worth having for the curiosity value and some of the features and poster pages are good.

The ongoing Marvel series, ran for 23 issues I think. The first three issues being the pilot some of which had been re-drawn and re-scripted to fit in with the broadcast version.

The next two issues were an adaption of Lost Planet of the Gods. And after those we got into original stories with the Battlestar crew (minus Sheba). I really like the Marvel series. It reads like a good comic should while being good space opera stories set in the Galactica universe.

Artistically, you've got pretty much the cream of the crop, the standout being Walt Simonson (Manhunter, Thor, Orion, Alien adaption), Sal Busema (just about every comic series at Marvel, once he layed out nearly the entire line for one month!), Rich Buckler (Fantastic Four, Black Panther, Deathlok) and Brent Anderson (Astro City, X-Men: God Loves Man Kills, the basis for X-Men 2). Likenesses, though stylised you can tell, pretty much who everyone is. Even Jolly gets a good storyline!

After that it was Rob Liefield's Maximum Press's turn to take on the franchise. Rob was a Galactica fan, but oddly chose to update and re-imagine a lot of the designs of the Galactica universe! This I didn't like at all, but oddly enough the stories pretty much kept the series' spirit.

On art chores we mostly had Hector Gomez (Buffy), an unknown, but he could draw people pretty well and made the best of the re-imagined and updated designs. The characters really don't bear much of a resemblence to the cast, the characters' hair colour being the only pointer to who is supposed to be who (Sheba though, is a blonde!).

The Maximum Press run was really a series of mini-series. In the first one they found Earth and Adama was brought out of suspended animation only to die at Baltar's hand. Commander Cain shows up in the Pegasus to pull the Galactica's fat out of the fire in the last few pages.

The second mini deals with the infiltration of a Cylon humanoid into the fleet. This storyline ends with Starbuck believed to be dead!

The third mini is an Apollo story, and who better to write it than Richard Hatch. I don't know how much help he had, but Richard excels in the medium, and a lot of the seeds for his novel series show up in the story.

The last mini, is the poorest of the lot and is a confused mish-mash of time travel and reintroducing the Eastern Alliance. Sadly Hector Gomez does not draw all the issues and the last couple have incredibly poor art in them.

In between these minis was a Starbuck mini (set before the fleet found Earth, and featuring more familiar designs).

Also the Maximum Press Asylum series featured short stories featuring individual members of the crew.

Lastly we have the Realm Press series. Oh dear.

This series' strength is the fully painted artwork of Chris Scalf, which is gorgeous to look at, all the ships look just right, but oh, the likenesses! The Realm series starts of with Scalf obviously using his friends as models for the crew, only in later issues when they must have paid for the licence to the actors' faces does it finally gel.

The Realm series is also a series of mini series, but unlike the Maximum Press run this one is marked by shoddy stories and art (apart from Scalf and Rob Scott). Issues were frequently late and the company probably tried to get too big too fast. On the whole it was a badly run enterprise.

Worth seeking out though are the Gallery Special and the Eve of Destruction Prelude, which feature art by Matt Busch, who later did the cover for Richard's third novel Resurrection.

Next year it is rumoured a new comic book series will hit the shelves, I for one can't wait to give it the once-over.

Regards,

Peter

kingfish · October 6th, 2002, 09:18 AM

Hi,
They weren't bad considering I couldn't find all of the issues. At one time I owned the Giant first issue. The giant issue contained most of the renderings of Ralph MacQuarrie. Even the Galactica didn't look like herself.

Paul

peter noble · October 6th, 2002, 10:25 AM

Hi kingfish!

Yes, that was a bit confusing, obviously they had given the artist (Ernie Colon) just the production paintings as reference!

Peter

kingfish · October 6th, 2002, 12:46 PM

Hi Peter,
Cool avatar.

Paul

peter noble · October 6th, 2002, 12:50 PM

Uh, I actually look like that.

Peter

kingfish · October 6th, 2002, 12:55 PM

Holy..................

captmiloman · October 9th, 2002, 01:08 PM

The model who was used as Starbuck in the Realm Press series also worked as a police officer. Sadly, he was killed in the line of duty as I understand.

Boznic · March 22nd, 2005, 06:01 AM

Hey, peter noble, I happen to be Rob Scott from Realm Press "formerly :P ". I noticed my name and was like, hey thats me! I take it youve seen some of the old pages I did.

I am actualy trying to pull something together with the BSG comic license. I've got some some good ideas for it, and as far as I know, it's up for grabs. I miss doing BSG stuff, It would be sweet if I could get some new Galactica art published, "cause I'm much better now, I was pretty young at the time."

And yeah...dont get me started on JMJ media!

