Battlestar Galactica "In the Beginning" Battlestar Galactica (Classic) Vol. 3, #1 Dynamite Entertainment Written by Cullen Bunn Pencils by Alex Sanchez Colors by Daniela Miwa Letters by Sal Cipriano Cover A by Alex Sanchez and Daniela Miwa Published: 2016

The fleet is threatened by the sudden appearance of a black hole and Commander Adama has no choice but to order the fleet to fly into it and hope to emerge on the other side.

Read the summary of this issue at the Battlestar Wiki

Notes from the BSG chronology

Placing this 5-part story in PopApostle's BSG chronology is problematic in that it features Baltar's maroonment on an uninhabited planet some time after "The Hand of God", but has him leaving that planet, while, in "There Will Be Blood", he is on the planet for about a yahren before being rescued by his Cylon allies. Which version of his leaving the planet is "true"?

Didja Know?

Battlestar Galactica (Classic) Volume 3 was a 5-issue mini-series published by Dynamite Entertainment in 2016.

The title of this issue comes from the opening line of the Bible, "In the beginning..."

Characters appearing or mentioned in this issue

Rigel
Colonel Tigh
Commander Adama
Omega
Boxey
Muffit
Starbuck
Apollo
Boomer
Dr. Salik
Cassiopeia
Baltar (in Adama's dream only)
Sheba
Lucifer (not identified as the IL-series Cylon called Lucifer until "We Are Legion")

Didja Notice? 

Page 1 includes the version of the classic preamble ("There are those who believe...") that was used in the theatrical version of the original BSG pilot "Saga of a Star World", ending with "far, far away, amongst the stars" instead of the traditional "somewhere beyond the heavens". This same version of the preamble appears at the end of the concluding chapter of this storyline in "Ruination".

On page 7, panel 1, it appears the word balloons for Apollo and Dr. Salik have assigned in reverse.

Dr. Salik says Commander Adama has a severe concussion and has been comatose for almost 20 centars on page 7. A centar is a Colonial unit of time measurement approximately equal to one hour.

In his coma, Adama experiences visions of himself in various locales. On page 9, he is drawn to Baltar on the uninhabited planet on which he was left marooned by the fleet. In "The Hand of God", Commander Adama offered Baltar his freedom on such a world in exchange for information about the layout of Cylon basestars. Baltar did, indeed, provide the information in that episode, but he was not seen to have been intentionally freed in the course of several comic book stories taking place afterward, though he escaped the prison barge in a Colonial shuttle during a battle in "Prison of Souls" Part 3. Perhaps Baltar was in some way marooned on this world after "leading" the Apshaidians in "Fire in the Sky" (though he does appear here to have Colonial shelter and equipment and he seems to blame Adama for his predicament). If Baltar was recaptured by the Colonial fleet at some point after "Fire in the Sky", it seems unlikely Commander Adama would still honor his promise to free him on an uninhabited world. However, in "There Will Be Blood", Baltar is seen marooned on an uninhabited planet for the past yahren, for which he blames Adama, so it would seem Adama did keep his promise at some point.

On page 14, after the Viper patrol finds a planet with a ring of spaceship debris around it, Boomer remarks he once heard about a planet in the Hovian sector that had a unique magnetic field that attracted derelict ships just like this. This is the first mention of the Hovian sector.

The unknown world found by the Viper patrol is seen to be inhabited by stranded people, both humans and aliens.

The Cylon Centurions depicted in this mini-series have a small box protruding from their chests. These were never seen in the BSG70 series before. It seems as if the protrusion may have been inspired by a similar design on the Centurions of BSG2000.
Cylon Centurions in this mini-series	Early model Cylon Centurion in BSG2000

The IL-series Cylon that the Centurions report to on the basestar is not named here. It's not clear if it's intended to be Lucifer or another IL.

At the end of this issue, the Cylons face another form of Cylons who attack them. This is not the first time the main group of Cylons has been attacked by an offshoot association. Such face-offs also occurred in "Hades Hath No Fury", "Fire in the Sky", and "The Infidel Basestar".

Unanswered Questions

How was the fleet able to fly into a black hole (and out the other side) without being torn apart by the gravitonic forces?