Review — Transcend Death And Let The Future Take Its Course With ‘Dead Space’ Vol. 1

Welcome to the table,

In the landscape of video games, I have very few favorites. Pokémon is always going to be set apart, because catching them all is a lifestyle for me, and not just a game. However, if asked (and you would be surprised how often I am asked this) who my favorite characters in video games are, I will typically tell you, in no particular order, War from Darksiders 1, Death from Darksiders 2, and Isaac Clarke from Dead Space.

Now, why does a space handyman get put on the same level as the living personification of War and Death for your old pal Anton? Because Isaac Clarke is the most unintentionally unhinged video game protagonist I have ever had the pleasure of wandering around the horrors of space with. As an example, this man goes to a planet that is colder than space.

How that works, I have no idea. His space suit protects him just fine in space, but on colder-than-space-planet, he has to rush from burning wreckage patch to burning wreckage patch to keep warm. This guy also rushes headfirst as mutating space beasts with a nail gun and a handful of power tools because… he’s Isaac Clarke. I did not even mention when he just jumps out into space without a helmet, because “F*ck space!” he’s Isaac Clarke.

When I found out that Titan was bringing back to print Anthony Johnston‘s Dead Space comic for the first time since 2013 I knew it was time to dive back into this world I love and check out this first installment in a three volume series.

The story kicks off in a small space colony. Planetside Security Sgt. Abraham Neumann and a handful of other members of P-SEC discover one of the Black Markers, a pointed, spiraling, skyscraper-sized tower that the followers of a world religion known as Unitology venerate as an icon of great power and reverence. The marker appears in Unitology sacred texts and stories, and as such, causes a bit of a stir when they discover it on a planet they have been on for over two years that was seemingly lifeless.

Of course, as these stories go, teams are dispatched to investigate while the inhabitants of the space station start to get more and more spooled up. The murmurings escalate about this artifact from their religion is seemingly just here on this weird planet everyone thought was uninhabited. Things take a turn quickly as the Unitologists start attacking those who criticize their beliefs, causing the small pocket of civilization to start bubbling over with tension that inevitably turns to violence.

All the while, the team who had headed out to investigate starts having strange visions of ghost-like entities. This just causes the tension to build more and more until the whole population who had come to this planet is at each others throat and then, it gets worse.

Dead bodies begin to reanimate, coming in waves that rip apart the living to add to their numbers. All the while, the Church of Unitology keeps trying to wake up the market to usher in a new age that will lead to then own along with the rest of humanities extinction.

The whole horrific, twisted tale comes to a conclusion around where the first Dead Space game kicks off, and it is then we get mention of my favorite little space handyman Isaac Clark.

I really like that the writing captures the weight of the tension and strangeness that come with a small community’s collapse. This other-worldly force and the extreme belief of a small collection care more about being right than the survival of everyone. I am not as big a fan of the art. I’ve seen Ben Templesmith do some cool stuff over the years, but for some reason everything here feels a little too flat and uninspired. It’s not bad, but it lacks the energy and soul that excited me in other works he has done.

If you are a fan of the horror and weird science fiction, this for sure is a fun pick up and a great way to get into the lore of Dead Space.

Until next time, Isaac Clark goes through so much in the games and his arc is one of my favorite in all of video games. While I have not read these before, I’m hopeful the next two volumes are going to be just as rad, but only time and Titan will tell.