Eric Paddon · March 22nd, 2005, 06:51 AM

The inability of Marvel to adapt any stories beyond LPOTG, which meant a universe with no Cain, Iblis or Sheba destroyed the ability of that series to be worthwhile IMO. Also their senseless decision to effectively kill Baltar off by having Lucifer leave him for dead in the wreckage on Kobol. This is probably not what they initially planned to do but since Baltar never appeared again, that's what it became by default.

The Max Press stories started out good but even those good early ones suffered from a case of having too many "big" storylines and not giving the characters a chance to relax and do some more low-key stories in between. By the time of that "Journey's End" series, things were in decline and "Journey's End" itself is ultimately a giant, insulting disgrace.

Realm Press I haven't seen enough of to fairly judge.

gmd3d · March 22nd, 2005, 06:56 AM

Peter I still enjoy reading comics and still have the Marvel pocket size book somewhere around . and i am also in mmid 30s so your not alone

cranky1c · March 22nd, 2005, 07:03 AM

I probably went through about 3 copies of the BG comic book as a kid, between the super special and the 3 part release. Memories....

Peter, does your scholarship of these matters include any links to some pictures. I'm curious to see what Liefield did with BG.

With continued grattitude,

BRG · March 22nd, 2005, 07:17 AM

BRG still enjoys comics, and I'm fast approching 30. Although I prefer DC/Vertigo comics over Marvel. I'm working my way through The Sandman Library, but at around £16 a book, I'm only buying one every few months!

The Battlestar Galactica books 'Saga of a Star World' and 'The Memory Machine' are listed on Amazon.co.uk, but always are listed as "not yet published", Saga has a release date of December 17 2004, yet it is still listed as "not yet published"!

I don't think we will see them over here.

BRG

peter noble · March 22nd, 2005, 07:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Boznic

Hey, peter noble, I happen to be Rob Scott from Realm Press "formerly :P ". I noticed my name and was like, hey thats me! I take it youve seen some of the old pages I did.

I am actualy trying to pull something together with the BSG comic license. I've got some some good ideas for it, and as far as I know, it's up for grabs. I miss doing BSG stuff, It would be sweet if I could get some new Galactica art published, "cause I'm much better now, I was pretty young at the time."

And yeah...dont get me started on JMJ media!

Rob, you were no slouch in your younger days!

The trouble with the Realm Press series was that in the begining the characters for the most part looked nothing like they did in the show, the tech stuff was great.

The stories weren't very good and the shipping infrequent, IMO Realm didn't capitalise on a license that obviously cost them a lot of money, plus they were doing all these special editions and the artists apart from Rob and Chris Scalf, were for the most part below par.

Peter

kingfish · March 22nd, 2005, 09:07 AM

This is an old thread. I am curious as to how the new comics will look inside. The revised coverart for Saga looks great. Hopefully the renderings will not look like the supersized McQuarrie issue.

peter noble · March 22nd, 2005, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cranky1c

I probably went through about 3 copies of the BG comic book as a kid, between the super special and the 3 part release. Memories....

Peter, does your scholarship of these matters include any links to some pictures. I'm curious to see what Liefield did with BG.

With continued grattitude,

Click on them so you can get a good look.

The first one is a centrespread from the "Starbuck" mini-series, which was set in the past of the era the regular Maximum Press series took place in.

The second image is from "The Enemy Within" in which a Cylon disguised as a human comes aboard the Galactica.

For the most part the comic was pencilled by Hector Gomez who went on to do Buffy at Dark Horse.

The third image is from one of the comic's letter pages (which were always a good read) and is some fan art.

Best,

Peter

Gunstar Aries · March 22nd, 2005, 06:07 PM

Peter,

I'm something of a comics collector. Simonson is an all-time favorite, and yes, I did enjoy the BG series. IIRC though, it went 25 issues. I also enjoyed the Realm and Maximum efforts; after so long a BG hiatus, I think I would have enjoyed BG done Manga style...

One of my comicdom favorites, Gene Gonzales also did some BG work. They can be seen at genegonzales.com, under his illustration section.

I think it was Warren Ellis who said that comics are the only visual medium that one enjoys in solitude. "You go in alone" or words to that effect. Television and film are usually enjoyed or can be enjoyed with the company of others. Only in comics is it just you and the story teller, and you're seeing in most cases exactly what he wants you to see...

Boznic/Rob,

Welcome aboard the Fleets. I enjoyed your Realm BG work. Here's hoping for success with the BG comic license. I'd like hear about your ideas, but I'm sure you're saving them for a comic...

Regards,

Gunstar Aries

cranky1c · March 22nd, 2005, 07:22 PM

Peter,

Thank you for the post. That gives me a feel.

