Marvel Comics

Marvel Comics began its adaptation of Galactica with Super Special 8. Super Special was a magazine format comic book that featured different characters or adaptations each month. Issue 8 was produced just in time for the launch of the TV series in September 1978.

The Super Special adaptation was derived from an interim script of "Saga of a Star World," and some of the differences in the story are evident. This adaptation was also released in a tabloid format by both Marvel Comics and Whitman Comics.

Spurred on by the success of this adaptation, Marvel began a monthly comic series that ran from 1978 through 1980, and lasted a total of 23 issues. The first three issues, titled Battlestar Galactica, Exodus! and Deathtrap! respectively, consisted of a longer adaptation of Saga of a Star World, taking much of the art from the Super Special adaptation and expanding it by several pages.

The adaptation of the series continued in next two issues entitled Into the Void and A Death in the Family, which chronicled the story from the two part television episode "Lost Planet of the Gods".

Beginning with The Memory Machine, Marvel began publishing all new stories based on the characters in the series. From this point, the story began to depart from what was depicted in the series. According to letters pages within the publication, Marvel's contract with Universal Studios specifically did not allow them to use anything from the television series that followed "Lost Planet Of The Gods".

In the storyline that unfolded, a good deal of the comic took place in the magnetic void which the fleet first encountered in the TV episode "Lost Planet of the Gods". In the end of the TV episode, the fleet moves back into normal space, leaving the void behind, but in the comics the rag tag fleet remains in the void beginning in issue #4, with the fleet finally returning to regular space in issue #14. (This makes placing the episodes within the span of the TV series difficult, since much of the action could be surmised to have taken place between "Lost Planet of the Gods" and "Lost Warrior".)

In terms of tone, many of the Marvel comics had horror elements, a theme that was visited sparingly in the TV series. An incomplete list of monsters from the comic series would include a space vampire (issue #9), a carnivorous planet (issue #10), alien vermin (issue #15), a crewmember who transforms into a red ape (issues #17 and #18) and a monstrous shapeshifter (issue #21). Even the menacing and relentless Cylon Mark III in issue #16 owes as much of his origin to horror elements as he does to science fiction. Taken as a whole, Marvel’s Galactica is somewhat darker in tone than the series, but this not-so-subtle paranoia is arguable truer to the initial premise of the series than were some of the latter episodes of the television program.

Notably, the writers of Galactica comic were quite willing to remove key characters from the dramatic mix for periods of time. From issues #6 to #12, Commander Adama is placed within a machine to help him remember the ancient writings he briefly saw on Kobol and, although we do spend some time in his dreams, he is effectively removed from commanding Galactica for several issues, which of course sets up its own dramatic tension.

Another character who leaves the series for awhile is Starbuck, as part of perhaps the most effective story arc in the series. In this plotline the fleet stumbles upon Scavenger World, the dominion of the female space pirate Eurayle, who makes a deal to spare the Colonials if she can keep Starbuck at her side. The interactions between Starbuck and Eurayle are memorable, and the conclusion of the storyline, with a tremendous battle in issue #13, is a satisfying conclusion. At the end of the tale, Starbuck remains with Eurayle, and the fleet moves on without him, which of course sets us up for his triumphant return in issues #19 and #20.

Unlike both television series, Galactica comic actually had a planned ending, with a series of plot devices being wound up in the final two part story of issues #22 and #23. In the course of solving a mystery, Lieutenant Jolly finds adventure and romance and helps in figuring out the long sought coordinates for Earth. A tongue in cheek adventure ably drawn and scripted by Walt Simonson this plotline provided a strong end for a memorable series.

Marvel Comics Monthly Comic Book

Battlestar Galactica
Exodus!
Deathtrap!
Into the Void
A Death in the Family
The Memory Machine
All Things Past and Present
Shuttle Diplomacy!
Space-Mimic!
This Planet Hungers
Scavenge World - Image Gallery included
The Trap! - Image Gallery included
Collision Course! - Image Gallery included
Trial and Error
Derelict!
Berzerker - Image Gallery included
Ape and Essence
Forbidden Fruit!
The Daring Escape of the Space Cowboy - Image Gallery included
Hell Hath No Fury!
A World for the Killing!
Black is the Color of My True Love's Hair
The Last Hiding Place - Image Gallery included

SuperSpecial Adaptation

Marvel Super Special 8: Battlestar Galactica

While not a great adaptation, what makes this comic interesting is that it is based on an early script of the pilot, and thus there are several distinct differences.

Differences from the Televised Pilot
Baltar is executed by the Cylons.
Lyra (Serina) is told that she is dying from radiation sickness.
Cassiopeia does not survive the Ovion mines.
In the final scene, Lyra says good-bye to Apollo.

Titan Books Marvel reprints - trade paperbacks

Saga of a Star World by Roger McKenzie, Ernie Colon and Walt Simonson
The Memory Machine by Roger McKenzie, Klaus Janson, Walt Simonson and Tom DeFalco