I am a huge Babylon 5 fan, I’ve watched the whole series and movies, including the recent DVD. However I hadn’t read the novels or comics, with the exception of the short stories. That’s changing though, so here are the B5 comics.

During the first 2 years of the show, DC Comics published an ongoing comic series of B5, but it only lasted 11 issues. These stories are actually canon, since JMS himself oversaw them. He only wrote the first issue, but all issues fit very well into the TV series.

The first issue is about what happens to Sinclair after the end of season 1. We know more or less the facts, but this is the first time we see them as they happen to Sinclair. His reaction to finding out the truth about the Battle of the Line, and his subsequent transfer to Mindar.

Issues 2-4 tell the story of an attempted assassination of the Minbari leader, which Sinclair is suspected of and is put to trial. At the same time the crew of B5 are attempting to find the real culprit, thus saving Sinclair. I was very pleased with this story, it puts Sinclair and B5 collaborating, even if remotely. We also learn of the legend of “Cypher”, a psi-corps assassin. This was really a good mystery with good tension.

Issues 5-8 tell the story of Garibaldi and Sinclair’s first encounter, which happens to be important in the Shadow’s history. There is an interesting parallel between the past and the present, in which Garibaldi and Keffer are stranded in a deserted planet and are followed by the Shadows. I also loved that we see Londo during his struggle with Morden. Here he manages to save Garibaldi and get away with it. It was also nice to see Talia on Mars, while she was being experimented on by the Shadows.

Issues 9-10 are a silly story starring G’Kar. There have been a lot of silly Narn stories, but I always preferred the dramatic ones, especially involving G’Kar and Londo. This story had a good misdirection, and some fun banter between G’Kar and Garibaldi. But ultimately it’s just a silly story.

The last issue is interesting, it is a commercial made by Psi-Corps to attract all possible telepaths to join them. It is obviously a propaganda video, that twists the truth about Psi-Corps, making it a good place to be. It also goes a little bit into the history of Psi-Corps, which I imagine is twisted. I honestly can’t remember much about those details, but I look forward to reading everything about it in the novels.

DC has also published a 3 issue mini called In Valen’s Name, where we see B4 back to the present, after its battle with the Shadows. This is interesting because it also tells more in detail what Sinclair/Valen did after he went back to the past. We see him teach the Minbari, but also another race, the Tak’Cha. They were followers of Valen, but they twisted his teachings and committed violent acts in his name, so they were banned. An important point is also Valen’s struggle to not reveal the future to anyone, otherwise the Shadow would win.

These comics are very interesting to me, but they obviously wouldn’t make much sense to someone who hasn’t watched the TV show. They managed to tell stories that are relevant to the overall B5 universe, but didn’t find space in the show. In particular, Sinclair is in most of these stories, which makes sense.

The art in these comics is servicable. There is always the problem of the actors’ likeness, so they cannot get any artist on. Looking at the art I really wasn’t attracted by it, but it reminded me of the actors and the show in general, so I guess it accomplished its goal.

Next I am eager to read the B5 novels, I am guessing they will be able to expand this universe even more. There are so many stories to be told, I wish JMS would continue writing B5 novels.