Boznic · March 23rd, 2005, 04:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peter noble

Rob, you were no slouch in your younger days!

The trouble with the Realm Press series was that in the begining the characters for the most part looked nothing like they did in the show, the tech stuff was great.

The stories weren't very good and the shipping infrequent, IMO Realm didn't capitalise on a license that obviously cost them a lot of money, plus they were doing all these special editions and the artists apart from Rob and Chris Scalf, were for the most part below par.

Peter

Heh, thanks,

Yeah, Chris Scalf did use his friends as characters at first, but the fact he got permission to use the real actors was pretty awesome, I thought. It’s a real shame the whole thing fell apart before we could really get good at it all.

Chris and I didn't even own computers at the time. We wasted tons of money on drum scans and stuff, which practically ruined the original art.

And when JMJ got Realm, yeah the production quality was better, but they focused on promotion and special editions rather than paying the artists. They still have a lot of original stuff of mine that they refused to send back for some reason. Whatever.

As far as the stories go, yeah, I didn’t like them much. I'll make some examples of what I'd like to do with the license and post them up. Then I'll need an investor...cause I'm broke. Maybe my rich uncle, heheh. And if any of you out there have story ideas, wait for me to post my examples, "so you know it's kosher" and get in touch with me!

Boznic · March 23rd, 2005, 04:22 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gunstar Aries

Boznic/Rob,

Welcome aboard the Fleets. I enjoyed your Realm BG work. Here's hoping for success with the BG comic license. I'd like hear about your ideas, but I'm sure you're saving them for a comic...

Regards,

Gunstar Aries

Thanks, thanks, and thanks!

Right now what I have in mind is mostly workflow related. Combining 3D models with traditional and digital illustration. I'll make the characters in a less realistic style if I end up using actor likenesses, but if I cant use their faces, I'll just use models, like Alex Ross does. Then I'll be able to make them look realistic.

As far as stories go, I'd like to use material that focuses more on the dark side of BG. Lots of moments showing how difficult it would be to survive in that situation.

I'm making some examples of how I would use the licence, then you'll see what I mean.

gmd3d · March 23rd, 2005, 05:02 AM

Welcome to the fleet Boznic looking forward to your future works

Fragmentary · March 23rd, 2005, 11:16 AM

welcome aboard Boznic

Glad to see we're getting another artist aboard. Hope you post some stuff for us. And feel free to throw in your opinions everwhere else, we got plenty of room.

repcisg · March 23rd, 2005, 12:13 PM

Welcome aboard Rob!

Spike The Cylon · March 23rd, 2005, 03:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Eric Paddon

,

The Max Press stories started out good but even those good early ones suffered from a case of having too many "big" storylines and not giving the characters a chance to relax and do some more low-key stories in between. By the time of that "Journey's End" series, things were in decline and "Journey's End" itself is ultimately a giant, insulting disgrace.

That's pretty much how I feel about the Max Ptress books. The time travel aspect of "journey's End" didn't work for me, especially since they pretty much made the entire TOS having never happened

scalf001 · March 24th, 2005, 11:16 AM

Hey, all...

Hi, Robert.

Regarding the likenesses, the reason I did my "friends" etc was because at the time we couldn't get the likenesses to the actors. the Universal publishing people steered us away from it. JMJ on the other hand was able to go after them somehow after we turned things over to them.

Quite frankly, Issues 2 through 5 showcase some of the worst work I had ever done in my life. I don't show them to anyone.

When I worked on the last issue ("

scalf001 · March 24th, 2005, 11:39 AM

Hey, Robert, all...

Regarding the likenesses in the comic, the reason I did likenesses the way I did was because at the time we couldn't get the likenesses to do the actors. the Universal publishing people steered us away from it. (JMJ on the other hand was able to go after them somehow after we turned things over to them).

Quite frankly, before JMJ, Issues 2 through 5 showcase some of the worst work I had ever done in my life. I don't show them to anyone. But I do like what I did in Search For Sanctuary.

When I worked on the last issue ("Search for Sanctuary") I actually took my time on most of the pages to make them look as good as I could with what little time I had.. There were some hints that it was going to be our last issue due to some internal complications.

I was actually very glad I did... And glad that I used my younger brother's likeness in it so tightly as I did (as Starbuck).
He was a cop and ended up getting shot and killed a couple of months later.. So in a way, it was a fitting tribute of sorts to him, in a timely way-before the tragedy. Plus I took so many pictures (and video) of him for reference, that it was nice too have many recent images of him before we lost him.

