dark-horse-comics posts

We previously reported that Dark Horse Comics would be doing more comic books based on BioWare's hit sci-fi RPG Mass Effect titles and its universe. Today IGN reports that a second four issue mini-series, Mass Effect Evolution, will begin in January 2011. The series will be written by Mac Walters and John Jackson Miller and drawn by Omar Francia who were also the creative team behind the last Dark Horse mini-series Mass Effect Redemption.

The storyline this time will actually take a look back at the early days of the Mass Effect universe. The central core of the mini-serie will focus more about the history of the mysterious Illusive Man, one of the main characters in the Mass Effect storylines. Walters states that the comic will "look into his past and see how he became the Illusive Man and, maybe moreso, where Cerebus came from and how it started."

Even though LucasArts has yet to confirm a PC port for Star Wars The Force Unleashed II, we are going to assume that it will happen someday, if history is any indication. Now Dark Horse Comics has announced plans to do a graphic novel adaptation of the action game sequel.

The 88 page trade paperback collection is currently scheduled for an early October release, a few weeks before the game itself is set to ship to stores on October 26. Haden Blackman, who wrote both the original game and its graphic novel adaptation, will be doing the same thing for the sequel. Artist Omar Francia, who just finished drawing Mass Effect: Redemption for Dark Horse, is handling the art chores for this new project.

Bethesda Softworks had a very nice Collector's Edition of Fallout 3 when it came out in 2008. Today the publisher announced plans to release a Collector's Edition version of its follow-up Fallout: New Vegas. Due out at the same time as the regular edition this fall, this deluxe edition will set you back $69.99 for the PC version.

In addition to the game itself, developed by Obsidian Entertainment, the Collector's Edition will contain quite a few extra including seven poker chips "designed to represent chips from the major casinos found on the New Vegas strip and throughout the Mojave Wasteland" and a version of the game's Lucky 38 platinum chip. There will also be a full card deck that will "depict characters and factions found within the game." In addition to real card games like poker, you can use the card deck to play Caravan, a new card game that was created for Fallout New Vegas.

There will also be a behind-the-scenes DVD in the Collector's Edition and a hardcover comic, All Roads, that will be made in collaboration with Dark Horse Comics. The comic will serve as a prequel to the game and will be written by Obisidian's Chris Avellone.

It took a bit longer than we though but this week the official web site for Star Wars: The Old Republic has launched the first online "issue" for Blood of the Empire, the second comic book series based on the upcoming BioWare MMO. As with the first online comic, Threat of Peace, this series is produced by Dark Horse Comics.

The comic centers on a Sith apprentice named Teneb Kel who is being sent on a secret mission by his masters. We suspect that things won't go as planned for him. As we reported before Dark Horse will launch a monthly printed comic based on Star Wars The Old Republic. It begins in July reprinting the first online comic storyline Threat of Peace.

Last November we reported that Dark Horse Comics was going to collect all of the online "issues" of the web comic Star Wars The Old Republic: Threat of Peace into one trade paperback for release in late April. Well, it looks like those plans have changed somewhat. Dark Horse has now removed their previous listing for a trade paperback collection of the web comic (based of course on the upcoming Bioware MMO game).

However, Dark Horse has just announced plans for a monthly Star Wars: The OId Republic comic book to begin in July. The first storyline is titled Threat of Peace so we assume that the monthly comic will begin by reprinting the online web series. In the meantime we are still waiting for the start of Blood of the Empire, the second web comic storyline that was announced a month ago.

However the end of Mass Effect Redemption is not the end of BioWare's sci-fi RPG in the comics world. Comic Book Resources attended a Dark Horse Comics panel at the Emerald City Comic-Con this weekend in Seattle where it was revealed that a regular ongoing Mass Effect comic is in the works. The mini-series's writers, Mac Walters and John Jackson Miller, will continue as the writers of the ongoing comic but there's no word on when that series will begin.

The Threat of Peace is at an end. That is, the web comic Star Wars The Old Republic: Threat of Peace has concluded on the upcoming MMO's official web site. However it looks like developer BioWare is teaming up once again with Dark Horse Comics to produce their second web comic series based on the game's timeline.

Their second web comic is titled Blood of the Empire and will be written by BioWare's own Senior Writer Alexander Freed. No artist has been named yet but you can check out a preview page from the comic on the site right now. The series will begin "soon" It's likely that Dark Horse will collect Blood of the Empire into a trade collection after it completes its web series run.

There's been near universal praise for BioWare's latest game Mass Effect 2 as well as high sales. The same is happening with Mass Effect Redemption, the Dark Horse-published comic book series that serves as a prequel to the events in the sci-fi RPG sequel. Now comes word that the first two issues of the comic have sold out.

Comic Book Resources reports that the first issue, released in January, sold out three weeks after its release. The second issue, released earlier this month, dissapeared from comic book shops even quicker as it sold out six days after its release. Comic Book Resources chats with the comic books's writer John Jackson Miller and artist Omar Francia about the comic and also offers up a five page preview of the third issue due out in March.

There's no doubt that Electronic Arts is going to sell a lot of copies of Mass Effect 2. The sci-fi RPG sequel from developer BioWare is getting excellent reviews all around and this week the publisher said that the game has "sold-in" over two million copies worldwide already. Before you go nuts, that term doesn't mean "sold to customers" but rather "shipped to stores". It's still impressive but not quite what you might think it is.

In related news, Dark Horse Comics has announced that their first issue of their Mass Effect Redemption comic book series will be released on the iPhone on February 3. Even cooler is that the iPhone version will be free for a brief period of time before going up to its normal 99 cent price.

It's looking like PC gamers, at least in the US, will be denied the chance to purchase a special edition of the upcoming PC version of Aliens Vs Predator. A post on the Sega web site confirms that while the "Hunter Edition" of the upcoming first person shooter is coming to consoles there's no mention of it showing up for the PC.

That's a shame because the US version of the Hunter Edition will actually have an extra item that won't be in the European version that we reported on previously. That extra item is an AVP comic book from Dark Horse Comics. Oh well. At least the PC version will support DirectX11 graphics.