Annihilation!

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Battlestar Galactica An issue of the Marvel Comics series.
Issue No.	1
Writer(s)	Roger McKenzie
Illustrator(s)	{{{illustrator}}}
Penciller(s)	Ernie Colon
Inker(s)	Ernie Colon
Colorist(s)	George Roussos
Letterer(s)	Ernie Colon and Jim Novak
Editor(s)	Mark Gruenwald and Ralph Macchio
Collection Design	{{{designer}}}
Cover Artist(s)	Dave Cockrum and Bob McLeod
Adaptation of	Saga of a Star World (Part 1)
Published	March 1979
Collects
Collected in	Saga of a Star World
Reprints	Marvel Super Special #8: Battlestar Galactica (Part 1)
Reprinted as
Pages	{{{pages}}}
ISBN	[[Special:Booksources/|]]
Population	0 Survivors
Special	{{{special}}}
Chronology
Previous		Next
None	Battlestar Galactica	Exodus!
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

This comic is the first of three issues adapting the Original Series' "Saga of a Star World."

Plot

• Zac and Apollo launch in the recon patrol from Galactica. Zac, on his first assigned patrol as he is the lowest in seniority aboard, asks his brother why he participates in the patrol. Apollo replies that he expects the Warriors will be placed on liesuron, and thus wishes to have one final mission before then, much to Zac's incredulity.
• Aboard the battlestar Atlantia, President Adar has one final toast to share with the Quorum of Twelve. Adar notes that Baltar is the first to bring the "dissident races of mankind together" to speak as one before the Alliance. After the toast, the party disperses, and Adar reaches out to Commander Adama noting that the party was "not a success with all of his children."
• Adama admits that he has suspicions about the Cylons, believing that the values of mankind are far too alien for the Cylons to accept, even though Adar fervently reiterates that the Cylons sued for peace via Baltar.
• Zac and Apollo encounter an empty Cylon tanker above the old moon Cimtar, with static "behind" it. Probing behind a harmless mist, Apollo uncovers thousands of Cylon warships in waiting. A splinter force from the fleet pursues Apollo. Apollo tells a temporarily-mystified Zac to hit full turbos and the recon patrol heads back towards their fleet.
• Zac's engine is hit, and Apollo is insulted as the Cylons only sent two raiders after them. At Apollo's command, the patrol hits their reverse thrusters to take out the "creepy, weirdo creatures."
• After landing their shuttle, Athena tells Adama that Galactica has been put on full alert. After arriving on the bridge, Colonel Tigh informs Adama of the attack upon their recon patrol by unidentified assailants. Tigh surmises they may pirates or smugglers, and Adama has Tigh contact Adar.
• Adar, at the urging of Baltar, prevents Adama from launching intercept fighters until the situation becomes clearer. Adama urges Adar to bring the fleet to a higher state of alert, which Adar claims he will consider.
• Tigh is irate over Adar's inaction, and Adama takes Athena's suggestion to read only to the letter of Adar's command. Adama believes that this is an opportune time to engage in a battlestations drill.
• Still fleeing from the Cylons, Zac asks his elder brother what they've just discovered. Apollo replies with his belief that they've uncovered a deception, and Zac pleads with his brother to go on with out him, so that Apollo may warn the fleet. Apollo promises his brother that he'll return to help.
• The Cylons break Apollo's promise, killing Zac. Adama receives this news, at the same time detecting the thousands of Cylon attack craft inbound. Already on battlestations drill, Vipers are readied to launch while Lieutenants Boomer and Starbuck are left wondering about their current circumstances.
• As the Cylons and Galactica's Vipers engage, Tigh informs Adama that not only have no other battlestars have launched planes to assist, but that Apollo has landed and hasn't been told about Zac's death.
• Apollo reports to the bridge, asking permission to go back for Zac, and Adama breaks the news. Tigh asks a bereaved Apollo about how many baseships they're dealing with: there are no baseships, and Apollo relays the fact that they'd come across an empty tanker prior to the attack, surmising the raiders refueled from their original launching platform.
• Adama realizes the Cylons' plan with their absent baseships, and asks Adar permission to leave the fleet to defend their home planets.
• In striking range of the Colonies, the Imperious Leader orders the final annihilation of "the life form known is man."
• After the destruction of Atlantia, Adama orders Galactica to make haste to Caprica, leaving behind Boomer, Starbuck, and other Vipers fighting to defend the fleet.
• Athena picks up a civilian transmission from Caprica, where Serina reports on the celebrations of peace. These celebrations are cut short when Cylon Raiders dive from the skies, attacking the city.
• During the confusion, Serina calls after her son, Boxey, who frolics with his daggit, Muffey. After Serina saves her son from falling debris from nearby buildings, they make a short, but aborted search for the daggit, and depart from the ruin city.
• Apollo brings his father to their family home in the foothills of Caprica, overlooking burning cities. As night descends, Apollo sees a group of people, wielding torches, heading their way.
• Inside the ruins of their home, Adama apologies to his deceased wife, Ila, as Apollo tells his father of the crowds approaching their position. After a discussion, Adama asks for a few microns, mourning their loss.
• Outside, Apollo is assailed by aggrieved survivors, who are ready to lynch the warrior for dereliction of his duty. Serina intercedes, pointedly asking what happened to the Colonial Fleet and their Warriors: Apollo reports that they've been all but destroyed, and that only Galactica survives.
• Adama appears and relays to the survivors the truth: their defense fleet and homelands are destroyed, but commands the survivors to spread word to assemble in any assorted ship that can carry them. While defeated, they will be lead from the system, with Galactica as their protector.
• Assembling a rag-tag, fugitive fleet, Adama declares that their destination is the last surviving colony, a sister world remembered only through ancient writings: a colony called Earth. While it may take them generations to find it, they have no choice but to flee as the Alliance would surely hunt any survivors down and destroy them.

