mass-effect-redemption 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."

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.

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.

Last summer Dark Horse Comics announced plans to release Mass Effect: Redemption, a four-issue comic based on BioWare's sci-fi RPG series. Now the Comic Book Resources web site has secured the first six pages of the first issue for everyone to check out.

Co-written by BioWare's own Mac Walters, the first issue of the monthly four issue mini-series ships to stores in January 2010 As we reported on earlier this month, BioWare's other big RPG game, Dragon Age: Origins, will also be getting a comic book series in January via IDW Publishing. The regular monthly comic is scheduled to be written by Orson Scott Card.

Gallery: Mass Effect 2 Screenshots