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beccatoriaSo like, I meant to post about this DAYS ago when I actually read it but forgot, as I usually forget to post about comics (how many of you, for instance, actually know that I in fact buy all these BSG comics, huh?) Like how I always meant to post about the Zarek mini series they did and how bad I felt for them hanging his backstory on the terrible Saggitaron working conditions that meant they got terrible medical care and weren't given the drugs they needed to cure their mine-worker illnesses like...a month before we got that episode that told us they were all good drug hating fundamentalists.
Ahem. Anyway.
I love this comic cus it's crack. It's awesome cool random crack. I also kind of fear it giving me any answers in case, like the show, the comic proves much better at creating weird, exciting, nonsensical, mythological questions than answering them. And really, when it comes to mythology, does one need an answer?
I dunno. Maybe.
The point is, I'm relieved to find something, anything, BSG-related that makes me feel like things are exploding with possibility instead of being shut down.
The comic did some things I wouldn't have done, and am not even sure I like all that much, but it did them well which means I can see that they are interesting idea even if not my assumed/preferred ones and that in itself excites me and makes me think thinky thoughts.
Like the Thirteenth Tribe. It's very unclear in the comic, but I believe the thirteenth tribe are/were humans who created "organic memory transfer" and download into identical robot copies of themselves upon death. (See the comment about Michael Tigh, a Thirteenth tribe member being a man before he became a machine.) Now, on the one hand, dammit, I want my sentient artificial life, and "would you put your brain in a robot body," is an old question. But hey, so are robots that rise up and kill you.
I think what sells me is the fact that they're all atheists. That's a pretty interesting and subtle (although enormous) way of invoking the difference between Cylon who were once human and Cylon who were once purely mechanical and the effects immortality/life has on them and their religious belief systems.
I'm gonna assume that Michael Tigh is an ancestor of Saul Tigh. I likewise assume that the John Cavil at the end is an ancestor of Ellen. That's kind of weird to me though, cus I always assumed that Cavil was a name Cavil took for himself instead of John rather than simply discarding his first name. No biggie though. I guess her maiden name was Ellen Cavil.
There's clearly a link between Kara and Pythia - both due to their identical appearance and the fact that we start with Starbuck's viper exploding. My current line of thinking is that this will never be specifically explained nor am I sure I want it to be. While I'd love some cracked out "Kara showed up four thousand years ago to be Pythia after her viper exploded and then went back after she got shot at the end," or something nonsense, it's probably best I don't get my wish and I'm more inclined to leave that one as weird reincarnatory mysticism. When she spoke about "Earth" though she certainly didn't seem to say it like it was a planet name she already knew. Makes me wonder if Michael Tigh will end up naming the Thirteenth Tribe's new planet in her honour.
I found it intriguing that she was crying out that they unite as one tribe - cast off the old names, a little like Lee when he disbanded the Quorum. That said, I'm not sure what to make of the destruction of the technology - the anti-technological backlash caused by the exitence of the Thirteenth in Pythia's name.
On the plus side, Pythia herself seemed utterly indifferent and perhaps even oblivious to the anarchy being wreaked in her cause and certainly didn't seem to be screaming anything about the evils of machines. Also it echoes the Twelve Colonies stance after the original Cylon war. We do fear technology even as we can't stop building it because, well, we're tool builders and even monkeys use stones to open nuts; there's no clear cutoff point.
On the minus side, I'm just going to hope in the context of the entire story it isn't intended to look like the "right" answer and be a parallel to Lee shooting the ships into the sun.
My two favourite things were, I think, Pythia seeing Six in the Red Dress just because the image is so striking, and, weirdly, the almost throwaway (unless it isn't) story about Aurora. And how Zeus granted her love eternal life but not eternal youth and he ended up ancient, decrepit, locked in his room babbling insanity. I was like, DUDE, way to evoke the first hybrid in a massively epic, yet somehow subtle and creepy way.
I like when myths and "realiy" collide. When something "real" happens that's simultaneously utterly believable/makes sense in the context of this non-mythic story but also, you can totally understand how in the sweep of history, it will turn into something mythic. But...my kink for this is more than that. Because anything can be made mythic with enough time and distance. I think I like it when the original incident that inspires the myth is actually incredible/magical/impossible/mythic given the right angle of approach even in that moment. BUT. But that it also somehow manages to obey all the story's "laws of physics" at the same time.
And now I'm making less sense than this cracky comic.
Short version: well-played, Dynamite. Keep it up for two more issues. Don't let this be the No Exit to your Daybreak.
Ahem. Anyway.
I love this comic cus it's crack. It's awesome cool random crack. I also kind of fear it giving me any answers in case, like the show, the comic proves much better at creating weird, exciting, nonsensical, mythological questions than answering them. And really, when it comes to mythology, does one need an answer?
I dunno. Maybe.
The point is, I'm relieved to find something, anything, BSG-related that makes me feel like things are exploding with possibility instead of being shut down.
The comic did some things I wouldn't have done, and am not even sure I like all that much, but it did them well which means I can see that they are interesting idea even if not my assumed/preferred ones and that in itself excites me and makes me think thinky thoughts.
