New Beginnings - Tomb Raider #1

by Matt Puddy

Crossovers between various mediums are becoming an every day thing for us. There are the obvious comic book adaptations the become multi-million dollar budget films that are well into their prime at the moment, and vice versa, comic tie-ins to big films such as the impending Godzilla HC.

There are some occasions where video games have been made into films as well (although I grimace at the thought of the big screen debut of Doom), and there have also been some successful game franchises that have been transported into comics. A recent success story has been the well known Mass Effect series, but many of us remember the hugely successful Tomb Raider comics from Top Cow a decade or so ago. Last year brought us the impressive debut of a new, reimagined young Lara Croft which was surely the start if a new series for the franchise, so it's very appropriate that the next stepping stone in her story is a return to comic books.

The Top Cow era

Lara Croft is possibly one of the best known video game characters and is quite likely the most recognisable female character too. So much so that I don’t have to describe her intellect, rugged resourcefulness or the plethora of other talents. This new version has dumped the pneumatic chest in favour of a more believable protaganist ready to reclaim her place from the Uncharted usurper Nathan Drake. As a strong, modern female character, who better to write for her than Gail Simone?

Tomb Raider: Survivors Guilt picks up a short time after the 2013 multi-platform game (now out on PS4 and X-Box One too). Having made her way off of the island, along with a few of her companions, Lara is finding that she is suffering from recurring nightmares linked to her ordeal. She has also fallen into the role of “den mother” to her group of friends, as she holds herself responsible for both what happened on the island and ensuring their safety now that they are back.

Sam, one of Lara’s companions, is also struggling but trying to deal with it herself. It’s only when Jonah calls that things go awry. Thrust into desert conditions deep in the US - territory that is almost alien to Lara - and accompanied only by a leering and sleazy guide (perhaps an avatar of the ageing mysogonisticmale gamer associated with the early Tomb Raider games), things get twisted beyond belief. Between the almost incoherent jabbering from Jonah and the freak tidal wave appearing inland, Lara is once again forced to fight to survive, losing another friend in the process. She is left with a conundrum of what is happening, with talk of missing artifacts and four imposing guardians.

The artwork is also a bit of a mystery. The cover by Dan Dos Santos is a fantastic, well-rendered picture with a smooth, detailed finish. If honest I can’t tell if it’s hand drawn or computer generated, but it looks great and also follows the continuity of the game, right down to the ice pick. Inside though is the polar opposite from Nicolas Daniel Selma. It’s full of simple, open linework making it easy to read. Even with such a basic approach in its style, all of the characters are easily recognisable and so is the island, meaning that fans of the game will immediately connect with the progression from the game and beyond.

Dark Horse is a publisher that I normally think of for teen and slightly more mature comics, but it has really felt that on this occasion the level has been played down to fit a much wider audience. Gail Simone still plays to her strengths though, with the fierceness of Croft on display once again, with much more to come. Hints at a the larger story are dropped in this first issue, meaning that the mystery is the ideal Lara Croft adventure. With the news that this is considered to be an in-canon bridge between the first new Tomb Raider game and the eagerly awaited sequel, this should be another hit title for Dark Horse across a good range of readers. Highly recommended to fans of the franchise.

Matt Puddy is intrigued by the prospect of a new Heroes miniseries.

Proud Lion's Christmas Gift Guide, part one - The Walking Dead & other scares

So here it is, Merry Christmas, everybody's having fun… until they go into the town centre to do some shopping, then it becomes a bit of a nightmare. Some of us now do it all online, which is great until some lamentable error with the courier sees your carefully chosen items failing to arrive, or turning up damaged.

Have no fear though, your friendly neighbourhood comic shop is here with a more personal touch to shopping. Pop in and we'll do whatever we can to find the perfect gift for your comic-book-reading, action-figure-covetting, fantasy-daydreaming, sci-fi swashbuckling loved ones!

Over the next few weeks, I'll be serving up a few great gift ideas from the carefully selected items we have in stock. To start off with - and to celebrate the mid-season finale airing this week - we have various Walking Dead merchandise, along with other horror genre gift ideas.

THE WALKING DEAD MONOPOLY BOARD GAME - £35

It's the classic family board game, themed to fit Robert Kirkman's zombie apocalypse with some amazing playing pieces including Michonne's katana, Rick's hat and Dale's RV. Currency has been replaced with supplies. Houses are walls and hotels are guard towers. Chance cards become Scavenge cards, and the Community Chest cards are Supply Chest cards. Income Tax has been replaced with Herd, the Luxury Tax has been replaced with Protection. A fun spin on an old favourite!

