The eve of the fall of Eden Prime!
What They Say:
The loss of the human colony Eden Prime was the first in a series of catastrophes to mark the return of the Reapers—a race of sentient AI that would threaten all life in the galaxy. Now, in her own words, Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams reveals what she saw.
Creators:
Writer: Mac Walters
Artist: Tony Parker
Colorist: Michael Atiyeh
Cover Artist: Benjamin Carre
The Review:
The fall of Eden Prime marked our introduction to the mystery, intrigue, and world of the Mass Effect series. In the first game of the franchise, after creating the Commander Shepherd that will go on to conquer the Reapers and restore peace to the galaxy, your first mission takes you to Eden Prime, a backwater human colony where something bad as happened, and from there launch the events that have become so iconic to fans over the years. This issue of Foundation takes us back before that time, as Ashley Williams, one of the series primary characters and potential love interets, tells the story of the events that led to the desolation of Eden Prime and the hijacking of the Prothean beacon at the hands of the rogue Specture Saren.
The story itself, as Ashely is describing it to a psychologist whom we as the readers know to be another member of Cerberus working for the Illusive Man, is relatively straightforward and without many twists. Ashely and he group are sent as a scouting party to secure the beacon and to await it’s pickup by the Alliance, and things go terribly wrong as the Geth, under the control of Saren, attack the colony and steal the artifact. All pretty easy to follow, nothing too surprising.
What make the story fascinating to read, and keeps you turning the pages, is the details, the little lines here and there that tell us so much about Ashley and what her life was before Commander Shepherd and the Normandy. If you’ve played the games, then parts of her backstory come back up again – one specific event that was rather gripping to read and see on the printed page was her commanding officer’s disdain for her, as he appoints a less qualified solider to lead the scouting party, referencing Ashely’s past. It’s later revealed (and fans may remember this) that her grandfather surrender at a pivotal battle at Shanxi, and that it is believed that she will do the same – surrender in the face of an enemy instead of fighting till the end. We also get to meet some of her fabled scouting party that are all dead when she makes her appearance in the first game, and there is a very strong sense of commodore between them all.
Then, all hell breaks loose and Donkey, the solider originally appointed to lead the group, puts Ashley in charge where she belongs, and they rush headlong into the face of battle. From there, her squad is wiped out and she managed to survive against all odds, the story cutting back to the Citadel where she wraps up by telling us the arrival of Commander Shepherd and Kaiden Alenko saved her life.
Getting to see what life was like prior to her introduction of the series gives a much beloved character more story and depth, but also does something very important for the Foundation itself, and it gives us a point of reference for the series. Up until now, even though names like The Illusive Man and Urdnot Wrex were names we recognized and were excited to see again, we only had a vague notion that this story was taking place at the very best before the events of Mass Effect 2. Now, we know that the first few issues have taken place all prior to Mass Effect 1, which builds a significant amount of excitement as there is a lot of time and space for the story to go to and evolve.
In Summary:
After three issues we’re now solidly into the story of Foundation – we’ve been introduced to many familiar names and places within the Mass Effect world, we’ve built up a lot of the time when the book takes place, and the mystery at hand is beginning to grow – we know that Cerberus was involved and looking into the events of Eden Prime, Saren, and the crew of Commander Shepherd’s ship the Normandy before we ever met the Illusive Man face to face. Rasa, a character that is new to Foundation, also seems like she will play a large part, though she is absent from this issue of the series. While it still remains unclear where the story will go and who we will see next, it is exciting to return to the world of Mass Effect in full and to see what was happening before and during the events of the games from different angles. With the writers of the first and second game at the helm, there’s no telling what they’ll do in the remaining 10 issues, but it will be something that every fan of the series will want to make sure and pick up each week it comes out.
Grade: B+