Notes

General

A shapely female in a cover and coverall jumpsuit denoting her appointment as a member of Starbuck's deck crew, prepping Starbuck for launch during the Battle of Cimtar (Annihilation!).

• The comic eschews the terms for time, using "years" instead of "yahren." Interestingly, the term microns is used by Adama, mirroring the inconsistencies in application of "Earth" terms vs. "Colonial" terms for time and other units of measurement.
• Starbuck has a flight crew with "Starbuck's Crew" on the back of their work coveralls. Noticeably, the one member of Starbuck's Crew is a shapely blonde woman.

Differences

• Zac's first mission with Apollo is slightly different than the episode: Zac is the lowest in seniority and was saddled with the patrol, while Apollo joins him due to the belief that the Warriors would be mustered out of service after the armistice. In contrast the episode depicts Zac and Starbuck concocting a paper-thin plan so that Zac replaces Starbuck in the patrol with Apollo.
• President Adar calls out Athena prior to making his toast to Baltar. Athena can be seen seated at the table. In contrast the episode only depicts Athena on the return shuttle to Galactica after departing from Adar's conference.
• Tigh mentions that a third of the ships in the Fleet are capable of light speed, although this is never mentioned in the series proper.
• Apollo also mentions the issue of fuel, which sets up for the next issue in the series.
• The colony of Aeriana is mentioned as home to the Aeries, however the series refers to the colony as Aeries. The colony of "Aeriana" is also used in the Berkley novelizations.
• Starbuck's crash landing on Galactica and subsequent argument with Athena are omitted from both this issue and the next.

Publication History

This issue was reprinted in Star Heroes: Winter Special (UK) Vol. 1 #1 (October 1979 CE), and later republished in Saga of a Star World (June 2005 CE).

Analysis

As the comic adaptation hues closely to the finalized pilot, "Saga of a Star World," many of the points of analysis are mirrored in the aforementioned article.

Questions

• Did Adama find Ila's body at the house? If not, how does he know she is deceased?
• Who or what comprises of "the Alliance"?
• How does Apollo know the other battlestars are destroyed?
• What of Boomer and Starbuck?

See also

• Battlestar Galactica: Vol. 1 #1 at the Marvel Database