Like the Thirteenth Tribe. It's very unclear in the comic, but I believe the thirteenth tribe are/were humans who created "organic memory transfer" and download into identical robot copies of themselves upon death. (See the comment about Michael Tigh, a Thirteenth tribe member being a man before he became a machine.) Now, on the one hand, dammit, I want my sentient artificial life, and "would you put your brain in a robot body," is an old question. But hey, so are robots that rise up and kill you.
I think what sells me is the fact that they're all atheists. That's a pretty interesting and subtle (although enormous) way of invoking the difference between Cylon who were once human and Cylon who were once purely mechanical and the effects immortality/life has on them and their religious belief systems.
I'm gonna assume that Michael Tigh is an ancestor of Saul Tigh. I likewise assume that the John Cavil at the end is an ancestor of Ellen. That's kind of weird to me though, cus I always assumed that Cavil was a name Cavil took for himself instead of John rather than simply discarding his first name. No biggie though. I guess her maiden name was Ellen Cavil.
There's clearly a link between Kara and Pythia - both due to their identical appearance and the fact that we start with Starbuck's viper exploding. My current line of thinking is that this will never be specifically explained nor am I sure I want it to be. While I'd love some cracked out "Kara showed up four thousand years ago to be Pythia after her viper exploded and then went back after she got shot at the end," or something nonsense, it's probably best I don't get my wish and I'm more inclined to leave that one as weird reincarnatory mysticism. When she spoke about "Earth" though she certainly didn't seem to say it like it was a planet name she already knew. Makes me wonder if Michael Tigh will end up naming the Thirteenth Tribe's new planet in her honour.
I found it intriguing that she was crying out that they unite as one tribe - cast off the old names, a little like Lee when he disbanded the Quorum. That said, I'm not sure what to make of the destruction of the technology - the anti-technological backlash caused by the exitence of the Thirteenth in Pythia's name.
On the plus side, Pythia herself seemed utterly indifferent and perhaps even oblivious to the anarchy being wreaked in her cause and certainly didn't seem to be screaming anything about the evils of machines. Also it echoes the Twelve Colonies stance after the original Cylon war. We do fear technology even as we can't stop building it because, well, we're tool builders and even monkeys use stones to open nuts; there's no clear cutoff point.
On the minus side, I'm just going to hope in the context of the entire story it isn't intended to look like the "right" answer and be a parallel to Lee shooting the ships into the sun.
My two favourite things were, I think, Pythia seeing Six in the Red Dress just because the image is so striking, and, weirdly, the almost throwaway (unless it isn't) story about Aurora. And how Zeus granted her love eternal life but not eternal youth and he ended up ancient, decrepit, locked in his room babbling insanity. I was like, DUDE, way to evoke the first hybrid in a massively epic, yet somehow subtle and creepy way.
I like when myths and "realiy" collide. When something "real" happens that's simultaneously utterly believable/makes sense in the context of this non-mythic story but also, you can totally understand how in the sweep of history, it will turn into something mythic. But...my kink for this is more than that. Because anything can be made mythic with enough time and distance. I think I like it when the original incident that inspires the myth is actually incredible/magical/impossible/mythic given the right angle of approach even in that moment. BUT. But that it also somehow manages to obey all the story's "laws of physics" at the same time.
And now I'm making less sense than this cracky comic.
Short version: well-played, Dynamite. Keep it up for two more issues. Don't let this be the No Exit to your Daybreak.
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no subject
Date: 2009-04-28 03:34 pm (UTC)I like that there's a history of humanity destroying their technology in an attempt to start over. I'm getting a little peeved about everyone blaming Lee for the downfall of humanity because he suggested starting over without all the tech.
The naming thing is a little odd. While the thirteen Cylon models were given first names (John, Sharon, Leoben, Daniel, etc), I assumed they created last names for themselves. And considering how bitter John was, it doesn't seem like he's choose a name that had any ties to his 'mother'.
no subject
Date: 2009-04-28 03:46 pm (UTC)I like that there's a history of humanity building up tech and then trying to destroy it if it's like...if it's not glorified as some wonderful answer.
I do understand your frustrations with Lee getting all the blame and to be fair, I use that as short hand as well and probably shouldn't. To be honest, I consider it more a moment of lobotomy by plot/RDM than a serious comment on his character. And in this comic, the destruction of the tech seemed more angry and nihilistic than some hopeful decision to restart without it. Which I think is really my issue with the ending. The tonal thing. The way it's treated as an unequivocally good thing and so specifically tied into anti-intellectual staples about our minds outstripping our souls.
As I said, I'm not entirely convinced we WILL get any answers about what happened to Kara between Maelstrom and Crossroads but even if we do, and even if it's a concrete answer, I don't think you need to be too annoyed it wasn't in the show since the subtitle of this mini series is, "An original interpretation of the story of the Final Five."
I am looking forward to the next issue though.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-03 09:13 pm (UTC)Who wrote this? I have heard less-than-positive reviews of some of the past BSG comics, so I wonder if they got someone new on board.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-04 01:00 am (UTC)