Dishonored: Peeress and the Price #1 (Titan Books)
What what? Another video game comic? We seem to be doing a lot of these. Is Dan Watters writing this one, too? No? Who is… it’s Michael Moreci? The dude from Hoax Hunters and Roche Limit? I love it when comics give me reason to talk about other comics that I keep meaning to talk about – the other two are titles that were recommended to me by Big Pete a while back and they’re all sorts of great.
They also tie nicely into the world of Dishonored.
Hoax Hunters is a tale about a group of highly trained professionals hunting down and covering up legit supernatural events and making them look like hoaxes. Remember that guy in Hellboy who has to explain away whenever Hellboy slips up and someone catches him on camera? It’s a team of that guy, only they’re likable and doing a thing that is necessary because humans are nervous violent animals who cannot handle anything they’re not expecting. It’s awesome stuff and you should be reading it.
Roche Limit is one of the best high-concept science fiction comics that needs to be a high-concept science fiction series done by someone with an appreciation for story and character. It’s about a space station where humanity is just managing to hang on and the weirdness that happens out there, far away from anything humankind might know. The first volume is subtitled Clandestiny and it’d be worth your time to track down and read to give you an idea of what Michael Moreci brings to the table.
Because what he brings to the table is amazing.
Dishonored is a video game story about a royal bodyguard who failed and was dishonored and had to put the rightful heir back on the throne, uncovering murky conspiracy and unlocking arcane power. A tale of vengeance turned to one about justice and was all the better for it, and the sequel saw the rightful princess become a queen and then have it all stolen from her, forcing her to reclaim what was hers.
Conspiracies and crimes and cover-ups and arcane lore, all lurking about in the halls of power. Fates decided, destinies murdered, and complex characters forced into situations they never expected. There’s drama here. Madness. Chaos. A threat to the crown and the kingdom and the world, secrets to be uncovered and justice to be found.
Emily and Corvo, royalty and bodyguard, return to Dunwall after the events of the second game. There, they run into a dangerous rival in the form of Archibald Dufrane, a man only mildly less dangerous than the serial killer that is haunting the city… and whose presence is made all the more deadly when the arcane might that keeps Emily secure starts to crumble.
It’s good times, is what we’re saying. High political drama with danger, magic, and enough shades of gray to fill a shadowed kingdom. Michael Moreci is the perfect writer for this.
He’s joined by Andrea Olimpieri and Mattia Iacono handling the carved lines and woven colors that bring his tale to life. The former you might know from the Evil Within or Dark Souls, another couple of video game adaptations that are worth your time to track down. The latter has been right there with him on the Evil Within and Dark Souls, so you’re going to be looking at the work of a team that know and bring out the best in one another.
For those of you that don’t know the game, this will make a hell of an introduction. For the rest of us, what can we do other than make our way to our comic stores of choice and grab what we need? Because – trust me – you need this. Like oxygen.