"Buck the Stars" Battlestar Galactica: Origins #9 (Dynamite) Writer: Seamus Kevin Fahey & Clay Carmouche Pencils: Jonathan Lau Cover A: Jonathan Lau 2008

Kara Thrace and Karl Agathon suffer through the torments of boot camp.

Notes from the BSG chronology

This story takes place mostly on Caprica two years before the fall of the Colonies.

Didja Know?

Battlestar Galactica: Origins was an 11-issue mini-series published by Dynamite Entertainment, covering the origins of several characters of BSG2000. Issues 9-11 feature Starbuck and Helo during their training days together at the Colonial military academy.

This issue reveals that Starbuck and Helo first met and became begrudging friends at Colonial military academy.

Characters appearing or mentioned in this story

Kara Thrace (Starbuck)
Sergeant Garner
Karl Agathon (Helo)
Bronco Nagurski
Nick
Shimmy
Gilmore
Thomas Zarek
Madam Pythia
President Adar
Gaius Baltar
Captain Snowden (pilot of Aphrodite, named later in "Crash Landing")

Didja Notice?

The Jonathan Lau cover of this issue depicts a hand of triad, with one of Starbuck's cigars smoldering in an ashtray.

On page 4, Kara is seen training in a Raptor simulator.

When Kara flames out in the simulator, the sarge warns her, "You can buck me and you can buck the system but one day, gods help you, you might be a pilot. And when you screw around up there, the stars dish out death, not pushups. Can't buck the stars." Presumably, this is how Kara winds up with the "Starbuck" callsign.

On pages 5-6, Kara and Agathon are seen participating in a game of pyramid against the Marines in which Kara injures her knee in a way that impinges her future performance in the game. Her aptitude for pyramid and the injured knee are later mentioned in "Resistance".

In the sportscasters studio on page 5 is what may be an ad banner for Barron's Ambrosia (it's partially covered by a sportscaster's head).

On page 11, Starbuck reveals that she used to paint as a hobby. This is also seen in "Valley of Darkness".

On page 15, Starbuck paints a mandala on her apartment wall. This becomes a profound symbol and harbinger of things to come in episodes of the TV series. While partaking in a fortune-telling session with Madam Pythia later in this issue, Starbuck says she saw the mandala in her dreams. In "Rapture", she tells Helo it's a pattern she likes that she's been doodling since she was a child.

On page 16, an old newspaper on the sidewalk has the headline "Zarek: Politician or Terrorist?" This refers to Tom Zarek, a political agitator on Sagittaron who also becomes a thorn in the side of the rag-tag fleet after the fall of the Colonies.

On page 17, Madam Pythia tells Starbuck she sees her face over the graves of mankind. This may be a reference to the upcoming destruction of the Colonies by the Cylons, which Starbuck survives.

Starbuck and Helo are assigned to a mission to investigate trouble on the mining colony of Troy, escorting a transport from the battlestar Triton. Troy is later known as the faked birthplace of Boomer. The Triton is later mentioned as destroyed during the fall of the Colonies in "Serve and Protect".

On page 20, panel 1, the Caprican Times newspaper being read by the jailhouse guard has the headline "Politicians Vanish". This same headline appeared earlier in "A Higher Purpose" and "The Red Line". In panel 3, an article is titled "Adar Approves Defense Budget"; Adar is the president of the Twelve Colonies. Panel 4 shows the title of another article, "Gaius Baltar to Head CNP"; Baltar becomes the head of the Command Navigation Program in "A Higher Purpose", presumably placing this issue at the same time as that one.

On page 21, the pilot of the Raptor Aphrodite calls Starbuck "Nugget". "Nugget" is Colonial military slang for a pilot trainee.