Review: Mass Effect Invasion #2 by Dark Horse
So Mac Walters and John Miller offer up the second issue of the new Mass Effect: Invasion arc that follows Aria T’Loak from Omega and her encounter with Cerberus and the Reapers. Personally as a fan of the Mass Effect IP I’m interested in seeing how these story lines will incorporate, if at all, into the ME3 game dropping next year.
Judging by this issue of ME: Invasion, I really hope they incorporate some of the story events into the game due to the major developments that happen in issue #2. While we have a strict “no spoiler” policy for preview reviews, let’s just suffice it to say that I didn’t see it coming. But enough general vagueness, let’s get to the nitty gritty.
The art for the series is decent. I’m a stickler for good art, and what I’ve been seeing in most comics being offered is only decent at best. Things are clear and stick to the aesthetic established in the Mass Effect games. That being said I feel the coloring is a bit abrasive and could use some fleshing out. Of course I blame much of the artistic condition of the comic industry on the publishers for pushing the output rate of comics so high. But then business is business too, so it is what it is.
The story development and dialogue in this issue was far better than issue #1. I honestly thought that as much as I like ME, I was going to bail off this series based on the first issue. For a magnificently developed and complex world like ME, it pained me to read the bare bones dialogue and weak attempt at story establishment that happened in the first issue. Issue #2 however, has bailed the series out. If #3 is as good, or as I would expect, better, then we’re good to go on the series.
Thankfully by mid way through this issue I found myself excited finally about the story and interested in what was going to be happening. So if you are a fan of the Mass Effect universe like myself, give it a chance. While up until now it didn’t feel like anything dramatically appealing, if what happens here in issue #2 is any indication of where the game is going to be headed in 2012, then you owe it to your self to at least get a heads up by reading the comics. We’ll see next month about if the series will keep my attention when issue #3 drops. Until then, if you want a little more of the ME world and Mac Walters, go check out our NYCC interview with him on our YouTube channel. Peace.
