Skip to content
Entertainment
Link copied to clipboard

Seeds for First Cylon War planted in Dynamite's 'BSG'

THIS WEEK, Comics Guy takes a look at "Battlestar Galactica: Cylon War," Dynamite's latest spinoff series based on the popular sci-fi show.

THIS WEEK, Comics Guy takes a look at "Battlestar Galactica: Cylon War," Dynamite's latest spinoff series based on the popular sci-fi show.

Yet again, they have successfully explored a part of the "BSG" mythology that has barely been mined for stories and done so in a way that not only entertains but strengthens the entire franchise.

It is in this series that we learn how one of mankind's greatest assets turned into one of its most deadly foes.

While the show began with a "war" that lasted little more than an eyeblink and resulted in the Cylons almost wiping out humanity, we see the seeds of the First Cylon War - as it is often called - being planted 40 years before the TV series takes place.

As a war between Caprica and Sagittaron erupts, we see that the Cylons were basically harmless robots that acted as a cross between maids and family pets - their programming prevented them from fighting, let alone killing.

But as the Caprica-Sagittaron conflict brings out man's inhumanity to man in increasingly shocking ways, the decision is made to allow the Cylons to evolve to the point where they can do dangerous tasks no one else wants to do.

Most importantly, in their arrogance and zeal to crush their enemies, it is determined that the Cylons will be programmed and trained to fight and kill, a decision all of humanity would rue decades later.

To paraphrase Edward James Olmos' as Adama in one of the TV show's seminal moments: You cannot consciously keep building weapons of ever greater destruction and then wash your hands of what you've created.

Though Nigel Raynor's art here is a bit too mangaesque for Comics Guy's tastes, writers Joshua Ortega and Eric Nylund have begun an entertaining journey. "Cylon War" is a fascinating look at humanity's penchant for self-destruction and another winner in the Dynamite stable.

'Latino Hellboy' to film?

The Hollywood Reporter reports that Death Ray Films, a production company formed recently by Kevin Munroe, Chris Patton and Robert Sanchez is teaming up with Maya Entertainment to bring Dark Horse "El Zombo Fantasma" to the big screen.

Munroe will write and direct "Zombo," which has often been called a "Latino Hellboy."

Has the world gone 'Mad'?

As if DC's struggle to get its superhero characters onscreen and that its comics line has been getting its butt kicked by Marvel on a regular basis wasn't bad enough, word has come down from DC's parent company Warner Bros. that it will be cutting costs worldwide and laying off 10% of its work force.

In September, they killed their "Minx" line of titles aimed at young girls.

The latest casualty appears to be Mad magazine, which launched in 1952. It will now move from a monthly to a quarterly publication schedule starting with issue No. 500 in April. For its spinoffs, the news was even more dire: Mad Kids will cease publication with its Feb. 17 issue and Mad Classics will end with the March 17 issue. Handling the news in typical Mad fashion, Editor John Ficarra said in a news release, "The feedback we've gotten from readers is that only every third issue of Mad is funny, so we've decided to just publish those."

The cover price of the quarterly issues will be $5.99. Issue No. 501 will go on sale in August, with No. 502 in November. Issues of the magazine will now be 56 pages, expanding from 48

"Remember, MAD started out as eight times a year, before going to 12 and now four," said Ficarra. "Just as Nostradamus had predicted.

From 'Horton' to 'Hex'

One DC property that looks to be progressing in its journey to the silver screen is "Jonah Hex," the famously scarred bounty hunter whose adventures take place in the Old West.

The Hollywood Reporter recently reported that Jimmy Hayward ("Horton Hears a Who!") has been tapped by Warner Bros. to make his live-action directorial debut with "Hex," replacing Mark Neveldine and Brian Taylor ("Crank"). The script Neveldine and Taylor wrote will still reportedly be used.

Production on the film is set to start in March or April, with Josh Brolin in the title role. *

E-mail comicsguy@phillynews.com