Hello g33ks, m33ks and well yeah this one is mostly for the m33ks. As you’ve heard us say we’re trying to grow the site and diversify the types of articles you’ll see here. Adding content daily or almost daily in order to keep you in the g33k universe engaged and coming back for more more and more. Well some of the people out there in the comic book industry, namely Dark Horse Comics, have begun to notice us and have begun sending us preview issues of new comics. We’re going to see how this works for us and you out there but its really exciting for us b/c Dark Horse produces (among their many titles) Buffy Season 9, Star Wars: The Clone Wars and the official Mass Effect comic books. Obviously, we here at g33kwatch love Mass Effect and in the future our comic book reviews will come much closer to their release but this was one I couldn’t wait to review.

MASS EFFECT: INVASION #1 (MASSIMO CARNEVALE COVER)

CREATORS

Writer: Mac Walters, John Jackson Miller

Artist: Omar Francia

Colorist: Michael Atiyeh

Cover Artist: Massimo Carnevale

This particular book comes out on 10/19/11 and we won’t discuss spoilers in this review but I will mention aspects available in the preview just to give a baseline on the plot.

Mass Effect: Invasion takes place at the beginnings of the Mass Effect 3 universe. On Omega (which we all know is not the most wretched hive of scum and villainy but its in the conversation) we learn that Aria T’loak, self appointed leader of the asteroid, has a deal with Cerberus to keep their new settlements beyond the Omega 4 relay supplied through her station. A larger than expected contingent of Cerberus vessels arrive presumably for resupply and some R&R in Aria’s After Life club.

Once docked it becomes clear almost immediately that these ships are not piloted by Cerberus agents but an as of yet unseen new species that begins to wreak havoc on the space station. Aria’s men proceed to protect Omega and find these new creatures are extremely difficult to defeat. Taking the lead in the fight Aria is determined to dispatch the aliens, question the Illusive Man for answers and activate her defenses to protect her home.

Now having been able to read more than the first 7 pages I can say this story fits very well into the ME universe we’ve come to know. Its action packed but also plants the seeds of intrigue and mistrust between the mostly alien population of Omega and the humanist militia of Cerberus. There is also the beginnings of the theme that is likely to permeate the story of ME3 and that is finding a way to unite the different parts of the universe under the common flag of survival.

This is easily a recommend for any Mass Effect fan, and I myself am looking forward to the release of issues 2-4.

To tide yourselves over you can read the first seven pages here on Dark Horse’s site:

http://www.darkhorse.com/Comics/Previews/17-568?page=0

Mr. Khon

P.S. – Here’s the New York Comic Con limited edition cover of this book. Limited to 500 and available only at the con.