A tough choice (that’s not really a tough choice).
Creative Staff:
Story: Christofer Emgard
Art: Mattias Haggstrom, Robert Sammelin
What They Say:
Things are reaching the boiling point as Faith Connors discovers potential new allies but receives a dire ultimatum. Her entire future is at stake—which path will she choose? Witness the pivotal moments in her life leading up to one of the most anticipated video games of 2016, Mirror’s Edge™ Catalyst!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Ah, the problems of youth. Mirror’s Edge Exordium hasn’t been top shelf entertainment but I’ve certainly enjoyed elements of it. The fun of the visuals at times continues to work and we get some of that here, such as when Faith and Celeste get into some of the deeper parts of the city and we get the shift from the clean, bright, high rise towers and then head down to the underbelly of the city. It’s an expected shift but it reminded me of just how important those clean looks are above, especially coming after the fun of a background race going on while the foreground shows just how competitive corporate life is.
This installment is mostly about Faith having to make a tough choice, one that’s made harder by what she learns. The arrival of Celeste the last time around was pretty fun even if forced because it worked to help elevate both of them in their skill set. The two are the quick friends type and seeing them work through the run at the start here, with Faith being “forced” into trusting her, works well to show off both of them. It’s the time down below that reinforces it though as she discovers Celeste’s sister that’s got a rough disease and the realization that the group here is looking to get out of the city as they can see just how bad off things are going to be for those offgrid in the next few years. It’s a solid bit of setting things up for the bigger picture while not being so blunt that you cringe about it.
The problem comes in the forced choice that has to be made here for Faith. Realizing that what she’s after is in Celeste’s hands and that there is a code that runners live by that they don’t steal from each other, she’s in that struggle mode about what to do. She desperately wants her mother’s picture back, but the cost of it is not just her friendship with Celeste but also the loss of any future work with the cabals as you don’t cross them like that. I completely get why she wants the drawing and the power Dogen has over her, but this is the forced tough choice of youth instead of pragmatism and realism about what’s at stake. It’s really not a choice at all when you get down to it, but you know it’s going to be drawn out into a more complicated world than it needs to be.
In Summary:
Mirror’s Edge Exordium doesn’t do too much here overall beyond set up the conflict for the final two installments that are likely to play out in a fairly predictable way – unfortunately. There are some really nice sequences to be had here, some less than subtle social/economic commentary, and some plainly obvious paths being laid out. It’s done in a decent package overall as the artwork is solid if somewhat forgettable, though what draws me in are the backgrounds and the detail there. With just two more issues to go, I’m curious to see if any twists come into play with it or not, but it feels like the book has fallen down a fairly pedestrian path.
Grade: C
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Dark Horse Comics
Release Date: December 9th, 2015
MSRP: $3.99