THE WALKING DEAD THE BEST DEFENSE BOARD GAME- £33

(with free limited edition promo cards while stocks last!)

In this survival board game, players must cooperate in order to defend their locations from Walkers and other, more-human horrors. Playing as key characters from The Walking Dead, one acts as the leader, making decisions in order to maintain supplies and protect resources - but those decisions can be ignored, at a price, particularly if they prove to be detrimental to your character's ulterior motive. The ultimate goal is to survive; how you manage that is up to you. Featuring superior production values to Cryptozoic's previous Walking Dead games, this looks like the zombie apocalypse's answer to the fabulous Battlestar Galactica co-op board game.

THE WALKING DEAD TV SERIES

MERLE & DARYL DIXON ACTION FIGURES 2 PACK - £35

Everyone's favourite zombie-killing rednecks are back, in tiny posable plastic form! Featuring Daryl's trademark crossbow and capturing his older brother's inimitable bad attitude, McFarlane Toys bring you the ultimate family reunion for Christmas Day! Daryl sold out in record time when he was released on his own a while back and now goes for silly money on eBay, so this a great and affordable way to own your very own Norman Reedus.  

THE LAST OF US AMERICAN DREAMS TP - £13

Any fans of the hit Playstation 3 game should definitely get their hands on this. American Dreams, co-written by the game's creative director Neil Druckmann, is a charming, if bleak, insight into Ellie's past, introducing new characters as well as drawing in a few familiar faces. The story gives a taste of her military school days and her initial encounter with the Fireflies and their leader Marlene. Of particular interest to players will be Ellie's first meeting with her friend Riley and their first adventure sneaking out of the school looking for freedom, beginning a pattern of thrill-seeking that presumably leads to the horrific encounter Ellie describes in a couple of memorable scenes in the game. All of this graphic novel takes place before the forthcoming DLC (with the players assuming the role of Ellie and accompanied by Riley) currently expected to be released during the holiday season. This is the perfect accompaniment to the Naughty Dog triumph.

MARVEL ZOMBIES ULTIMATE COLLECTION VOL 01 TP - £26

Ah, Marvel Zombies! A few years ago, this was one of those eureka comics book moments, where an idea emerges that is so captivating it makes you wonder why it hadn't been done before. First introduced in Mark Millar's run on Ultimate Fantastic Four, the initial reveal of the undead versions of classic Marvel characters was a jaw-dropping piece of misdirection. The subsequent Marvel Zombies miniseries capitalised on the concept, with The Walking Dead's Robert Kirkman at the helm, ensuring a certain shambling authenticity to the whole undertaking. Sadly, later volumes went off the rails a bit, but this newly released Ultimate Collection contains the initial offerings and none of the later nonsense making this a must-have volume for anyone who has yet to experience the magnificent Marvel Zombies. Highly recommended!

ALIENS GENOCIDE 7" ACTION FIGURES 2 PACK - £37

In the years between the excellent Aliens film and the appalling Prometheus train wreck, Dark Horse Comics published a series of wonderful Aliens comics including the wonderful Genocide miniseries. This four issue comic story, featured a human expedition funded by a billionaire with dubious motives travelling to a xenomorph world to capture a live Queen, only come face-to-face with a planet torn apart by two warring tribes of berserk xenomorphs - one breed of black aliens and the others a vibrant red. A truly memorable Aliens story that is now celebrated in these two excellent NECA action figures.

Watch this space with more wonderful Christmas gift ideas!

Big Game Hunting - Mass Effect

Earlier this month, something epic came to an end. Inevitably, it was met with derision and anger from fans who felt cheated, as if they had somehow come to own this intellectual property. Certainly, having poured hours of gameplay into the franchise, I can see the source of such strong feeling, though the arrogance that drives it is staggering.

When one plays an RPG with friends, one is participating in collaborative storytelling. You can make specific decisions about your character. You can petition your GM between sessions, you can ally yourselves with other characters and you can get instant feedback from said peers. When you choose to play a computer RPG, most of the time you are playing a finished and encapsulated product. Despite the myriad of choices, ultimately the story has been written by others. And not necessarily for you.

The first Mass Effect was released in 2007 on X-Box and in 2008 for Windows. As a Mac user and PS3 gamer, this first entry in a new science fiction RPG franchise passed me by. In 2007, I was busily devouring Bethesda's The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion - one of the first games to truly enthral me on my PS3, Oblivion was epic to the point of being initially somewhat overwhelming. I overlooked its flaws and embraced the world and options it presented; often staying up till 4am playing through quests, dungeons and Oblivion Gates.

