Dynamite proudly announces that the #1 New York Times
bestselling author Tony Lee (Doctor Who, Star Trek: The Next Generation,
Superboy) will spotlight the origin of a beloved sci-fi character in the
upcoming Battlestar Galactica: Starbuck four-issue miniseries, based on the
NBCUniversal television show. The
Starbuck miniseries is based on the classic 1978 version of Battlestar
Galactica and is licensed through the NBCUniversal Television Consumer Products
Group.
Tony Lee will bring the science fiction sensibilities
honed on such comics as Doctor Who and Star Trek to the Battlestar Galactica
franchise, exploring a fan-favorite character immortalized on television by
actor Dirk Benedict. Lt. Starbuck, a
likable rogue who serves as a Viper pilot aboard the spacefaring battleship, is
a character with more than enough charisma and innate heroism to carry his own
solo series. "I've always liked the
scoundrels," says Lee. "Han Solo and Starbuck taught me a lot about
life between them, so I probably owe a whole load of broken relationships and
split lips during my teen years to them both."
Lee continues, "When Dynamite came to me with a
suggestion to do a Starbuck story, I jumped at the opportunity. Bar the fact that he was an amnesiac child
after the attack on Umbra, we don't know much about Starbuck's history, mainly
because we only had thirteen episodes (and a flashback Galactica 1980 special)
to learn about him. I wanted to fill in
these gaps. I wanted to see the Starbuck
that existed before the show. How did he
meet Apollo? Why does Adama treat him
like a surrogate son? Who taught him to
smoke and gamble and womanize? What
shaped the man we know, and more importantly, why did the Cylons attack Umbra
that fateful day? That right there was
when I knew the story I wanted to tell."
Battlestar Galactica: Starbuck will truly explore a
beloved character whose past life remained -- until now -- a mystery. An episode of the classic television series
entitled "The Man with Nine Lives" aired in 1979, with the character
Chameleon only briefly mentioning that Starbuck was an amnesiac child on
Umbra. Practically his entire life, from
being discovered as a feral child through the moment he first appears in the
pilot episode "Saga of the Star World," is an unexplored territory
that Lee gleefully will venture into.
Tony Lee is a #1 New York Times bestselling author with
work including Superboy for DC Comics, Spider-Man and The X-Men for Marvel,
both Tenth and Eleventh Doctor ongoing Doctor Who series for IDW, The Gloom and
Agent Mom for MTV, the Baker Street Irregulars series of children's graphic
novels for Hachette / Franklin Watts, and Doctor Who, Dorian Gray, and Bernice
Summerfield audio dramas for Big Finish.
He wrote a MacGyver series for Image Comics with show creator Lee David
Zlotoff, has co-written a Star Trek: The Next Generation / Doctor Who series
for IDW, and adapted Amanda Hocking's Hollowland novel into comics for
Dynamite.
Nick Barrucci, the CEO and Publisher of Dynamite, says,
"I have the utmost respect for Tony Lee as a writer, and can't wait to see
the thrills of his Starbuck script take form on a comics page. Bringing Tony aboard the good spaceship
Battlestar is a pleasure because the story's in good hands, and the fact that
he's also a great self-promoter will help the series receive even more
awareness! This is a man who will beat
the drum ceaselessly and draw readers to the project."
The announcement of the new Starbuck miniseries comes
just months after the successful 2013 launch of Dynamite's ongoing Battlestar
Galactica series, a bestseller written by Dan Abnett and Andy Lanning (the
creative team responsible for the Guardians of the Galaxy comic series which
inspired the upcoming Marvel film). The
overwhelming fan support of the series, which is set in the classic television
show from the late 1970s, resulted in a sweeping renewed interest in the
Battlestar Galactica franchise during the year of its 35th Anniversary. Dynamite had previously published a wealth of
content set in the reimagined universe of the Syfy Battlestar Galactica series
from the past decade, all still available for sale as graphic novel
collections.