There are many sci-fi universes I miss after they’ve left the airways, but one that always stood out to me was Stargate Universe. It was the last of the fabled SG-1 and Atlantis series of shows.
Well, imagine my surprise to find out that there was a comic book coming out to continue the story from where the show left it. I immediately ordered it, and it came in this week!
Let me share with you what I thought of it!
SGU #1
Writers: J.C. Vaughn and Mark L. Haynes
Artist: Giancarlo Caracuzzo
Art & Ink Assists: Greg LaRoque
Published by: American Mythology
Cover price: $3.99
SOLICITATION: American Mythology is proud to announce that the first issue of the Stargate Universe comic book series will be in stores on June 28th! This series picks up the adventure from the last episode of the classic television series and delivers a continuation to one of sci-fi’s most memorable cliffhanger endings. Written by J.C. Vaughn and Mark L. Haynes, the writers of the Stargate Atlantis comic book series, the new bi-monthly series seeks to deliver one-of-a kind action with our favorite SGU characters. Please check with your local comic book shop, digitally on ComiXology, or with us in the American Mytho Shop for all of the available editions.
STARGATE’S ‘DEEP SPACE NINE’
SGU was a darker, less-heroic show, much in line with Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. It has nuanced characters, unpredictable happenings, and long-term continuity. Since I loved DS9, I also enjoyed SGU.
Now, the show left us with the vast majority of the people on board the Destiny sleeping soundly in pods while only one person on board was awake, trying to keep the ship together while the ship heads to its destination.
The book picks up months later when the Colonel Everett Young is awakened by the only person left awake, Eli, to find that there are mysterious aliens on board the ship.
The good news is that they’re repairing the Destiny, something of a dream come true.
The bad news is that they seem to be the ship’s original crew, and they’re pretty miffed at these strangers being on their space-faring craft.
That kind of situation was something we often saw on SGU – that you had to take the good along with the bad.
The pacing of the story is also much like SGU in that we got a flashback at the beginning to remind us what had happened before, then Eli caught us up on what he was up to while everyone else was hibernating.
There’s very little action in this issue, but again, that was how the show did things. It’s character-driven in the purest sense of the word.
I’d have liked more pages in the SGU story, but it’s great to see that series continued. There’s a nine-page preview of Atlantis #1, which is cool and all, but I’m more of an SGU guy. Maybe next issue?
The characters are consistent with the program as well, although we only see a few more in the “Previously in Stargate Universe” section at the beginning. Many of the show’s actors have gone on to do other shows, which I’m happy about.
It’s organized chaos just the way Tieri does it best!
THE ART IS SOMEWHAT CRAGGY
I know I keep harping on this, but the art was dark and a little sketchy, but it felt like the way SGU’s visuals were handled. The character resemblances were good, as far as it could in that art style.
The colors also match this style, nothing really brightly colored. Instead, even the reds and yellows are dimmer, which shouldn’t be taken as a comment on the story. I loved it!
BOTTOM LINE: SGU Moving Along
I loved this book, even though it felt more like a “preview” than a “real” issue to me. Next time, more pages! More pages!
If you were as big a fan of SGU as I have been, I highly recommend you dive in! I’ll be fascinated to see where the Destiny goes next, but it will be fraught with danger and difficulty, if the show is any indication! I’m all in!
[taq_review]
2 Comments
Oh wow, I didn’t even know this was coming out. And I have JUST been reading some of the producers and writers talks about what might have happened if the series had continued (I avoided the articles for a couple years because I really, really hoped MGM would un-shelve the property and make the SG-1/Atlantis/SGU direct-to-video movies that were in pre-production and I didn’t want to spoil the stories if they ended up coming out).
Can’t wait to get my hands on this!!
Man, I miss Stargate. When people would say “What’s you’re favorite Scifi property, Star Wars or Star Trek”, my answer was always: “Star Wars isn’t scifi, it’s future fantasy. It’s space paladins vs space warlocks, uses fantasy tropes, and doesn’t concern itself with the things scifi usually addresses.” My next comment was usually “Also, Star Gate is the best scifi show, since it doesn’t concern itself with the most impressive technology of 400 years in the future that we’ll have in our hands in like, 50 tops.”
Really, Stargate always hit that right itch for me, where it did scifi in a way that most scifi doesn’t – it’s the scifi of twenty minutes in the future. Rather than guessing at future tech and cultures, it deals with alien ones meeting our modern cultures, and that always managed to hook me in ways that Star Trek never could. I hope the comics do well – I may not have much money to invest in the individual issues, but I do try to get trades when I’m able to show my support in what ways I can.