Review by Ian Keogh

With Liberation Ian Edginton replaces Antony Johnston as writer of Dead Space graphic novels, and as Johnston was involved in writing the game they’re based on, it was presumably his choice.

Remaining from Salvage, though, is artist Christopher Shy. Many fans love his murky digital abstractions with shopped-in people laid on top, and as illustrations there’s a lot to commend the conveyed mood and tone. At his absolute best, as with spacecraft, Shy can be fantastic. As comics storytelling, though, he leaves a lot to be desired. Everything is about the image, not the story. Even with that being the case, Shy implants the same image multiple times. When all other characters are in dark protective spacesuits, Emily wanders around in a red swimsuit, making it extremely obvious that the same image of her is used three times over two pages. It’s far from the only example.

While Edginton comes with a decent track record on licensed properties, this is a slim story largely prioritising tension, introducing John Carver to the comics in a role set between the second and third Dead Space games. Explaining the terror of man vs unknowable savage threat isn’t necessary, but there’s an entire absence of background context, so readers unfamiliar with the game will never find out what a Marker means, nor know of the ongoing religious schism affecting humanity. What Edginton does, though, is supply information about the immediacy of Carver’s situation, and the value of data that falls into his possession.

There’s a clever emotional undertone, and Edginton’s plot avoids the predictable game-related scenario of the cast being picked off one by one in a terrifying environment. Overall, though, your response to Liberation is going to be determined by how appealing you find Shy’s art.