Rage: After the Impact

by Arvid Nelson, Andrea Mutti (Artist), Pierluigi Baldassini (Artist)

In the tradition of Dark Horse''s acclaimed Mass Effect comics comes this essential introduction to Rage, the hotly anticipated game from id Software! Earth has been devastated by an asteroid, with a tiny fraction of the population surviving under the rule of a military dictatorship. But when a scientist studying those mutated by the disaster discovers that the story the new leaders are telling isn''t true, she has no choice but to fight back.

Genres: Comics, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels

80 pages, Paperback

First published November 22, 2011

About the author

Arvid has worked on everything from film to video games, but he’s best known for his original comics title, Rex Mundi, published by Dark Horse Comics. The Band of the Crow has occupied his creative memory banks ever since Rex Mundi ended.

Reviews

[Mirnes Alispahić · Rating 1 out of 5]

Prequel to the iD's Software video game. Skip it and buy the video game instead.

[Михаил · Rating 2 out of 5]

Как приквел оно и не плохо, на самом деле. Не зная, что происходит в игре, можно получить базовые знания о том, как возник сеттинг, а также о том, что есть плохие ребята, и, внезапно, хорошие. Подводки к основной игре особо и нет, насчет развития дальнейших сюжетных линий не уверен, но что-то сомневаюсь.

[Michael Benavidez · Rating 1 out of 5]

This may be the biggest disappointment as far as graphic novels go.
The art is okay, the story is a complete waste of time. if the novel took cardboard characters and took them a slightly bit more into actual characters. here they are merely two dimensional pieces. it moves from one panel to the next, one event to another without much context. they are such plain and boring characters, you don't feel anything for them. Or for who the Authority is, who they tell nothing about. the villians aren't just shown they're villians by clichés, and we're meant to take the word for it. The escape was so uninteresting, and just thrown as a way to get the characters out.
It is the first book in a long while that I've actually felt, wasn't worth the money.

[Cretin Workshop · Rating 3 out of 5]

Arvid Nelson's Rage: After the Impact is a comic book that no one should really have any expectations for. Based on Tim Willits' video game Rage, developed by id Software, known for Doom and Quake, After the Impact doesn't have much source material to draw from. Matthew J. Costello's script for the game was paper-thin, so it's not a shock that After the Impact is much the same. Serving as a prequel surrounding two supporting characters from the game, it at least gives you some additional context for their role in Rage's world setting and narrative. I'm unsure of how much better Nelson could have done, given the uninspired material, but he is a solid-enough writer that he makes the moment-to-moment reading enjoyable enough. It's backed by some pretty solid artwork from Andrea Mutti, with detailed backgrounds and dynamically posed characters. From the imposing Authority armor to the rotting mutants, Mutti handles it fairly well despite the game's somewhat unoriginal art direction. It is hard to recommend After the Impact to the average reader, but if you enjoyed Rage, it fills in some blanks that id Software neglected to.

[Aparajitabasu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not really into games but just love reading graphic novels of the post-apocalyptic kind. Presenting Rage: After The Impact - Andrea Mutti, Arvid Nelson, Pierluigi Baldassini, Michael Atiyeh.

Here is the summary of the book:

In the tradition of Dark Horse''s acclaimed Mass Effect comics comes this essential introduction to Rage, the hotly anticipated game from id Software! Earth has been devastated by an asteroid, with a tiny fraction of the population surviving under the rule of a military dictatorship. But when a scientist studying those mutated by the disaster discovers that the story the new leaders are telling isn''t true, she has no choice but to fight back.

So this graphic novel is in fact an introduction for id's post-apocalyptic game RAGE. The story follows Dr. Elizabeth Cadence as she finds out that after millions of years after the meteor Apophis (if i'm not wrong but wasn't Apophis the giant serpent from the Egyptian Myths?) crashed with Earth destroying millions and millions of life on Earth. Dr. Cadence wakes up alone in her cryo-ark - no husband - no son. What had happened to them while she slept?

