Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero 1

This article has a separate continuity. This article is in the Dynamite Comics separate continuity, which is related to the Re-imagined Series. Be sure that your contributions to this article reflect the characters and events specific to this continuity only.

Season Zero 1 An issue of the Dynamite series.
Issue No.	1
Writer(s)	Brandon Jerwa
Illustrator(s)	{{{illustrator}}}
Penciller(s)	Stephen Segovia Jackson Herbert
Inker(s)
Colorist(s)	Adriano Lucas of Impacto Studios
Letterer(s)
Editor(s)
Collection Design	{{{designer}}}
Cover Artist(s)	Stjepan Sejic, Adriano Batista, Stephen Segovia
Adaptation of
Published	May 5, 2007
Collects	Batista B&W Incentive Cover Segovia Negative Art Incentive Cover
Collected in
Reprints
Reprinted as
Pages	{{{pages}}}
ISBN	[[Special:Booksources/|]]
Population	0 Survivors
Special	{{{special}}}
Chronology
Previous		Next
Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero 0	Season Zero 1	Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero 2
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

Plot

William Adama discovers that his mission to Neutral Space has become complicated.

Summary

• After toasting to "the future," the married couples of the Adamas and Tighs are discussing their husband's new status in the military.
• After Bill assures Ellen that the "days of top-secret missions are over," Saul makes a sexual comment about "no more 'convert insertions' for us" to Ellen. Reacting to this, Carolanne makes a quip about "to have that much fun," to which Bill comments that she'd better "hurry up on that drink, then, we're falling behind".
• Carolanne changes the conversation to indicate that she likes the fact that Bill will be around more often. Saul replies that he has a whole list of home improvements to do during his time off.
• After Ellen invites Carolanne to "powder their noses," Saul shares his optimism to Bill about the new assignment being a "polite road to retirement," which Adama agrees to.

• In the present, Saul Tigh is making an entry into Galactica's duty log. Tigh summarizes the current status of the mission and notes that, while they've lost wireless contact with Adama's search Raptor, he believes that the situation is under control. The last panel has Tigh reflected off an liquor bottle.

• On planet surface, Adama, his team of marines, and Julian DiMarco are surrounded by Cylon Centurions. DiMarco assures Adama that the Cylons' presence is not his fault, although he's always suspected they had a presence on the planet—and this is the first time they had ever encountered them, however.
• Adama orders his people not to make any aggressive actions as the Cylons begin to take aim at them.
• DiMarco whips out a remote control, using it to activate the engines on his crashed ship, which disorient the Cylons and allow the marines to begin taking out the Cylons. Hotfoot is injured in the engagement and another marine is shot.

• On Galactica, an inebriated Tigh is summoned to CIC, where the female watch officer informs him that they've detected a sizable heat signature on the surface, possibly an explosion. The lieutenant sees that Tigh is disoriented and asks if he is well, but Tigh brushes her concern off, claiming that he just needs a minute to get straightened out.

• On the surface, Doctor Cottle runs to check on the downed marine. The fighting stops, a headcount is conducted, and Cottle notes that there was only one fatality.
• As DiMarco attempts to give his condolences, Adama throws DiMarco up against the wall, angered that DiMarco lead them into a trap.
• Peter attempts to interfere, but DiMarco waves him off. DiMarco assures Adama that he'll give Adama the answers he seeks, but only after they get to one of the deeper caves for shelter since the Cylons will likely return.

• Adama remembers a mission on Columbia, while serving under then-Commander DiMarco as XO. DiMarco communicates to Colonial Fleet Control that they have found the commandeered vessel and are pursuing. Fleet Control stresses to DiMarco that the escapees are to be taken alive, if possible.
• DiMarco replies that Columbia was undergoing a simple fuel efficiency test and due to this, the battlestar is staffed with essential personnel only and will have to pull qualified pilots from command ranks. Fleet Control informs DiMarco that the decision is up to him.
• In two Viper Mark IIs, Julian "Marksman" DiMarco and William "Husker" Adama move to intercept the commandeered vessel. They hang back to let the ship make the first move, during which Adama notes that his Viper's "passenger" (a special EMP package) is ready to be released.
• The ship's heavy cannon opens fire on the Vipers, but is quickly taken out by Adama. Adama hangs back behind the ship, which the crew aboard presume to mean that he's warming up for a missile attack, while DiMarco makes a turn to position himself in front of the ship. Once in position, DiMarco orders Adama to fire the electromagnetic pulse.
• As Adama fires the pulse, the escapees make plans to ram DiMarco's Viper, but are thwarted as the EM pulse deactivates their systems, thus rendering the ship powerless.

