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"Lunar Won"
Battlestar Galactica: Starbuck #1 (Maximum Press)
Story: Rob Liefeld and Robert Napton
Script: Robert Napton
Art: Hector Gomez
December 1995 |
The Eastern Alliance launches an all-out attack on the
Galactica; Starbuck
meets the real Charlie Watts on Lunar 1.
Story Summary
Starbuck has been doing so well at gambling lately that he's
considering quitting the force to become a full-time wagerer.
Just as he's beginning a date with Cassiopeia, a red alert
claxon goes off. The fleet is under attack by an armada of
Eastern Alliance destroyers led by Commandant Leiter, who seeks
to destroy the Galactica in revenge for his past
incarceration.
During the space battle, Starbuck's Viper is badly damaged and
he is injured and loses consciousness. The ship's computer
senses his unconsciousness and, with life support failing,
engages the auto pilot routine to find a safe place to land. The
program chooses to turbo out of the battle and land on the nearest
life-sustaining world, Lunar 1.
The Viper crash lands on Lunar 1 and the unconscious Starbuck is
pulled from the wreck by Colonel Charlie Watts, who is currently
leading a resistance to the Alliance on that world. Waking up
later, the Warrior
meets Colonel Watts and a woman named Justine. Starbuck wants to
radio
to the Galactica for help, but they tell him that while
they were caring for him, the Eastern Alliance hauled his
wrecked Viper to their labor camp. Also at the camp, a Nationalist
called Commander Joseph, who has a lot of information about the
Alliance needed by the resistance, is being held after his
capture under an alias. Starbuck formulates a plan with the
resistance to get to his Viper and also spring Joseph.
With a diversion provided by resistance forces, Starbuck manages
to break into the facility, but finds his Viper's cockpit torn
apart, apparently for study of the technology. But he does retrieve
the emergency pack still hidden on board. He then makes his way
to the detention area and into a large cell holding a number of
resistance members. He tells them he's with Charlie and Justine, looking for Joseph. Joseph steps out of the crowd and
introduces himself. Just then, Alliance enforcers led by a
Commandant Kresh step in from outside. Kresh thanks Starbuck for
identifying Joseph for them.
CONTINUED IN BATTLESTAR GALACTICA: STARBUCK #2
Didja Know?
There are no actual titles to the individual issues of the
Battlestar Galactica: Starbuck mini-series. I decided
to provide titles on my own because there's no particular reason
this story should be called "Starbuck" just because he stars in
it; there are a number of stories in the BSG universe that
spotlight the character. It would be a different matter if this
story gave us insight into Starbuck's origins or something, but
it's just another story of him as a Colonial Warrior.
(Dynamite Entertainment later published another
Battlestar Galactica: Starbuck mini-series which
actually was about his origin; see the studies of it on
PopApostle beginning with "Starbuck"
Part 1.) The title
of "Lunar Won" which I have used here is simply a pun on the name of
the world called Lunar 1, and references Starbuck's "winning
streak" in the story and the fact that the issue ends with
Commandant Kresh having turned the tables on our hero.
There is an interesting BSG timeline included in the text pages
of this issue. The information in it is derived from the
Encyclopedia Galactica (a non-canonical publication from 1979
that occasionally contradicts canonical sources [and even itself]),
the TV series, and the comic book stories published by Maximum
Press.
Didja Notice?
There are a number of flaws
on the cover of this issue: |
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- Starbuck's
holster is on
his left hip. It
should be on his
right. Apollo is
the one who is
left-handed.
-
Starbuck's
jacket has 3
clasps on the
right side and 4
on left! There
should be 4 on
each side. Also
the clasps are
not positioned
as they are on
the real
costumes; the
bottom clasp
should be at the
bottom of the
jacket, not a
few inches up.
- Starbuck
appears to be
carrying two
different types
of laser guns in
his hands.
Possibly they
could represent
Colonial and Alliance
weapons.
- The Viper on
the left-hand
edge has a gun
or spine
protruding on
the outer edge
of the left
wing, but not on
the right; there
shouldn't be a
protrusion there
at all. (Though
a diagram on
Starbuck's
locker door on
page 3 of the
issue seems to
show a similar
configuration
for some reason;
maybe Starbuck's
been working on
some ideas for a
modified Viper?)
