Discriminating Tastes: Mass Effect/Fear Agent
Mr. Smathers sends us a brand new series of articles mashing up our two favorite genres: comics and videogames. Enjoy!
ARTICLE BY: Mr. Smathers
Here’s the thing: You liked Mass Effect. You know you did. Admit it. At its best it was an amazing game on par with the rest of 2007′s standouts. At its worst, it was a tasty shooter with some RPG garnish. Or a delicious RPG with some shooter on the side. But what made it so good? It wasn’t the shooter, and it wasn’t the RPG elements. It was the borderline retro sci-fi feel, the entertaining dialogue, intriguing characters, relationships that are more than a crutch for the plot, and visuals and sound that truly draw you in to the experience. This game has thick layers under the surface. Let us call it “the Mass Effect Effect” – that the game is greater than the sum of its parts, no matter how good those parts may be.
Fear Agent, a periodical from Dark Horse Comics, has this Mass Effect Effect. Written by Rick Remender and drawn by Tony Moore and Jerome Opena, every single issue unfolds with thought and precision, regardless of speed. This is more than a sci-fi book. It is a relationship book. It is a war book. It is a horror book. It is a revenge book. It is suspenseful and action-packed and hilarious and touching.
And you probably aren’t reading it.
The world of Heath Huston, the last of the Fear Agents, isn’t really a world. It’s more of a ship – aliens have annihilated all life on Earth and what is left of humanity is floating through the cosmos – and the ship’s name is Annie. And Annie talks. If you must, think of her as the wise
cracking Seth Green voiced Joker from Mass Effect. Only hotter. And Funnier. And a spaceship.
Like Mass Effect, Fear Agent is steeped in shades of gray. Its hero is always either drinking or drunk and more often than not his motives range somewhere between questionable and deplorable. Difficult choices are plentiful, with repercussions that are felt almost as deeply as dying without saving. The muddied tones extend to the aliens of Fear Agent as well. They look like aliens should: brains in jars, giant sentient piles of goo, eels the size of whales swimming through the air; but they too have choices to make. No shape shifters, humanoids, or little green men bent solely on the destruction of mankind need apply.
In Fear Agent, Remender, Moore, and Opena have created a reality so detailed it makes the outlandish well, downright landish. And like Mass Effect, it is all in the details. The art, inks, and colors combined with dialogue that is both witty and believable make each and every issue a riveting and immersive piece of work. Like a play session that leaves your palms sweating and your thumbs sore Fear Agent does not disappoint.
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Tags: fear agent, mass effect
August 28th, 2008 at 3:29 pm
Tony Moor’s art is beautiful. ‘Nuff said.
August 28th, 2008 at 4:04 pm
Ive heard enough good things about Fear Agent that im disappointed in myself for not giving it a try.
of course, all those goddamn dumbass “Big Event” tie-ins get purchased, but stuff like this, I can’t seem to remember to pickup.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:59 pm
There are a couple trades available. And the book runs in miniseries like Hellboy so jumping on isn’t really a problem. The current one is called “I Against I.”