• After Adama and DiMarco land on Columbia, they receive a cheerful reception from the deck crew. DiMarco asks Adama if the experience was half as fun for his friend as it was to him. Adama replies that it was "better than a hundred birthday parties and my first kiss put together".
• DiMarco begins smoking a cigar while handing another to Adama, saying he's earned it.
• As they walk down a corridor, DiMarco gives Adama a piece of advice about his career being guided by his hand, finishing off the advice by saying: "Stay young or die, Bill, and never compromise."

• Back in a cave on the planet, DiMarco asks to sit down next to Adama, who obliges. DiMarco hands Adama a cup of water, and discusses how he initially didn't give a frak what anyone had thought, at least until he had met up with Adama again. After Adama brusquely breaks through DiMarco's roundabout method of conversation, DiMarco makes it clear that he was involved in a Colonial Fleet black ops, doing "the dirty work that no one likes to talk about".

• Elsewhere on the planet, Kelly and two Marines are trying to reach their crashed Raptor. As Kelly crosses to the Raptor, he is fired upon and runs for cover, while the other two Marines return fire. After the Marines confirm Kelly is uninjured, Kelly orders the Marines to flush out the assailant. They find that it is one lone man firing at them on top of a dune and neutralize him.
• The man (later known as Byron Dane in Issue 2) is a survivor from a bombed out settlement, who believed that he was firing on Cylons. Noting the Raptor, Dane asks whether or not he is going to be returned to the Colonies, and one of the Marines indicates that he should sit down for a minute.

• Back in the cave, DiMarco tells Adama that he did retire from the Fleet as an admiral, but reveals that the Expeditionary Fleet is nothing more than a cover for black ops. He tells Adama that he didn't find out about it until it was too late, but explains that the bright side of joining was a woman he met named Sil, to whom he has been with for a year. Adama gets irate and becomes sick of DiMarco's drawn out, roundabout explanations, which leads DiMarco to bring Adama to the site of a destroyed settlement.
• When asked who destroyed the settlement, DiMarco admits to Adama that he destroyed the settlement.

Notes

• Despite the presence of Kara Thrace on covers B and D, the character does not appear until Issue 2. The same can be said for Lee Adama, who is featured on cover C and D and makes an apperance in Issue 2 as well, but in a flashback scene with Zak Adama.
• Number Six, despite being depicted on the cover of this issue as well as Issue 0, does not appear in this comic and has yet to appear in the series as of this issue.
• The Columbia as seen in the flashback greatly resembles the original battlestar design, while the Vipers from that same flashback greatly resemble the ones from the Original Series.

Analysis

• The series plays loose with continuity, namely when concerning the Cylons. Humanity hasn't had direct contact with the Cylons for the past 40 years.
• The series makes the error of depicting Viper Mark IIs in operation; Viper Mark VIIs were in operation during this time, since Mark IIs were Cylon War-era craft (a modern Earth analogy is that the Mark II is like the F4, and the Mark VII is like the F22 or F35). This error is continued throughout the series.
  • This may not actually be an error, considering that we have no information concerning just when the last Mark II squadron was retired. Also, it makes sense that Galactica would be among the last battlestars (if not the last one) to have Mark IIs as part of her complement, in light of Commander Adama's phobia about computer networks.
  • On a similar note, the Raptors have gone virtually unchanged since Operation Raptor Talon, which was the final campaign of the Cylon War, and we really don't know if the fighter craft in question are actually meant to be Mark IIs, since we have no idea what Viper Marks III-VI look like.

Questions

• Why did the Colonial Fleet want the separatist colony destroyed?
• Will Adama report the presence of Cylons on the planet? (Answer)

Alternate covers

• 

  Cover A: Stjepan Sejic cover.

• 

  Cover B: Adriano Batista foil and regular cover.

• 

  Cover C: Stephen Segovia cover.

• 

  Cover D: Photo cover featuring Kara Thrace and Lee Adama.

• 

  Incentive 1: Adriano Batista sketch cover.

• 

  Incentive 2: Steven Segovia negative art incentive cover.

• 

  The "blank" cover.

External links

• Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero 1 - Regular Edition
• Battlestar Galactica: Season Zero 1 - Foil Edition