MASS EFFECT: Foundation #1 Review - A Solid Start

Writer:  Mac Walters

Artist:  Omar Francia

Mass Effect: Foundation is the new series from Dark Horse Comics that happens to take place around the same time as the original Mass Effect trilogy (yeah buddy, that's called future-proofing) and features some ties to the final DLC pack for Mass Effect Citadel. Issue 1 takes place on a mining facility, and is sadly what you would expect from a facility of this ilk. Workers of all ages, races, and genders working in subpar conditions, and nary a twinkie in sight (which is really the most wrong part about all of this).

The story picks up with an unknown agent who is tracking down a man named Roth, and along the way decides to come to a child's rescue and  end up with a pretty useful sidekick. The pace is quite fast, but Walters manages to evoke compassion for the child, which is impressive given how much action there is in this issue. The hit itself is much less interesting than seeing who the child becomes and how they get there. Some familiar names pop up, such as the Shadow Broker and Barla Von, and just like in the games those little bits of info make you feel like you’re truly in a world much bigger than you, something Walters has shown before in his writing duties on Mass Effect 2 and 3.

As for the art, Omar Francia’s action scenes flowed extremely well, and his facial work was excellent, though I didn’t feel the colors on this issue did them justice. The mining facility setting led to the use of lots of muted browns and reds, which I get, but it made the book look rather bland.

By issue's end we get a look at one of the main characters going forward in Foundation, and overall the issue left me wanting to see where the story goes from here.

As always, Cerberus is nothing if not interesting. You can see a preview of the book over at Darkhorse.com