Get Your Mass Effect Fix w/Dark Horse Comics

Bioware is teaming up with Dark Horse Comics to give you a much-needed Mass Effect fix: a four-episode comic book arc titled Mass Effect: Redemption. The arc will span the time between the end of Mass Effect and the beginning of the upcoming Mass Effect 2 and explains the disappearance of Shepard and his fight to survive.

"Fans of Mass Effect are going to be pleasantly shocked by the events in these comics," says ME lead writer Mac Walters. "We worked very closely with Dark Horse to make sure this story was built into the Mass Effect 2 arc right from the ground up. Reading the series won’t just add to your experience of the universe, it will change the way you look at Mass Effect 2… and beyond.”

Set to release January 6, 2010, the comic series was crafted by Walters and scripted by John Jackson Miller, who's worked on Marvel's Iron Man, Bongo Comics' Bart Simpson, and Dark Horse's Star Wars: Empire. Omar Francia from Dark Horse's Lazarus Jack comic will draw.

These comics join not only the Mass Effect games but a set of two Mass Effect novels already on the market.  The first novel, Mass Effect: Revelation, is a prequel to the Mass Effect game and fills in the background of Captain Anderson's history with Saren and the reasons why Anderson was rejected as the first human Spectre in the Alliance. Mass Effect: Ascension takes place after the Mass Effect game and follows a storyline about The Illusive Man, leader of the Cerberus group, and his dealings with a biotic named Gillian and the Quarians.

As you might imagine, internet experts are already stepping up to call "meh." But I found positive reactions as well. In general, comic readers seem suspect of gaming comics, but seem to have extra faith in the Mass Effect story team. One thing's certain: as a Mass Effect addict myself, I can't wait to get my hands on this comic series!

Bioware [Official Site]
Dark Horse Comics [Official Site]
GWC Mass Effect News Thread
Mass Effect: Revelation [Del Ray Books Official Site]
Mass Effect: Ascension [Del Ray Books Official Site]