Battlestar Galactica Annual 2014

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Battlestar Galactica Annual 2014 An issue of the Dynamite series.
Issue No.
Writer(s)	Robert Place Napton
Illustrator(s)	Kewber Baal
Penciller(s)
Inker(s)	{{{inker}}}
Colorist(s)
Letterer(s)
Editor(s)
Collection Design	{{{designer}}}
Cover Artist(s)	Kewber Baal (Main Cover)
Adaptation of
Published	April 2, 2014
Collects
Collected in	Battlestar Galactica Classic Omnibus Vol. 2
Reprints
Reprinted as
Pages	40
ISBN	72513021547501011
Population	0 Survivors
Special	{{{special}}}
Chronology
Previous		Next
Classic Battlestar Galactica Vol. 2 #12 a.k.a. "Days Without End"	Battlestar Galactica Annual 2014	Battlestar Galactica: Death of Apollo #1
Purchase
Available at BOOKSAMILLION.COM - Purchase
Available at Amazon.com – [[amazon:{{{amazon}}}|Purchase]]
Available at Amazon.co.uk – Purchase
Available at Things From Another World - Purchase

The origin of the traitorous Baltar is revealed at last! As portrayed by legendary genre actor John Colicos, Baltar from the classic Battlestar is one of the most unforgettable and enigmatic characters of the original series. Who is the man that was recruited by the Cylons and helped bring about the destruction of the colonies? What became of him after the final episode of the original Battlestar series? These questions and more will be answered in this special annual that delves into the decades long mystery of who Baltar was and what turned him into the betrayer of mankind.

Plot

• Exiled upon a planet for nearly a yahren, Baltar breaks down and destroys the short-range transmitter provisioned to him by Adama.
• Baltar recalls his past as a young boy on Cygnus, following the passing of his mother, and how he first tasted temptation and wealth upon venturing into the tylium mine owned by his father, Sela.
• As Sela is told of a rich vein of tylium discovered by his prospector Temon, Baltar takes a nugget of tylium and pockets it.
• Following Baltar's departure from the mine, a scanner trips and Baltar reveals to his father, in full sight of Sela's miners, that he is a thief. Baltar is then subsequently punished at home by being whipped, with Baltar learning that tylium was more important to his father than blood relation.
• Later, Cygnus is invaded by the Cylons for its rich tylium resource, who annex the colony and keep Baltar, Sela, and other humans alive in order to mine the tylium.
• During a future night, Baltar overhears Sela talk to fellow conspirators about their plans to sabotage the Cylons efforts by planting radiation charges to render the tylium inert. Inspired to make a deal with the Cylons, Baltar summons the gall to demand to speak to the Commandant.
• After a bartering session, the Commandant agrees to release Baltar should the information he provides pan out. Honoring its word and recognizing that Baltar has the "opportunity to be set free from the limitations of your race," the Commandant executes Sela and his fellow conspirators; Baltar has just experienced his first taste of revenge.
• Baltar is given a shuttle and pilots it towards Picon, where he ends up in an orphanage. Baltar's anti-Caprica, pro-Cylon views make him an outcast but he is undeterred. He is later granted a scholarship to the University of Picon, and he is able to return to Cygnus with his fellow classmate, Abel, following the Cylons expulsion by the Colonial forces.
• In doing so, he not on inherits his father's business, but grows it as well, becoming a powerful magnate who works his way towards economic and political power within the following ten yahren.
• Following his advocacy of recognizing Cygnus as a full fledged protectorate of Picon, Sire Damaris offers Baltar a lucrative contract to seek new tylium sources for the Colonial's war effort. Baltar agrees.
• Within half-yahren of this contract, Abel discovers Carillon and brings Baltar there in secret. He informs Baltar of his finding: Carillon has the largest source of tylium ever discovered. Baltar desires to keep the jewel secret from the Colonials, however Abel balks at this; he further is abhorred that Baltar has also been selling Cylons tylium.
• Baltar slays Abel in an altercation. During his period of subsequent "mourning," he recruits the Ovions to mine the tylium for him, creating a chancery and resort where the house always loses.
• For 15 yahren, Baltar made Carillon his den of sin, where he is presented with an offer by Commandant to betray the Colonies. In return for his assistance, Baltar will be made ruler of Cygnus and Picon.
• Following the Battle of Cimtar, Baltar is presented to the Imperious Leader, who has Baltar beheaded. Baltar's head is then attached to a Cylon machine by two IL-series Cylons, including Lucifer, and Baltar is made to believe that he was spared.
• Baltar awakens in his container lodging on the exiled planet, disbelieving at the dream he had regarding his death. However, he is surprised to find himself rescued by three Cylon Centurions, one of whom is Commandant. Realizing that his short-range transmitter was destroyed by his own hand days prior, Baltar attempts to fight the Cylons off as he vehemently voices his disbelief that he himself isn't human.
• Baltar is electrically shocked into unconsciousness, and dragged to Commandant's raider.