- The uniform
of Commandant
Leiter does not
look much like
the one depicted
in the TV
series, neither
on the cover nor
in the issue
itself. Even the
insignia on his
cap is
different; here,
it's a triangle
but in the
televised
episodes it was
more of a
diamond.
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On the inside front cover, the History of Galactica segment
fails to capitalize the name of planet Earth throughout the
three issues of the mini-series.
The Story So Far paragraph on the inside
front cover tells us
that one yahren has passed since the destruction of
the Colonies.
Page 1 tells us it is the Colonial Yahren 7342. However,
according to the
BSG Timeline on the Battlestar Wiki, this cannot be correct
based on what we know of the TV episodes. The only date given in
the TV series is the Colonial yahren 7322, when the Cylons
attacked Umbra on Caprica (causing Starbuck to become orphaned),
as mentioned in "The Man
with Nine Lives". From this it is deduced that the
destruction of the Colonies occurs in 7348. That would mean
"Lunar Won" would have to take place in 7349.
On page 1, Starbuck uses the phrase, "Read 'em and weep," while
laying down his winning pyramid hand. This phrase is well-known
in the Earth game of poker, also when displaying a winning hand.
On panel 3 of page 1, Starbuck's hand is scooping up his
winnings and his arm is seen with the Colonial Warrior's jacket
sleeve on it. But he is otherwise depicted as not wearing his
jacket at the time!
Starbuck remarks he has been doing so well at gambling lately that he's
considering quitting the force to become a full-time wagerer. Is
he just on a winning streak or might he have become a better
player thanks to advice from Chameleon?
On page 2, Boomer is depicted as white (though he does seem to
have a darker hue on the next page)!
On pages 2-3, Starbuck and Jolly refer to a gambling
establishment on Leo as a "chancellery" even though the Colonial
term has previously been established as "chancery".
On page 4, Cassiopeia seems to have a different medical insignia
on her uniform than we've ever seen before.
For some reason, on page 6, Colonel Tigh is depicted as mostly
bald! By the next issue, he suddenly has a full head of hair
again.
Colonel Tigh reports that the Eastern Alliance is attacking the
fleet with 526 destroyers. It seems unlikely the Alliance would
have the money and resources to have constructed so many.
On page 7, Starbuck is depicted with gray hair!
The Alliance destroyers in this
story are depicted a bit
differently than the one seen in
episodes of the TV series. |
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Eastern
Alliance destroyer in
"Greetings from Earth" Part 2 |
Eastern
Alliance destroyer in this issue |
Unlike in the TV series, here the Viper pilots (well, Starbuck
anyway) are depicted as strapped into their seats with an
x-shaped torso belt. Artistic license, I guess.
On pages 12-13, Starbuck repeats the words of his old flight
instructor as he did in "The Young
Lords": "There's only three kinds of Vipers...the one you
train in...the one you escape from...and the one you die in."
That old flight instructor was Lt. Wyler, as seen in
"Starbuck" Part 1.
In this issue, Starbuck meets Colonel Charlie Watts of the
Western Nationalists. Charlie is the person whom the Beings of
Light made Apollo appear as to the Terrans in
"Experiment in Terra".
On page 19, Starbuck recalls a time as a child when his father
(he thinks) took him into the Thorn Forest near his home town of
Umbra and showed him how to fashion a bow and arrow from wood.
It was revealed in
"Starbuck" Part 1 and
"The Man With Nine Lives" that Starbuck was orphaned as a
child after a Cylon attack on the village of Umbra on Caprica
and was found wandering in the Thorn Forest.
Page 22 reveals that Dr. Wilker had recently upgraded the auto
flight program in the Vipers, which is what allowed the fighter
to guide itself to Lunar 1 without orders when its sensors
detected that Starbuck had been rendered unconscious and needed
to be removed from the space battle zone immediately for safety.
Page 22 also reveals that an emergency pack is hidden on the
underside of Starbuck's Viper (and presumably all others as
well).
Commandant Kresh is depicted carrying what appears to be a
riding crop. It seems to be an affectation rather than serving
any useful purpose since we never see him riding an animal
throughout this mini-series. Maybe it even indicates a BDSM
fetish on the Commandant's part!
The three-pointed insignia Kresh
wears appears throughout the
mini-series as a symbol of the
Eastern Alliance. It is meant to
suggest the Iron Cross used by
the military of Prussia in the
19th Century and Germany in the
first half of the 20th. |
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Alliance
cross |
Iron Cross |
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