Battlestar Galactica’s Starbuck Gets An Origin Mini-Series

Dynamite recently launched a new series based on the original (1978 version of) Battlestar Galactica.  Today they’re announcing a spin-off series telling the origin of Starbuck.

Writing the mini-series will be Tony Lee, whose tour of duty with licensed properties includes Doctor Who, Star Trek: TNG, Starship Troops and Wallace & Gromit.

Says Lee:

 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.”

Official PR follows:

July 15, 2013, Mt. Laurel, NJ:  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 andThe 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 andDoctor 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 Whoseries 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 not only a pleasure because the story’s in good hands, and the fact that he’s also a great self-promoter — and I use the term endearingly – 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.