Battlestar Galactica: The Manga -- Echoes of New Caprica (v. 1) [Paperback]

Emily Salzfass (Author), Anthony Wu (Author), Mike Wellman (Author), Richard Hatch (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 14, 2009

Culled from storylines that didn't make it past the cutting room floor, the Battlestar Galactica manga takes place in Season 3 of the popular television series. In these interstellar tales, Baltar goes on trial after being falsely accused of massacre, Roslin refuses to implement a new curriculum that is sympathetic to the Cylons, Zarek faces a mutiny after being elected vice president, and Kacey learns something about true maternal love.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: TokyoPop (April 14, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1427815291
• ISBN-13: 978-1427815293
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,060,089 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I liked it more than I expected, May 13, 2009

By 

HanakoGal (Salt Lake City, UT USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Battlestar Galactica: The Manga -- Echoes of New Caprica (v. 1) (Paperback)

This Manga contains one story that takes place on New Caprica and two take place right after they leave the planet. The first story was my favorite; Laura Roslin deals with her school and the students being used to force people to choose sides durring the occupation. The second story; how Tom Zarek started the secret trials and executions in his short turm as president. Third story; the first days of Kara Thrace being back in the cockpit and dealing with Leoben's manipulation of her and her remaining feelings for Kacey. I enjoyed all of the stories and they all had the gritty, desperate and dark tone of the occupation and recovery time period done very well.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Best Battlestar comic out there!, May 6, 2009

By 

Kane I. Lynch (Santa Cruz, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Battlestar Galactica: The Manga -- Echoes of New Caprica (v. 1) (Paperback)

I don't really understand how a property is separately licensed as both a "manga" and a "comic book", since they're more or less the same thing, but this book definitely out-classes its non-manga counterpart.

Unlike the Dynamite comics, "Echoes" mostly choses character-based drama over explosiony scifi nonsense--kind of like the show it's based on.

The dialogue is uneven, both in that it sometimes seems out of character, and that it's often kind of grammatically awkward (is this a tradition in manga based on decades of mediocre translations?), but the story was good enough to make up for it.

The first of the three stories--about Laura Roslin as a teacher on New Caprica, with one of her students a suspected informer for the Cylons--was really interesting, and, while it was occassionally hard to tell who was who, the art is generally compelling.

This isn't the best comic you'll ever read, but if you dig Battlestar, it's definitely worth the ten bucks.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The better the story, the worse the art., August 1, 2009

By 

Mercurious (Bay Area, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Battlestar Galactica: The Manga -- Echoes of New Caprica (v. 1) (Paperback)

I wish customers could look inside this book before they decided whether or not to buy it.

There are three stories in this book, each with one author and one artist. The stories are decent-to-good, with, as another reviewer mentioned, the very dark, gritty feel of the tv series. For the first two stories, the art is ok. I liked the first story about children being used by the cylons to manipulate the humans, including Roslin, the childrens' teacher. The second story, about the initiation of the trials of the New Caprican "traitors" and the first execution, was enjoyable if simplistic.

I think the third story is the best, because it dives deepest into a character's head -- namely, starbuck's. There were some odd "wtf? would she really do that?" moments, but this story was the one that really got under my skin the most. I could tell the artist was making a genuine effort, and I wondered if perhaps s/he was rushed, because some panels are lovely, and others, well ... helo and Lee are unrecognizable, mostly because they look like they have down's syndrome. I'm not knocking ppl w down's syndrome, I'm knocking the artist and all the absurdly elongated heads s/he draws. I did go back and re-read the 3rd story right after I finished it because it was compelling, but I avoided looking at the art.

If I had been aware of the art quality, I wouldn't have spent more than $5 on this book. If decent-to-good art is important to you, look elsewhere. If you're a BSG fan and can suffer thru bad art to read a good story, I'd recommend this book.