by Mike Favila, Reporter

Dead Space Liberation is the third comic series in the Dead Space universe.  Its the first title to come out on Titan Books, and you can tell they’re really proud of their release. While they’ve rereleased both the original Dead Space and Dead Space Salvage to catch readers up, Dead Space Liberation expands the universe confidently.  Unlike the previous releases, this new story doesn’t even include any bios to set you up or introduce the story. Even better, the reader doesn’t even really need it. You can just start right in.

The narrative revolves around Sergeant John Carter, who is stationed on the planet Uxor.  He’s on patrol when he notices an imminent attack by Unitologists against the facility housing one of the Markers.  He calls his wife to warn her, but the missile interrupts him, shattering the Shroud which protects Uxor from being affected by the Marker.  Soon, Necromorphs are everywhere again doing what they do best.  While this sounds all too familiar, all the details soon unfold in unexpected ways.  It’s hard to discuss the plot without calling too many spoiler alerts, so I’ll leave it to you to pick up the book (or cheat with the wiki) to find out.

Dead Space Liberation was surprisingly thoughtful for a horror story.  Author Ian Edginton took a few quiet moments to really connect John Carver with his wife, Damara, the true emotional driver of the story.  While Dead Space had a colder, more cynical edge to the characters, and Dead Space Salvation felt like a breakneck action movie, it seems like Dead Space Liberation was written with the intent of truly making you care about John Carver and the fight against the Unitologists.

The gallery in Dead Space Liberation is not as deep as the one in Dead Space Salvage, but it has a few interesting odds and ends. It would have been nice to have a little commentary to along with the visuals, but I guess they speak for themselves. I have to give Dead Space Liberation extra points for being in hardback. It’s nice to be able to take this cool little book of horror anywhere without worrying that it will come apart in your hands on the bus ride home.

Dead Space Liberation is the most fully fleshed out of all the comics so far, and manages to be scary and engrossing at the same time.   Edginton’s storytelling hits all the right beats and still evoke an emotional impact amidst all the chaos of the story.  Christopher Shy’s art here has improved, in that the characters seem more human and relatable, not just a sequence of beautiful pictures.  I know that this book basically functions as as a tie-in prequel to Dead Space 3, but it works nonetheless.  Dead Space Liberation  does a great job of laying the groundwork for the game that follows it, while still being a notable work on its own.

Rating:
ComicsOnline.com gives Dead Space Liberation 4 out of 5 scheming Unitologists!

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