Gears of War (comics)

Last updated
Gears of War
Gears of War comic cover 400x600.jpg
Cover for the first volume
Publication information
Publisher Wildstorm
ScheduleBi-Monthly
Genre
Publication dateDecember 2008 – August 2012
No. of issues24
Creative team
Written by Joshua Ortega
Artist(s)Hollow
Liam Sharp
Penciller(s) The Quickening
Simon Bisley
Inker(s) The Quickening
Henry Flint
Letterer(s) Wes Abbott
Colorist(s) Jonny Rench
Editor(s) Ben Abernathy
Kristy Quinn
Collected editions
Hardcover ISBN   1-4012-2520-9

Gears of War is a series of comic books set in the Gears of War universe. The story takes place between Gears of War and Gears of War 2 .

Contents

Publication history

Epic Games and DC Comics announced on April 17, 2008, that a comic book based on Gears of War will be published. The comic is published under DC's Wildstorm imprint and is written by Joshua Ortega, [1] with art by Liam Sharp. [2] [3] [4] The first storyline "Hollow" ran from Gears of War #1-6 and was followed by "The Quickening" with pencils by Simon Bisley and inks by Henry Flint. Sharp, Flint, Joel Gomez and Trevor Hairsine provided the art for the single issue "Harper's Story" in issue #8, before Sharp returned for the multi-issue storyline "Barren" starting in Gears of War #9.

In addition to the main comic series there is The Gears of War: Sourcebook issue, which holds a collection of images from artists from the comic book industry. The issue also contains a story from Joshua Ortega titled "One Day", which focuses on the inner struggle of Dominic Santiago.

Plot

"Hollow"

In this comic books series, Marcus Fenix is training a new recruit, Jayson "Jace" Stratton. Delta Squad, composed of Marcus, Dom, Jace and Gil, is searching the Badlands for lost squads. They find another Gear, Corporal Michael Barrick of Echo Six. The rest of the members in the squad had been KIA. They set up camp and Dom and Marcus tell war stories to the other squad members. In the morning they encounter some locust drones. Gil gets seriously wounded just before two boomers arrive. While the rest of the squad takes out the enemy, Gil dies in Jace's arms. Jace recalls his own brother dying in his arms, but unlike then, Jace cannot shed a tear. The squad returns to Jacinto for a week's break. Dom and Anya meet, and Dom tells her that he appreciates the fact that she looked for his wife Maria. Anya then proceeds to meet Marcus Fenix in a bar. Two tough guys try to pick up Anya in a rough manner but Marcus hurts them to get them off. Once they find out who Marcus is, they lay off for good. The week is up and Dom, Marcus and Jace head out to find out that Michael Barrick is now in their squad.

"The Quickening"

During the invasion of his home Island, Tai Kaliso fought Indie soldiers in the jungle. After witnessing his village being cleansed by the UIR, Tai recognizes he has nothing to live for and ran into a member of the 26th Royal Tyran infantry. That same Gear, Marcus Fenix, invited Tai to fight for the COG, since he wanted him to be on the winning side. Years later Tai, along with the 26th, was fighting in Aspho Fields. Tai easily killed an Indie and mortally wounded another, giving comfort to the dying soldier but using his body as a Meat Shield after his death. Many years later, after the Lightmass Offensive, Tai explains to Jace that life is sacred. Later, during the Assault on Landown, Rig D77 is destroyed by Tickers but Tai was able to survive. He then joined up with Delta-One. Hours later Tai and Dizzy engaged Skorge in a melee combat. Realizing Skorge could not be beaten, he ordered Dizzy to escape. Tai was captured by the Locust, and "processed". After hours of torture, Tai's soul was ready to leave his body, and when Delta rescued him Tai took his own life. [5]

"Harper's Story"

In the comic, Jonathan Harper tells his own story. His story begins as his squad cheers on as the train carrying the Lightmass Bomb took off. Later he tells how he and his squad witnessed the bombing and thought it was beautiful. When he states the Locust weren't completely wiped out, he stated a new threat emerged, Rust Lung. He said several soldiers were tested for a new disease, Michael Barrick called it Rust Lung. Vivian Merriweather told Jon he didn't have Rust Lung, but he was unable to handle fighting which Jon took offense of. He was later given medicine. He was sent down into the hollows for Operation Hollow Storm. He was later captured and got very ill. He escaped the prison he was captured in, the same one as Maria's, and rescued a family evacuating out of Jacinto by taking some bullets where he perished near the sinkhole. [6]

