Set Description:
It was the dawn of the third age of mankind. Ten years after the Earth–Minbari war. The Babylon project was dream giving form. It's goal to prevent another war by creating a place where humans and aliens could work out their differences peacefully. It's a port of call. Home away from home for diplomas, hustlers, entrepreneurs, and wanders. Humans and aliens wrapped in two million five hundred thousand tons of spinning metal, all alone in the night. It can be a dangerous place, but it's our last best hope for peace. This is the story of last of the Babylon stations. The year is 2258. The name of the place is Babylon 5.
Bablyon 5, the television series, was a groundbreaking science fiction space opera. When it originally aired, the idea of a "novel for television", where each episode advanced an ongoing plotline, was considered a revolutionary gamble. Now, years later, that's become the norm for genre shows. Additionally, series creator J. Michael Straczynski allowed novels, comics, and short stories to canonically expand the universe beyond what was seen on the screen. The comic book part of that plan, one of Straczynski's earliest forays into the world of comics, was this DC-published title. Between seasons two and three of the television series, Straczynski wrote the first issue himself and then created rough outlines for other writers to expand into a sequence of four-issue story cycles. All told, 24 issues were planned.
That ... didn't happen. The title suffered from a range of issues, including paper quality, shifting art styles, creative differences between Straczynski and the other writers, and so forth. In all, 11 issues were released, all in 1995. Scripts had already been prepared for another four-issue arc (which would have been #12-15) and an outline existed for the four-issue arc following that. However, DC's editor refused to approve the script for issue #12 as written; Straczynski refused to accept the edits. DC management declared the issue at an impasse. Normally, outside writers do not have creative control over scripting, but in this case, Straczynski was both writer and rights-holder. Ultimately, he opted to cancel the series rather than compromise on the story. Babylon 5 returned to comics in 1998 for the three-issue miniseries In Valen's Name; to avoid the problems of the original title, Straczynski scripted all three issues personally and published them in serialized form in the UK edition of the Babylon 5 Magazine. He then licensed reprint rights to DC, ensuring that he retained editorial control.
All 14 DC comics were released to both the comic shop direct market and to traditional "newsstand" retailers (who, by 1991, were mostly bookstores). Although CGC has refined its policy regarding newsstand editions, currently the best approach is still to have them displayed in separate sets. This set -- The Zocalo Collection, named for Babylon 5's on-station marketplace -- contains direct-market books. My newsstand copies can be found in its companion set, The IGN Collection, named for the primary in-universe media outlet.
Almost a decade after the last Babylon 5 book was published by DC, another comic was created for the franchise. Released alongside the spinoff anthology film The Lost Tales, this 8-page mini-comic is a farewell story for G'Kar and Dr. Franklin, whose respective actors had already passed away. A few copies (most of which are signed by Straczynski) were handed out at an SDCC panel announcing the film, and the comic was distributed in limited quantities as a pack-in inside limited-edition DVD cases at Best Buy. Because of this, it is markedly more scarce than the any of the other issues.
In September 2021, Straczynski announced plans to reboot the series on The CW. Plans for the reboot have apparently been delayed by the Warner Bros.–Discovery merger, but with any luck, Babylon 5 will return to the small screen... and perhaps to comic book pages as well. |
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| The gallery tab shows only items with images. Click the thumbnails to enlarge. |
| Slot: |
Babylon 5 1 |
| Item: |
Babylon 5 1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
0334892025
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Owner Comments
This issue, titled "In Darkness Find Me", is set between the TV episodes "Chrysalis" and "Points of Departure". This story was intended to show events referenced in the TV show from different perspectives. One important event revisited here was the Battle of the Line; some of Sinclair's last words during the battle were changed by DC's editors for this issue ("If I'm going out, I'm taking you bastards with me!" was softened to "you demons"). JMS was "considerably less than thrilled about it."
The behind-the-scenes feature is a 1-page article about Foundation Imaging's CGI work on the Starfury.
I purchased this one already slabbed largely for my own convenience and to get the ball rolling.
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| Slot: |
Babylon 5 2 |
| Item: |
Babylon 5 2 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4008282009
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Owner Comments
This issue, titled "Treason", is set between the TV episodes "Revelations" and "The Geometry of Shadows".
The behind-the-scenes feature is a 2-page article about the show's alien makeup, as created by Optic Nerve.
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| Slot: |
Babylon 5 3 |
| Item: |
Babylon 5 3 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3717436004
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Owner Comments
"In Harm's Way" continues from the previous issue, still taking place between "Revelations" and "The Geometry of Shadows".
In the 2-page behind-the-scenes feature, production designer John Iacovelli discusses set work, art director Roland Rosenkranz talks about the interior design of Narn ships, and propmaster Mark-Louis Walters describes the design process for various hand-held weapons.
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| Slot: |
Babylon 5 4 |
| Item: |
Babylon 5 4 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4008282012
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Owner Comments
"The Price of Peace" concludes the three-issue arc started in #2.
