Babylon 5 #2, page 20

Cover dated February 1995.

“The Babylon Project was our last, best hope for peace.” Those words (or a variation thereof) were spoken during the opening credits of the first three seasons of my personal all-time favorite TV show, “Babylon 5.”

In 1994, DC Comics started publishing a comic book series based on the show, which made some sense since both were ultimately properties of Time Warner. I missed the first issue of the comic book series since my local store only ordered one copy, and my back-up stores at the time didn’t order any. So, this second issue was the first one that I bought. The series lasted for only 11 issues, perhaps in part because of the lack of faith that retailers had in it (although in fairness to the retailers, 1995 wasn’t the best year to own a comic book store). I was just happy to get any additional “Babylon 5” material that I could, as the show was insanely important to me. Since it was a syndicated show, new episodes premiered at a very odd time in New York – Saturday afternoons at 2:00 PM on WOR Channel 9. Family and friends knew that to disturb me during that time would not be good for anyone, even though I was taping the show. I don’t think I’ve been as passionate about a TV show before or since, and while the comic book didn’t rise to the level of the show, I wish it had continued longer (there was an additional miniseries a few years later).

This page, which features Lt. Commander Susan Ivanova, has art by Michael Netzer (a/k/a Michael Nasser) and Rob Leigh, neither of whom remained with the series past issue 4.