Eve of Destruction

This article has a separate continuity. This article is in the Realm Press separate continuity, which is related to the Original Series. Be sure that your contributions to this article reflect the characters and events specific to this continuity only.

Eve of Destruction An issue of the Realm Press series.
Issue No.
Writer(s)	J.C. Vaughn
Illustrator(s)	{{{illustrator}}}
Penciller(s)	Matt Busch
Inker(s)	Matt Busch
Colorist(s)	Matt Busch
Letterer(s)	Mark L. Haynes
Editor(s)	James A. Kuhoric Mark L. Haynes J.C. Vaughn
Collection Design	{{{designer}}}
Cover Artist(s)
Adaptation of
Published	December 1999
Collects
Collected in
Reprints
Reprinted as
Pages	{{{pages}}}
ISBN	[[Special:Booksources/|]]
Population	0 Survivors
Special	{{{special}}}
Chronology
Previous		Next
	Eve of Destruction
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

Overview

One of the first comic books from Realm Press that primarily features the artwork of Matt Busch, in addition to two stories. Prelude I features the story of Count Iblis and his involvement with the Cylons and the destruction of Colonial civilization, while Prelude II sets up Zac as an agent for the Beings of Light.

Summary

Prelude I: Nostalgie De La Boue

• The prologue to this prelude reads:

It is the seventh millennium of mankind. The human race, descended from the long dead mother world of Kobol, now dwells on twelve sister worlds, also known as The Colonies. For most of the last one thousand yahren, humanity has been at war with the powerful Cylon Alliance.

Even as the Colonies were being settled, the seeds of this costly struggle were sown by the malevolent being known as Count Iblis. He tricked the Cylon dictator Sobekkta into betraying his entire living, breathing race and caused them to be replaced by mechanical drones. These relentless, soulless machines are dedicated only to enforcing their order on the galaxy.

There are, however, forces of Light which stand opposed to the forces of Darkness. For his transgressions, Iblis was cursed to live only in death for 7,000 yahren, to only truly know himself and his power in the fleeting moments between a series of miserable, pain-filled lives...

• Iblis continues to remember his life and purpose, fleetingly, between moments of death over 7,000 yahren. During one such moment, he fleetingly remembers Milton's saying about being better to rule in Hell than to serve in Heaven. Before the end of this fleeting moment, the name "Baltar" is known to him.
• During this time, he also sees flashes of the Thousand-Yahren War up to its end before being reconstituted, ready to reap what he has sown and to bring the humans to one of two ends: subjugation under him, or death in the cold of space.

Prelude II: Daughter of Elysium

• The prologue to this prelude reads:

As darkness begins to cloud humanity's future, the agents of Light prepare for the conflict ahead. The crucible that mankind is about to enter will be its most trying since the demise of their home world, Kobol, and the subsequent journey to the present Colonies.

Their struggle will take place on many different worlds and in the vast reaches of space. It will be carried out in the cockpits of fighter craft, in the dungeons of forgotten backwater planets, and in the dreams of children.

Warriors, both human and those more than human, must be readied for the fight to come...

• A young boy (later known to us as Zac), dressed in a Warrior's uniform, dialogues with voice (later known to us as a Being of Light) in his dreams. When asked if it's everything he wanted to be, the boy replies, "Not everything, but close."
• The boy is shown Kobol and is told that he will visit the planet on a long journey. He recalls an armistice, although he is uncertain what the armistice leads to or what it pertains to. He later questions why they set out from Kobol to settle The Twelve Colonies, and why they refer to themselves as "The Colonies" 7,000 yahren later.
• When dealing with the idea of being cast out, the boy, upon saying that he could never imagine leaving Caprica never to return, is told by the voice this: "What you can imagine is not as limited as you might think, and what you will experience is beyond your understanding at this point."
• The boy then sees various images with his brother and sister on Caprica. The boy is told that his brother goes to war and then learns that he, too, will be a warrior. He sees snippets featuring Starbuck, Athena, Apollo and Adama, after this he is told that he will be a great warrior that will fly not with them, but with the forces of Light. He is told that his destiny is not what he imagines it to be, but just as noble—and will not remember this encounter until they meet again. Zac is told that he should dream of far away planets and mechanical daggits.

Notes

• While the series canon has hinted that Iblis has influenced Cylon development (Baltar notes that Iblis' voice is the same as the Imperious Leader's), the comic asserts that Iblis was the mastermind directly responsible for the present Cylon development and the Thousand-Yahren War.
• Prelude II lays the groundwork for Zac to be one of the Beings of Light.
• The presence of a mechanical daggit at the end pre-dates the "Muffit II," and should technically not exist given that Doctor Wilker devised it. Unless Wilker had liberated the designs from another source.
• The title for Prelude I, "nostalgie de la boue" is French and means "yearning for the mud," and is typically used to describe an attraction to what is unworthy, crude, or degrading.
• The title for Prelude II, "daughter of Elysium," is from Friedrich Schiller's "Ode to Joy."
• Aside from the likenesses of the actors who portrayed the characters (i.e. Richard Hatch's Apollo, Dirk Benedict's Starbuck, et al.), there are models who were used in the creation of different characters. The book credits them in order of appearance: Ian E. Busch, Justin Riberas, Jacob Riberas, Jessica Busch, Julia Svoboda, Heather Stone (as Siress Uri), and Natalia Tarnavski.

Analysis

• Not yet available.

Questions

• Will Zac ascend to the same plane of existence that the Beings of Light inhabit?
• Given the Beings of Light's inability to interact with the real world, what do they have in mind for Zac?

Official Statements

• Not yet available.

Related imagery

• 
  The "virgin" version of the artwork used for the cover.

Original Series definition: a title of nobility (e.g. Count Iblis)

Original Series definition: unit of time akin to a "year" (see: Yahren)

Original Series definition: a domesticated canine, e.g. dog (see: daggit)