Glass can leave you the sharpest edge.
I’ve been a fan of Mirror’s Edge since I first laid eyes on DICE Software’s innovative first person action game. The illusion of bounding around the tops of buildings and making impossible leaps across dizzying chasms was beautifully brought to life; the action was tight and exciting, and I don’t even know if I could tell you anything about the story of the game. There was a former wrestler who was now a crime boss? I know he hit real damn hard, but his motivations…place in the plot…who can say? When I had reviewed the first few issues of this mini-series, I found a lot more interest in who the players were, but I still had that glazed feeling about some of them, then I got busy with my wife and son and it fell off for me. I didn’t even read the last three issues on my own, so when I saw the chance to review the whole thing, I wanted to take a crack at it and see if there was something to get excited about. I had just gotten my code for the Beta of the oft-delayed (Last weekend, they announce the Beta and another two week delay.) upcoming Catalyst, and I wanted to dive back in. Let me tell you, the first half of this trade is good, the second half is amazing. Yes, the action is there throughout, but the story becomes something I had not seen coming. Christofer Emgard saved the best for the latter half of his series, and it’s worth every moment of waiting.
The premise of the world of Glass had been pretty standard fare: Evil corporate/government conglomeration keeps dissenting citizenry down while a fringe group breaks the law as a matter of living free. The first game never really expanded this for us, and other than Faith’s sister being a cop, there wasn’t much going on in a potentially politically charged environment. There was never an exploration of that relationship on either side of the law. Faith’s sister seemed to be a handy way to funnel info and boons to the player. But in this not-really-a-prequel-maybe-a-side-quel? Faith’s family was taken from her completely, giving any touchstone back to them great import, which plays heavily into our story here and it seems will factor into the game narrative, as well. Faith starts out the bratty loner, but Emgard lobs a moral quandary into the mix that completely shatters the idea that this story could be anyone, anywhere. She is forced to find herself in the mess of the choices she’s impulsively made, and the result is something really cool to see. There’s a lot going on, and it certainly borders on the edge of too much of one aspect or the other, but much like Faith herself, it never goes over the edge.
There are several artists that contribute to the pages here, but all of them adhere to the style and tone of the game. I didn’t really see any huge differences between one set and another which is good for a licensed property. It’s weird to focus on seeing Faith, since I’m so used to seeing only her arms or reflection, but the modeling of her feels right in every way. The way she moves and interacts with the world is captured in great detail, and knowing that she had been fully rendered in the first game it makes sense that they likely had a good source for character study. I may be the only one who feels nostalgic for the cutout art style of the first game’s cut scenes (I still think people only hated it because it was so close to the eSurance ads that were out at the time.), and I find myself laying them over the images I see in these pages. What sticks with me is the composition of the panels; every one tells a story before you get to test, and with the kinds of backgrounds available in this story, it makes for some very effective and inspired layouts.
Fans of the game will find a lot to love in this collected edition, and knowing where the game begins, this sets us up perfectly with a good hook and many questions to already engage us before we get, ahem, running. Celeste is given more of a sympathetic role, and I hope it’s not a setup just to pull the same stunt as last time. If you’ve wondered what all the cult fuss was about the first title, jumping in with this story may grab you enough to give either title a try. It’s a fun, fresh take on a trope or two that manages to rise above them all. The best part: Faith is not a Mary Sue, and her foibles and lack of superhuman-ness are what make her, as a protagonist, so endearing. Nothing she does is superhuman (except stamina, of course), and her limitations are not only interesting but provide for thinking through situations much differently than the typical game heroine. That aspect is shiningly on display here and makes for a great read.
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