Ann Bruice, the show's costume designer, has a behind-the-scenes feature to discuss costuming. This was the last of the behind-the-scenes features.
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| Slot: |
Babylon 5 5 |
| Item: |
Babylon 5 5 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2138810001
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Owner Comments
"Shadows Past and Present" was the first issue of the next story arc, set prior to TV's "The Coming of Shadows". There is a marked improvement in the physical quality of the comic with this issue. JMS convinced DC to upgrade the title to it's Fracote Format, using a higher-quality coated paper stock, although this came with a corresponding hike in the cover price.
This book was acquired raw as part of a full-run of generally higher grade copies.
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| Slot: |
Babylon 5 6 |
| Item: |
Babylon 5 6 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3717436006
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Owner Comments
"Against the Odds" takes place immediately following the events of issue #5. JMS has commented that part of his motivation for this story was to further explore the relationship between Sinclair and Garibaldi.
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| Slot: |
Babylon 5 7 |
| Item: |
Babylon 5 7 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3717436007
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Owner Comments
"Survival the Hard Way" is the third part of the arc begun in issue #5. John Ridgway's cover art here has a subtle error; based on their hair styles, it depicts a young Sinclair, but present-day Garibaldi. No one really seemed to care, though.
For some reason, this issue seems more difficult than most of the run to find in exceptionally high grades, despite lacking the terrible paper quality of #2-#4 nor the striking black covers on books like #1 and #9. Sometimes issues are just finicky like that.
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| Slot: |
Babylon 5 8 |
| Item: |
Babylon 5 8 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
4008282019
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Owner Comments
"Silent Enemies" concludes the four-part arc. The last page of the comic reveals that Talia Winters survived the explosion that was believed to have killed her, serving as something of a spoiler for the episode "Divided Loyalties". JMS had believed the comic would release shortly after that episode aired. Things didn't quite work out that way; this issue went on sale in July, but "Divided Loyalties" wasn't actually broadcast in the US until October.
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| Slot: |
Babylon 5 9 |
| Item: |
Babylon 5 9 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3717436009
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Owner Comments
"Duet for Human and Narn in C Sharp" is the first half a two-part story set between the TV episodes "The Geometry of Shadows" and "A Distant Star". David Gerrold had originally outlined this story as a proposed episode, but JMS rejected it for that format. DC opted to pick it up for the comic series, and JMS allowed it to be produced relatively hands-off. What resulted is frequently inconsistent with previous B5 material; this story is not generally considered canonical.
A different CGI cover was originally intended for this issue, but was evidently rejected. To the best of my knowledge, it has never come to light. Cover aside, JMS also "wasn't terribly pleased" with Rebecca Guay's art style for the series; she worked only on this and the following issue.
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| Slot: |
Babylon 5 10 |
| Item: |
Babylon 5 10 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
2138810002
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Owner Comments
"Coda for Human and Narn in B Flat" concludes the story arc from the previous issue.
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| Slot: |
Babylon 5 11 |
| Item: |
Babylon 5 11 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3717436010
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Owner Comments
"The Psi Corps and You" is a strange issue. Essentially set during season two, before "Confessions and Lamentations" (because there's a Markab trader still alive), it doesn't tell a traditional story. Rather, it's basically a comic book format advertisement for (and by) Psi-Corps. JMS has said that readers should treat this as an in-universe propaganda publication.
Personally, this is my favorite issue of the series. Its fundamental conceit -- that what you're reading is an in-universe document rather than story taking place in the setting -- is a novel approach to the medium.
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| Slot: |
Babylon 5: In Valen's Name 1 |
| Item: |
Babylon 5: In Valen's Name 1 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3717436011
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Owner Comments
The three-part In Valen's Name miniseries takes place after the season 4 episode "Into the Fire". The story was originally published in the UK Babylon 5 Magazine. This issue was serialized between #3 and #4.
Dynamic Forces also offered a "Dynamic Forces Signed Edition" (of 1750 copies) of this book. So far as I am aware, that's just a normal copy of this book signed by JMS and packaged in a Dynamic Forces sleeve. Accordingly, neither CGC nor I consider it to be a distinct variant.
The In Valen's Name books are bit less common than the ongoing series... but I'm still a little embarrassed about this book and its grade. I should've found a better copy.
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| Slot: |
Babylon 5: In Valen's Name 2 |
| Item: |
Babylon 5: In Valen's Name 2 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3717436012
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Owner Comments
The story here originally appeared in #5 and #6 of the UK-published Babylon 5 Magazine.
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| Slot: |
Babylon 5: In Valen's Name 3 |
| Item: |
Babylon 5: In Valen's Name 3 Modern |
| Grade: |
CGC |
| Cert #: |
3717436013
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Owner Comments
The concluding part of this story first appeared in issues #7 and #8 of the Babylon 5 Magazine in the UK.
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