"Barren"

Following a distress signal from the overrun city of Jilane, Delta Squad is dispatched to investigate with the help of a unique "scout" named Alex. The team, with the help of Sigma Squad, will explore one of the darker elements of the Gears universe, and to tell this unique and harrowing tale, series writer Joshua Ortega will be joined by Epic Games president Mike Capps.

"Midnight"

This issue shines a spotlight on Jace Stratton, who's joining the squad in the recently announced Gears of War 3 game! New series artist Leonardo Manco (HELLBLAZER) provides the hard-hitting, gritty visuals for this story focusing on a younger Jace, fresh out of basic training, who is thrust into an operation that proves anything but routine… [7]

Reception

Weekly Comic Book Review thought that "[t]he art, dialogue, and story all do a wonderful job of using the atmosphere and characters to great effect" although they wonder about the depth and how the comic would work for someone not familiar with the game. [8] On issue #2 they felt that the "artwork effectively brings the violence and war-torn environments to the page" and the dialogue is "standard tough-guy, action movie stereotype type stuff, but it is what I expected and (in some ways) hoped for," concluding that "the book delivers the Gears of War experience pretty well " [9] Comics Bulletin also wonders about the audience the series is aiming for as it will appeal to fans of the game who are also readers of comics, but they feel that it is not accessible enough for general readers. [10]

Benjamin Birdie reviewed the second issue for Comic Book Resources, having not picked up the first issue because he had concluded, from a quick flick through, that the art was a "sloppily inked, chunky disaster." However, once he read the second issue, he had to change his mind, saying "Liam Sharp’s work, when you sit down and read it, works absolutely perfectly in the context of the book" and concludes that " it’s a strange artist who, from a slight distance can look so unappealing, but when you allow yourself to step into the world they’ve created turns out to be incredibly talented." He suggests Ortega does a "fairly decent job" with the dialogue but the story delivered what is required, "Gears, and Ortega in this comic, does best is creating gripping set pieces of conflict and violence." [11]

Collected editions

The series is being collected into separate volumes:

Notes

Related Research Articles

<i>Planetary</i> (comics)

Planetary is an American comic book series created by writer Warren Ellis and artist John Cassaday, and published by the Wildstorm imprint of DC Comics. After an initial preview issue in September 1998, the series ran for 27 issues from April 1999 to October 2009.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andy Lanning</span> English comic book writer and inker

Andy Lanning is an English comic book writer and inker, known for his work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, and for his collaboration with Dan Abnett.

<i>Gears of War</i> (video game) 2006 video game

Gears of War is a 2006 third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It is the first installment of the Gears of War series, and was initially released as an exclusive title for the Xbox 360 in November 2006. A Microsoft Windows version, developed in conjunction with People Can Fly, was released in November 2007. The game's main story, which can be played in single or co-operative play, focuses on a squad of troops who assist in completing a desperate, last-ditch attempt to end a war against a genocidal subterranean enemy, the Locust, and save the remaining human inhabitants of their planet Sera. The game's multiplayer mode allows up to eight players to control characters from one of the two factions in a variety of online game modes. Gameplay features players using cover and strategic fire in order to win battles.

<i>Ocean</i> (comics)

Ocean is a 2004 six-issue comic book miniseries, written by Warren Ellis with pencils by Chris Sprouse and inks by Karl Story. It was published by American company DC Comics under the Wildstorm imprint.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joshua Ortega</span> American author and journalist (born 1974)

Joshua Ortega is an American author and journalist best known for his novel Frequencies, as well as his comic book and graphic novel work on entertainment properties such as Star Wars, Spider-Man, Batman, Star Trek, The Escapist, and The Necromancer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liam Sharp</span> British comic book artist

Liam Roger Sharp is a British comic book artist, writer, publisher, and co-founder/CCO of Madefire Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coup d'etat (comics)</span>

"Coup d'Etat" was a 2004 comic book crossover storyline published by Wildstorm Comics.

