Mass Effect: Foundation Volume One

Written by Mac Walters

Art by Tony Parker and Omar Francia

            There is a definite problem with all of the Mass Effect extended universe.  When it’s a series as variable as this, where the characters who are alive or dead changes so much depending on the player, there’s simply only so much that can be done.  Prequel comic after prequel comic is starting to wear down, but the promise of Foundation being an ongoing series had me intrigued—it’s a shame that it’s an ongoing of prequel comics.

            This really isn’t so much an actual ongoing as it is closer to an anthology series.  Each of the four issues in this volume focuses on a character’s backstory, the first focusing on new character, Cerberus agent Rasa, and the other three focusing on Ashley, Kaidan, and Wrex.  Considering that, at least one of those characters I last remember doing anything with way back in 2007 when the first game came out, there’s bound to be one issue in here that won’t do much for the casual Mass Effect fan.  Rasa is interesting enough on her own, but her role in her is practically useless.  All she does is have a small part in the stories of the other characters, even smaller in Kaidan’s, as that ditches any sort of framing with Rasa and just sticks her at the end.

            The stories themselves are…I don’t know.  The honest truth is that, coming into this with the idea that they would be connected as a series, I was initially confused as things went to backstory.  Trying to look back on them separately, the initial Rasa story is fairly good, and Kaidan’s story is interesting enough just for getting some extra backstory on him.  Wrex’s story just confused me, didn’t really focus on Wrex that much, and basically just acted like “Cerberus is doing stuff”.  Ashley’s story…well, she was a character I lost at some point, so I didn’t really care that much about her as a character and the extra information about the universe in general didn’t really add anything.

            Hardcore Mass Effect fans will probably enjoy getting even more backstory on their favorite characters.  Casual fans will probably just shrug at this collection.  There’s just not enough here to spark interest.