And speaking of JMJ, the one and only gripe that I had with them was that they did not even print one single explanation as to what happened to me in my life as to why I disappeared from the project... (Until MUCH later--- when they were on their way out).. I was receiving bits of information from people at conventions (where JMJ attended) who were getting the impression that I had somehow just "flaked" out of the project... No mention of "why"...

They resumed the production of the series a few weeks after the death and I was originally slated to continue working for them.. Obviously I was to emotional to really even draw a straight line. I started some of the work, but literally could not finish it.. So I dropped right out. I was pretty messed up for about a year.

(I have looked back on those few pages I did for them, and boy, you could really see the emptiness in my uninspired work I did. Yuck!)

But anyway--- The tragic death was why I originally faded out of the comic series... Otherwise, I was planning on goinig full steam ahead with those guys kicking butt and makinig better books. Especially with the likeness rights now involved.

(I did come back in for a brief time, and helped out on a book that they were way behind schedule on toward the end.)

So there's my story with that.

Chris

Boznic · March 24th, 2005, 05:56 PM

Chris,

Richard was such a nice guy, passionate about protecting people, and a very talented musician. Once we went to an underground nightclub in Detroit and he was packin, so our little group felt safe, it was a cool feeling. We talked about maybe starting an experimental music band or something and I SO looked forward to more times like that. Not long after I got the call from your wife, I was stunned. It was just wrong. The front page of the press even quotes the chief, "It just doesn't make sense." That's because the initial crime he and his partner were involved in was relatively routine and should not have been that dangerous, "just so you all know" You and your family have overcome a lot and you remain the most awesome mentor an illustrator could have. I commend and thank you. It would take all day to list all the times you've helped me. I thought the fleet should know one of the most authentic BG fans "Chris Scalf" is also one hell of a guy who you'd be lucky to know. As for Richard, he left early, but he sure left his mark in those lucky enough to know him!

Rob

larocque6689 · March 24th, 2005, 06:14 PM

Realm press with Chris Scalf was my favorite of the newer comics. Didn't care for the Liefeld's. Both series had lateness issues. I've seen graphics from the technical manual which was never released and it looked great. Mike McAdams, Raymar3d? et. al. were involved in that.

The Marvel comics were OK, but not great. I liked some of the artists, though not on that particular title. I prefer the "revised" version of the pilot, and sometimes I used the first five issues as reference along with the novels.

Note, my first exposure to Chris' work was at www.chrispappas.com where he had made some fan-submitted drawings. One of his short stories was published by Rob's comics and then he took over, if I remember correctly. I have a complete pre-Realm comic-ography somewhere... ah, here it is..

2. Comic Books And Magazines

Marvel Comics

_Battlestar Galactica_ (Marvel Comics)
#1-#23 (Mar 79-Jan 81)

_Battlestar Galactica - Marvel Super-Special #8_ (1978)
Giant-sized comic, also in magazine format (low print run),
shorter than Marvel's BSG #1-3, based on earlier script

_Stan Lee Presents: Battlestar Galactica_ (Ace, 1978)
Pocket book reprint of Marvel Super-Special #8

_Stan Lee Presents: Battlestar Galactica Vol. II_ (Ace, 1979)
Pocket book reprint of Marvel Comic's BSG #4-6

Maximum Press

_Asylum_ (Maximum Press, anthology)
#1-#10 (Dec 95-Sep 96) - ongoing 8-page BSG stories
_Note, pin-up only in #6, No BSG in #9_

_Battlestar Galactica_ (Maximum Press)
_War of Eden_ #1-#4 (Jul 95-Nov 95) (also as TPB)
_The Enemy Within_ #1-#3 (Nov 95-Feb 96) (also as TPB)
[ note, issue #3 has 2 cover variants ]
_Starbuck_ #1-#3 (Dec 95-Mar 96)
_Apollo's Journey_ #1-#3 (Apr 96-Jun 96) - Richard Hatch writes
_Journey's End_ #1-#4 (Aug 96-Nov 96)
_Special Edition_ #1 (Jan 97) - stories from _Asylum_ #1-#3
_The Compendium_ #1 (Feb 97) - stories from _Asylum_ #4-#7, #10

_Spider Man/Badrock_ (Maximum Press/Marvel Comics)
1A, 1B (March 1997) - 2-part series with "Lost" BSG episode subplot

Miscellaneous

_Cerebus #199_ (Oct 95)
Backup story chronicles one woman's obession with Dirk Benedict

_Cracked #159_ (May 79)
Cover, BSG spoof

_Mad #208_ (Jun 79)
BSG spoof

_The Wet and Wisdom of Mad (Mad #74)_ (Warner, 1987)
Pocket book features BSG spoof from _Mad #208_