Lee Garbett is a British comic book artist born in the West Midlands. He has worked on British comics. As of February 2011, he is working freelance after a period of exclusivity with DC Comics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marcus Fenix</span> Fictional character and primary protagonist from the first three games in the Gears of War series

Marcus Michael Fenix is a fictional character and the primary protagonist from the first three games in the Gears of War video game series. He first appeared in the first game of the series, released in 2006.

<i>Gears of War 2</i> 2008 video game

Gears of War 2 is a third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox 360. It is the second installment of the Gears of War series, with lead design by Cliff Bleszinski. The game was released in North America, Europe and Australia on November 7, 2008, and was released in Japan on July 30, 2009. The game expands technically on the previous game by using a modified Unreal Engine 3. The development team brought in comic book writer Joshua Ortega to help write the plot for the game.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christos Gage</span> American screenwriter

Christos N. Gage is an American screenwriter and comic book writer. He is known for his work on the TV series Daredevil, Hawaii Five-0, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Numbers and the films The Breed and Teenage Caveman. In the comics industry, he has done considerable work on the titles Angel & Faith, Avengers Academy, The Amazing Spider-Man and The Superior Spider-Man, Spider-Geddon and has written tie-in books for the "Civil War" and "World War Hulk" storylines.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Damon Baird</span> Fictional character in the Gears of War video game series

Damon S. Baird is a fictional character in the Gears of War franchise. He first appeared in the first and eponymous video game of the series as a supporting character. He has since appeared in every mainline installment of the Gears franchise, and is featured as the main protagonist of the spin-off title, Gears of War: Judgment. He is voiced by Fred Tatasciore in all video game appearances.

<i>ThunderCats</i> (comics) Superhero comic book series

The ThunderCats a superhero comic book series was based on the original television series of the same name. It was originally published by Marvel Comics through its Star Comics imprint in 1985, lasting for 3 years and 24 issues. During this time, a new series was published by Marvel UK consisting of 129 issues and was also published for three years. Beginning in 2002 Thundercats titles were published by Wildstorm Productions, and including 5 mini-series and several one-shots.

Neil Googe is a British comics artist.

The Winter Men is an American comic book limited series published by Wildstorm Productions in 2005. The series was written by Brett Lewis, with art by John Paul Leon.

<i>World of Warcraft</i> (comics)

World of Warcraft is a comic book series set in the Warcraft universe and released monthly in a standard American comic format.

<i>Gears of War 3</i> 2011 video game

Gears of War 3 is a third-person shooter video game developed by Epic Games and published by Microsoft Studios for the Xbox 360. It is the third installment of the Gears of War series, and final game in the original trilogy. Originally due for release on April 8, 2011, the game was delayed and eventually released on September 20, 2011. The story was written by science fiction author Karen Traviss.

<i>Gears of War</i> Third-person shooter video game series

Gears of War is a media franchise centered on a series of video games created by Epic Games, developed and managed by The Coalition, and owned and published by Xbox Game Studios. The franchise is best known for its third-person shooter video games, which has been supplemented by spin-off video game titles, a DC comic book series, seven novels, a board game adaptation and various merchandise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">JD Fenix</span> Fictional character in Gears of War franchise

James Dominic Fenix, better known as JD Fenix or J.D. Fenix, is a fictional character in the Gears of War franchise. The son of recurring series protagonist Marcus Fenix, he first appears as the protagonist of the 2016 game, Gears of War 4, and also appears in Gears 5. Prior to the events of Gears of War 4, he originally held the rank of lieutenant in service of the supranational and intergovernmental military collective known as the Coalition of Ordered Governments ("COG"), and later defected to a loosely organized faction of rebel human settlers who live outside of the COG's walled settlements in the world of Sera. By the events of Gears 5, he has rejoined the COG to fight a new threat to humanity. The character is voiced by Australian actor Liam McIntyre. Outside of the video game series, JD has appeared in the novels Gears of War: Ascendance and Gears of War: Bloodlines.

References

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.