A few years later, I heard great things about Bioware's Dragon Age: Origins and gave it a go. I quickly grew to despise it. I dislike squad/party management systems. I've frequently been in a managerial role at work, so when I play a game I want to play as a sole protagonist with capable comrades as required, rather than continuing to direct belligerent ingrates. Furthermore, Dragon Age: Origins presented an array of mostly unsympathetic characters in overblown, longwinded cutscenes. I rarely fail to see a game through to completion, but I gave up on Dragon Age after a few quests. I found what I was craving in Fallout 3 and Fallout New Vegas in subsequent years, then news came that Mass Effect 2 was being ported to the PS3.

Due to licensing issues, the first Mass Effect would not be available to Sony gamers, but a motion comic DLC was released - allowing players a chance to pick up on the backstory and make the key decisions ready to import into ME2. The opening of Mass Effect 2 itself is a blur of an attack on the original Normandy that destroyed it and Shepard. It was compelling start as I took on the role of a reborn Shepard, surrounded by people she couldn't trust and with little attachment to her past. This was my additional motivation for my version of the character. As I hadn't played ME1, I would be cold and aloof to those who had known me before. The dialogue options didn't allow me to portray an amnesiac, but the Paragon/Renegade choices allowed me to keep the past of ME1 at arm's length, whilst also giving Jacob and Miranda a hard time for being Cerberus (based on what I had learnt about this pro-human organisation). It felt like real roleplaying, rather than just clicking buttons and pulling on triggers.

Furthermore whilst the Mass Effect games do feature squad management options, the AI is good enough to allow you to be more of a Commando Shepard than a Commander Shepard during combat, as your team can usually hold their own provided you fight well too. A far cry from the suicidal liabilities that seemed to follow me round during my short time playing Dragon Age.

Over time - and loyalty side missions - I slowly let the character thaw, especially as new non-human crew members joined the Normandy SR-2. Shepard became friendlier and developed a renewed sense of camaraderie, especially once Garrus Vakarian entered the fray. Brandon Keener's voice acting convinced me that Garrus was a stalwart comrade-in-arms despite my PS3 limitation of not having played the first Mass Effect.

I forged a team, I made choices, I fought battles and I lost a few people in the final mission. In short, I was sucked in. Bioware had done something quite magical, but even then I remained a Bethesda boy at heart. I was rabidly excited about Skyrim and was delighted when my copy arrived a day early. I didn't get worked up about Mass Effect 3. I knew I'd play it eventually, but somehow because Bethesda games give you so much freedom, I forgot how evocative Mass Effect 2 had been.

Somewhere in all the recent kerfuffle surrounding Game and EA, I found myself in a position to order a Collector's Edition Of Mass Effect 3 and I decided I may as well. I'm so glad that I did. Mass Effect 3 built on what had gone before, creating a relentless gaming experience filled with heartbreak, desperation and driven endeavours. I lost another character to a noble sacrifice and it felt satisfying. Then I lost two friends in a senseless mess and I was genuinely upset. When another comrade-in-arms seemingly went down fighting I was distraught, and truly elated when it was revealed to be a fake out. It's rare when a game can really tap into one's emotions on that level.

The much derided ending wasn't as satisfying as I'd have liked, but after around seventy hours of game play, I doubt anything would feel quite right. I'll refrain from talking about the details for those who haven't played it yet, but I certainly don't hate it. I made the right choice for my Shepard and I shall be intrigued to see how it plays out in future DLC or sequels. I suspect we might see a new beginning akin to that of the second Deus Ex game (I know - horrid game compared to the first, but I still enjoyed the story of Invisible War) whereby enough time past to render the decisions somewhat moot, though if you wanted to look for aspects of "your" choice then you would find it. We'll see.

Mass Effect 3 made me eat humble pie. Bioware are incredible storytellers and my investment in the narrative trumps anything Bethesda have served up. I was pleasantly reminded of my beloved Babylon 5 as ME3 unfolded. An ancient, dark force with terrible technology returns to destroy the current dominant races, all in the name of improving the galaxy for the younger races. A central space station serves as a rallying point for the different peoples of that time, despite itself being intrinsically connected to the mystery. And humanity transforms from young, naive upstarts involved in conflicts born of misunderstanding and arrogance, into the unifying force that brings the allied forces together to strike back at their oppressors. Sacrifice is a key part of both stories too.

So, while others may scream at the injustice of palette swaps and DLC retcons, I'm just grateful that Bioware gave me another science fiction epic to enjoy.

It really was great gameplay too.

Ben Fardon is itching to start an Eclipse Phase RPG campaign.