There have been bulky robot Cylons and humanoid Cylons, but Gaius Baltar may have created a new and terrifying kind of Cylon. In a new Battlestar Galactica comic book arriving in November, the notorious scientist goes into Doctor Frankenstein mode and brings to life a patchwork Cylon Centurion, made of broken parts.
In Dynamite’s Battlestar Galactica: Gods & Monsters from writer Karl Kesel, Baltar builds a new kind of Cylon never seen anywhere in BSG, especially in Ronald D. Moore’s reboot continuity. The timeline of the comic isn’t clear, but it can’t be after the show when Baltar became a farmer, nor could it be in Season 4 when Baltar was a cultist. It can’t even be the season before that, when he was President of the doomed New Caprica. It must be earlier, when Baltar was on board the Galactica and associating oneself with a Cylon was especially heinous.
If you’re unfamiliar with Battlestar Galactica, Kesel says even newbies can pick up and enjoy Gods & Monsters. For background: Cylons were A.I. robots created by humans of the Twelve Colonies to serve them, only to gain sentience and rebel. The Cylons escape for a 40-year armistice and the come back and wipe-out the majority of the 50-billion human populace.
'Battlestar Galactica: Gods & Monsters' #1
Battlestar Galactica begins with fewer than 50,000 survivors wandering space in search of a new home, while fending off attacks by Cylons. The series also reveals that Cylons reveal they are capable of “humanoid” models, meaning there are undercover Cylons who indistinguishable from ordinary humans. Kesel told Bleeding Cool that Baltar’s new Cylon in Gods & Monsters will recognize which human-looking people are actually Cylons undercover. This is a cool new source of drama and tension, and a plot-angle the TV show never had.
Battlestar Galactica: Gods & Monsters hits shelves with issue #1 in November.
