Mass Effect: He Who Laughs Best

by Mac Walters

Mass Effect: He Who Laughs Best is a single-issue comic released for free on Free Comic Book Day 2013. It tells the story of how Jeff "Joker" Moreau became the SSV Normandy's pilot before the events of the Mass Effect video game series.

Genres: Comics, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels, Fiction, Video Games, Comedy

10 pages, ebook

First published May 5, 2013

About the author

Mac Walters is a writer, director, and producer, known for his work on Jade Empire, the Mass Effect series, and Anthem. He's an author of games, novels and comics including the New York Time's bestselling Mass Effect: Redemption series. He was nominated for a Bafta for his writing on Mass Effect 3.

Mac is known for his intricate, deeply detailed futuristic universes populated by memorable characters who find themselves thrust into extraordinary circumstances.

Reviews

[Dennis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Part 3 of my long term cross-media project.

The story of how Joker became the Normandy's pilot.



And that’s basically it. It doesn’t add anything else to the overall storyline. Well, this is a 10 page giveaway for Free Comic Book Day. So…

The story was still a joke, though. He himself can’t believe it.



Joker’s endearing personality saves this otherwise pretty stupid comic.


The timeline for the whole series: https://www.alltimelines.com/mass-eff...

Read so far:
Mass Effect: Evolution by Mac Walters (Comic)
Mass Effect: Revelation by Drew Karpyshyn (Novel)
Mass Effect: He Who Laughs Best by Mac Walters (Comic)

Up next: Mass Effect (PS3 game)
(I'll be back ... in about three months ;))

[Pamela (Here to Read Books and Chew Gum) · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mass Effect: He Who Laughs Best is wildly unrealistic, but it was short and sweet. I actually would have liked Joker to have a novel that really delves into the prejudices he faces because of his disability, despite clearly being the best person for the job, and this short prequel comic simply wasn't enough to do that justice. By trying to shoehorn both his discrimination and his personal triumph into a few short pages it just came across as kind of offensive and cliche'd. Joker deserves better.

[47Time · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pilot Jeff Moreau, callsign Joker (not Batman's), steals the Normany before it is even put into service. He wants to prove he is the best man for the job, though his physical condition makes him an unlikely candidate. His superiors scramble to recover the ship, but fail miserably. Interestingly, it's the turian that was overseeing the operation and who dismissed Joker as being a 'cripple' that 'recommends' (as in 'almost forces') Joker's superiors to assign him as the Normandy's pilot. Huh, this only works in fiction. Even Joker is surprised.

[ur didact · Rating 1 out of 5]

probably the stupidest of all of these short/free comics of this series so far. everything else, i don't want to complain too much as i get they're either completely free or just a nice little one-off issue which still had interesting ideas beneath the surface, if naturally under explored because of the length. e.g., the corruption and insidious workings of politicians in baileys' comic, or the tensions between batarians and humans in james' comic post-arrival dlc. this one is so.. dumb. someone insults his ability because of being a ''cripple'' and he steals the ship (don't ask how, he just magically does) and flies it around in front of them, then gets the job. errr... okay, i guess...... there really is nothing else positive to write about.

[Jess ✩ · Rating 5 out of 5]

*I love the game, so I've been trying to read all the graphic novels so I can get background on the world.*

So this was about Joker and it was hilarious. I love his character so much. I was shocked to learn how he got the job as pilot of the Normandy. He hijacked it because he was mad about how they treated him (and he was rightfully mad) he decided to prove them wrong. I was surprised to see that it was a Turian who stood up for him and even insisted if they wanted the alliance to work, he has to be the Normandy's pilot.

I guess this is why Anderson seems mad with him in ME1?

[Tan Adams · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joker is one of my favourite characters and I really would have preferred if this be a longer, more fleshed out story for him.

That being said, his actions in just these few pages were oh so perfectly HIM.

Even in such a brief story, we get to see a tiny bit more of the real Jeff. It perfectly encapsulates not only his flying skill, but also his eff you attitude to authority and his willingness to put himself in danger to make his point, all while backchatting and teasing his superiors.

It was just so perfectly Joker.

[Will · Rating 2 out of 5]

ME has a rocky history with ableism already, but this comic doesn't really help that. It's a FCBD comic so can't expect too much out of it, but nothing interesting really given. Shows you how Joker got the job as a the pilot of the Normandy.

[Adrian Montanez · Rating 4 out of 5]

We finally get to see how Joker became our pilot. Let me just say it was 😎.

[Joe Davies · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining but also LUDICROUS 🤣

[King Haddock · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun, quick adventure with Joker preceding his adventures in the ME games.

[Robin M. · Rating 2 out of 5]

MASS EFFECT: Well... that seemed insulting. Someone calls him a "cripple" and then turns around and "gives" him the job after he makes a last ditch effort to prove himself? Like, cripple is a very derogatory term that disabled people are extremely against, and then to have him derided, only to have him be given the job by the same person who derided him... It's not just unrealistic, it's insulting to disabled experiences everywhere. As if they only had to prove themselves for them to get the opportunity to do what other people have to do... Like, the reality is that they'd get in trouble, the person who was ableist would only insist that "under different circumstances he'd have been destroyed" or "that's a weakness we just can't overlook" etc etc etc. This undermines a lot. I just didn't like the way it was handled. To be fair, I picked up this comic for the Killjoys comic attached to it.

Killjoys was awesome, but since that's not the comic on the title...

[Rahel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually had fun reading this! Wow! I'm starting to realize that I mostly love the comics featuring the Normandy squad that have more lighthearted tones. The art was decent, the script was in character and the scenario so outlandish that the only person in the universe who would actually make it out on top in this case could only be Joker.

[Holly (The GrimDragon) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Joker is so badass ^_^

[voidslantern · Rating 5 out of 5]

GODDAMIT I LOVE THIS GUY FAR TOO MUCH