Mark L. Haynes

Stargate Universe: Volume One collects the story “Back to Destiny,” written by Mark L. Haynes & J.C. Vaughn with art by Giancarlo Caracuzzo, Eliseu Gouveia, and Clint Hilinski. “Back to Destiny” picks up where the second season left off, with the Icarus and Lucian Alliance crewmembers entering stasis pods while Destiny plots a three-year course to a new galaxy. Eli Wallace has a brief window to figure out how to repair the remaining stasis pod before the resources run out to support both life support for his use and the engines’ capability to make the journey.

While working the problem, Eli discovers a further corridor of stasis pods that had been overlooked as they were in an inaccessible part of the ship. Donning a spacesuit, he investigates and finds the Destiny’s original Ancient engineering crew, who have been in stasis for over a million years. When he revives them, they temporarily take command of the ship before falling ill. Their leader, Vasi, programs the ship to begin repairs so that the Icarus crew may attempt to reach a drone-controlled planet in order to gather the ingredients to make tretonin, which may help the Ancients. There are the usual disagreements between Colonel Everett Young and Dr. Nicholas Rush, with Eli caught in the middle. Haynes and Vaughn do a good job incorporating Lt. Tamara Johansen, Camile Wray, Lt. Matthew Scott, and MSgt. Ronald Greer, though the length of the story precludes full roles for many of the other characters. In tone and structure, “Back to Destiny” feels like one of the two-part episodes of the series. There are also nice references to American Mythology’s Stargate Atlantis comics, helping this to feel better connected to the larger franchise.

Caracuzzo’s art has a bit of an unfinished quality, though both Gouveia and Hilinski accurately capture not only the actors’ likenesses but all the fine details of the Destiny. Interestingly, Hilinski depicts the team using a DHD like in Stargate SG-1 or Stargate Atlantis rather than the Kino remote. While this is likely an oversight, the colorist also portrays the Destiny stargate in the shade of blue found in the Milky Way Galaxy, rather than the silver color from the show. Compared to other Stargate comics, the art is, overall, an improvement from that which appeared in Dynamite Comics’ Daniel Jackson and Vala Mal Doran series, but not as good as the art from the original Avatar Press Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis comics. Most importantly, however, Haynes & Vaughn’s story feels like a natural continuation of the television series, including references back to previous episodes and building on what came before. Though the story retains an open ending rather than a firm conclusion, it will the Stargate Universe fan who has awaited a resolution since the series’ cancellation in 2011.… (altro)