Name Forthcoming: Dead Space: The Comics

I used to be a big fan of the Dead Space games and so it is with a very particular kind of loathing that I look at EA these days as it is 'the worst gaming company in america' for a reason. After all they were the ones who cannibalized Visceral Games, the company that made besides Dead Space also another one of my other favourite horror games; Dante's Inferno. Electronic Arts is the Beast Planet of video game companies, swallowing them whole and chewing them down for a profit. And then they even have the temerity to say that they think they don't deserve the title. Absolute scum.

Anyway.
There are three Dead Space Comics;

The original one, the one I took pictures and scans of, which chronicles the events before the beginning of the first game in 6 issues, and which also has the Extraction one-shot lumped in the back of the volume, and which follows around the wife of the games' protagonist in the time before the outbreak began and she sent her husband the fateful video log that opens the first game. Both stories were written by Anthony Johnston and have art by Ben Templesmith whose style I absolutely love the shit out of. Dead Space untitled is far and away the best of the 3 Dead Space comics and the only one that is actually worth both your and my time.

The second one is Dead Space Salvage, and follows a group of scavengers called the Magpies as they stumble on the USG Ishimura which is drifting in space following the events of Dead Space 1.

Anthony Johnston is on writing duty once again, but art this time is by Christopher Shy, and in my opinion it's a tumble down some stairs in quality after Templesmith's really quite glorious art. But the stories aren't exactly connected and so it doesn't matter much. By the Way, as an aside, Dead Space Salvage is collected in a single volume, but there's multiple editions out and some of those are presented as Salvage volume 2, so don't be taken in like I was and buy the same damn thing twice.

Third and Last is Dead Space Liberaton which takes place before the events of Dead Space 3 and which focuses on telling the story of John Carver, the optional co-op partner players could play as in the ill-fated last game.

Ian Edginton on writing this time and it is horrible, which I was a little surprised by as I've read a lot of by him and he usually isn't this bad. And though Christopher Shy is back again, his work here is more streamlined than in the previous volume, but still is terribly uninspired, ugly-looking and at times impossible to understand.
I kind of despise this type of photo-realistic art in general as frequently it's too vague to make out what's going on and the whole thing just can't help coming off as cheap and rushed, even though there's a lot of work that's gone into it. It's quite honestly an art style I wish would go away, period , so I'm not going to talk about either salvage and Liberation and just stick to The first comic, which is actually really damn good and worth a purchase; provided you get a copy that doesn't fall apart in your hands, that is: Titan comics sometimes stints a bit on the quality of their trade paperbacks.

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The comic opens up with extended character profiles that serve to flesh out our protagonists, and generally immerse the reader in the universe of Dead Space.

Yes, made a horrible scan here, but meh.

It might seem cheap, rushed or indicative of bad writing, but I actually really appreciated it. It does give you more of a handle on the characters we're about to meet, if you're willing to take the time. And you should, because this story deserves patience and attention, especially as it's been some years since the games, and the profiles manage to sketch some of the greater in-universe events and lore in pretty quick strokes; the reader is reminded of the Church of Unitology, the various populated planets, various incidents of rebellion and the fact that this universe is one that has some pretty cool technology. Then we proceed and arrive at this hilarious bit of Templesmith genius:

This'll be where this story ends, we are given a teaser of the ending in order to hook us into the story, which is probably necessary for a lot of the audience because a lot of the next 4 issues is build up, people talking and interacting with each other, which would be boring if one has the attention of a fish, but it is rather interesting for those of us who appreciate build-up and good character writing.

Did I mention that I think this comic's really really good?

Then, the hook sunk in, we double back to the beginning, to a point in time that kicks off the whole mess of violence and insanity:

The finding of the Marker.

The same one that is prophesied in the religion of Dead Space's Church of Unitology.

I'm vague on the whole lore aspect to the markers at this point, but it's good enough to know that this thing means a whole lot of trouble.

In the weeks before the finding of the Marker the entire mining colony has become plagued by nightmares and the normally quite rare incidents of violence have substantially increased.

And when the revelation that this holy object has been found becomes known to the numerous Unitologist members of the crew, tempers quickly begin to fray.

Up until this point the members of the church of Unitology had always been met with derision, scorn or outright persecution, and when they realize that the people in charge are hiding something so integral to their belief, something that has the possibility to validate their religion, unrest breaks out.

But besides the civil unrest, there are other problems too; strange things are growing in the colony's tunnels, the dreams worsen, and members of the crew begin to see dead family members who warn of impending doom.

It swiftly becomes apparent that command had good reason to hide the Marker's existence from the crew, that the Marker itself is dangerous to human life, but with the cat already out of the bag, and the obelisk already working on the minds of the entire crew things take their inevitable course and people begin to die.

Everything escalates pretty damn quickly actually.

There's a few awesome moments in here, some of the big events hitting quite hard, but the most shocking thing is how quickly our characters start to bite the dust when push comes to shove.

Also, it's a bit surprising, but the Necromorphs show up quite late here, and they're not the comic's focus so much as are the Unitologists, and how they react and the decisions they make.

But then when finally do show up the true carnage begins. and it happens crazy fast.

The game made it clear that these things were fast and terrifyingly dangerous, and that untrained and unarmed personnel simply didn't stand a chance, and so there's really only one way this thing can go.

And we always knew that this is how it would go, since the colony isn't really a factor when Dead Space 1 begins, but at the very least Johnston and Templesmith deliver their story well enough, and have made their characters interesting and likable enough, that it never becomes disappointing or trite. It's an awesome comic, well worth a read.

And to tease you further into this universe, take a quick look at the trailer that originally drew me in way back when. It's pretty much perfect, and still on of my all-time favourite trailers.