But something is amiss, the world which Cadence wakes up to has a bad case of dystopia and of a post apocalyptic scenario. The military or "the Authority" as we see here is clearly controlling the events. A Colonel Jesse Casey has been forcing the good doctor since he found her to work on controlling monsters who've mutated from a substance called feltrite brought by the asteroid that almost destroyed the Earth. Can Cadence realize what is going around here and find a way to escape.....that remains to be seen.

The Authors have done an amazing job on this graphic novel and as I have mentioned I am not a great fan of games (as in once in a while is fine by me) but post-apocalyptic scenarios have their own flavors and so every block through these pages show....there is a clear sense of the feel of haunted all through it particularly the dark shadows which accentuates it.

"Rage: After the Impact is a definite hit in my books"

[Hannah Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe Rage is a basic introduction to id's new game, RAGE. This story follows the brief beginning of Dr. Elizabeth Cadence's life after her time in a cryo ark. The world had seen a devastating meteor, Apophis, and takes preemptive measures to ensure the survival of humanity (the cryo arks).

After the meteor hits, and enough years have passed to make the Earth habitable again, the remaining humans (about 5 million died from the meteor) come out of the cryogenic arks. Dr. Cadence is saved from brutal attackers and is taken to a building under the authority of The Authority -- the new government. She finds something amiss with the research going on in the lab and is determined to find the cause behind her family's death and the strange mutations going on with some of the remaining humans.

Nelson and Mutti really brought to life the characters of Kvasir, who is what may be called an associate doctor, and Cadence. I really enjoyed the way they interacted, and I'm interested in finding out what Kvasir ends up doing with his time. Cadence is also an intriguing character -- her gung-ho attitude is probably going to lead her into trouble, but at least it will be exciting trouble.

I was reminded of the movie Serenity after I found out what was really going on. That is one of my favorite bases for a story -- putting human greed and ignorance out in the open. I truly hope Dr. Cadence succeeds in saving humanity from the dominance of The Authority. This story was a fantastic snippet out of what I can imagine is going to be a great story line for a video game. I am excited to read the full novel, Rage, and to play the game when it comes out.

[Iain Hawkes · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a three-part comic series that serves as a prequel to Rage. Y'know, that Id Software game that no-one cared about, all the more so now since Id's revived Doom. But be that as it may, I read it and it's...fine.

If you don't know the backstory of Rage, look it up, because I can't be bothered to spell it out. Basically, scientist wakes up from cryo decades after Apophis hit Earth, is recruited by military people, who are evil people who do evil things, cue scientist lady who has to escape from the Vault, sorry, underground base, and fight mutants who've been made mutants by the FEV, sorry, um...ferrocite? Nanotrites? Crap, I can't even remember.

Yeah, there's a lot of Fallout-esque stuff here, ranging from the sociopathic military faction, to the Vault-esque location, to the prevalance of mutants in the Wasteland. Granted, it's not like Fallout has a monopoly on these things, and I don't even particuarly care about Fallout, but this kind of feels like a 'dumber' version of it. But, overall, it's pulp fiction that more or less works, so there's that, I guess.

[Ravwrin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Rage caught my attention. A doomed human race because of an asteroid, the military trying to control those that have survived with creatures they created. After waking from cryo sleep Elizabeth finds that her husband and son have died before she woke. Colonel Jesse Casey has been forcing Elizabeth since he found her after waking to work on controlling monsters who've mutated from a substance called feltrite brought by the asteroid that almost destroyed the Earth. Elizabeth finds out the truth and escapes with an old coworker only to set off to find out what she can do to stop Colonel Casey.

So not a good summary but I'm quite ok with this read. I expected the blood, the guts and most of the gore from this series. An interesting take on what happens when the military takes over. But for me it's just a new twist on an old story. Something for those who love graphic novels based off of the video games. Like Doom and what not. I'll stick to my fantasy and fiction novels.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

The comic book provided me with what the novel failed to deliver. Instead of trying to recreate the events of the video game it tells its own story (happening before the said game), which adds some depth to Rage's world. The only flaw is the fact that the story is rather short. Apart from that, it certainly is worth a look.

I recommend it to anyone who played and liked the video game.

[Kai Van · Rating 2 out of 5]

Definitely preferred the game. It's a nice enough little back story, but overall I wasn't very impressed with the art or how the story played out. Highly recommend just borrowing it if you want to read it.