Notes

Timeline

• Key dates and events from this issue are covered in the separate continuity Original Series timeline article.

Nods

• Baltar's backstory takes much from various entries in Encyclopedia Galactica with some divergences, particularly where Carillon and the Ovions are concerned.
• As with all Dynamite Comics, there are some inclusions of Re-imagined Series content:
  • The threesome featuring Baltar and two women, a blonde and a brunette, on Carillon is a nod to the threesome of Gaius Baltar with Caprica-Six and Number Three aboard a Cylon basestar in "The Passage."
  • The Cylon endoskeleton that Baltar's severed head is attached to is that of a Centurion.
  • Tylium being rendered irreversibly inert by radioactive fallout is covered in "The Hand of God."
• The story introduces a spin on the infamous Baltar execution scene from "Saga of a Star World," which was later re-worked in the television pilot so as to "spare" Baltar for public execution at a later date. In Baltar's discovery of the actual memory, Baltar finds that he was indeed executed, attached to a Cylon construct, and then reprogrammed to believe that he was spared to find Galactica—as a fully human man.

Miscellany

• Commandant's comment on there being other human informants ring true, particularly in light of Diana and Osiris from Battlestar Galactica: Starbuck.
• The Ovions backstory is given greater clarity, particularly relating to how they came to Carillon and the necessity of why the "chancery," where the house always loses, was built.

Analysis

• The writer, Robert Napton, has written Original Series comics for both Maximum Press and Realm Press, and brings his knowledge of the Original Series into play when developing the backstory. While Baltar's backstory is fairly typical and straight forward, the twist of his (forced upon) converted nature at the end is a bit jarring, deliberately so in order to open up the possibility for future stories. The conversion by the Cylons also addresses the glaring contradiction between the two aired versions of Baltar's "execution": one where he was indeed beheaded in the theatrical release, and the series "retcon" where Baltar is to be spared for later public execution in the televised pilot.
• Baltar shares some of the traits of his re-imagined counterpart, where his appetites in women are on display.

Questions

• Is Baltar the first human to have been converted into a cyborg?
• How did Commandant come to find Baltar? How long have they laid in wait?
• Wasn't Baltar given a full physical upon his capture in "War of the Gods"?

Noteworthy Dialogue

• Sela punishes his young son, Baltar, for his attempted theft of tylium:

  Sela: You're man enough to steal. Be man enough to pay for it.

• As a youth, Baltar strikes a deal with the Centurion Commandant on Cygnus:

  Baltar: You have to agree to my terms first, before I tell you anything. Threats won't work either, there's nothing you can take from me I haven't already lost.

  Commandant: You are wise for your age. Very well. We agree to grant your freedom in exchange for the information once it is authenticated.

  Baltar: What if I tell you and you betray me? That's what a human would do.

  Commandant: We are not human. You are not the first human informant. I have learned about your kind. This is an opportunity to be set free from the limitations of your race. An opportunity to become something more. An opportunity to be like us.

Related Imagery

Covers

• 
  Main Cover
  Art: Kewber Baal

Preview Pages

Please Note: These are used for promotional purposes by the publisher, and are provided here in the same vein.

• 
  Page 1
• 
  Page 2
• 
  Page 3
• 
  Page 4
• 
  Page 5
• 
  Page 2 (Virgin)
• 
  Page 3 (Virgin)
• 
  Page 5 (Virgin)
• 
  Page 12 & 13 (Virgin)

External links

• Dynamite.com: BATTLESTAR GALACTICA ANNUAL 2014 (web.archive.org backup link)