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EVE: True Stories
From EVE Online - one of the greatest massively multiplayer online role-playing games of all time - comes an astounding epic of interstellar espionage! In the early hours of February 5, 2009, one spy single-handedly destroyed the aggressive Band of Brothers alliance and brought an end to the Great War, the largest war in the history of EVE Online. Inspired by actual player-driven events within the universe of EVE Online, superstar writer Daniel Way tells the stranger-than-fiction tale of the most popular true story of the last decade!
80 pages, Hardcover
First published June 17, 2014
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 23, 2014
Another Comic Book.
For the uninformed: EVE Online is science fiction Massive Multiplayer Online Games that takes place in the far future, in a region of the Milky Way called New Eden. In this future starships are manned by immortal pilots called capsuleers, whose memories are transferred to new bodies upon death. The story is driven by the conflicts between the factions created by capsuleers.
What separates EVE Online from other MMO’s is that the events in the game: The factions, the battles, even the economy is almost entirely player driven. If a player wants that ship, they don’t just buy it from an NPC vendor. They either mine or buy the raw materials themselves and then build it themselves using their own money or another player had to do that and they buy it from them.
The Story: The events of the story are player driven. In 2009, there were two factions of players which made war on each other constantly, the Band of Brothers and Goonswarm. Then, an act of espionage brought down one side and ended one of the greatest wars in the history of EVE. This was not created by developers. It was created by the players. As the cover says: True Stories.
The Good: EVE Online is a rich and diverse universe, chock full of story potential, so it is very great to see any kind of media being released about it. Books and stories about EVE are lacking compared to other games like World of Warcraft.
Like many graphic novels, the artwork is done by several artists. The artwork is very well done, though to be honest, it might have been better if they had focused more on ships rather than people because it is really the starship battles that get people hooked on EVE, at least from Bookworm’s perspective. The artwork has a dark and crowded feel which is characteristic of EVE.
The story is full of action and also plenty of interpersonal interaction, all of which contributes to the epic feel of EVE Online.
The Flaws: The biggest flaw in this book is the plot format. There is a trend in comic books lately, that makes it seem like writers are allergic to the traditional format of beginning, middle and end. The story is told through a variety of flashbacks by the characters during one of the main battles of the war. The flashback trend may have been avant-garde back when it was new but nowadays it makes the story very confusing and really doesn’t add to the narrative. It works slightly better in written works, as the author has to make it clear what is happening, but in comics, which are told through visual communication with the reader, it makes it very difficult to figure out what is occurring. They need to go back to the old story where the sequence of events is told in sequence. Also, the story itself is very short. Some readers may feel like they are being ripped off.
The story itself is not bad, but it can go over the heads of those who are not familiar with the EVE Online Universe.
Finally, while no doubt intended to attract readers, the sexy Femme Fatale on the cover does not appear inside of the book, which is very disappointing.
Final Verdict.
A good idea on the part of CCP Games but they have got to do a better job on the next one.
Two out Five Stars.
For the uninformed: EVE Online is science fiction Massive Multiplayer Online Games that takes place in the far future, in a region of the Milky Way called New Eden. In this future starships are manned by immortal pilots called capsuleers, whose memories are transferred to new bodies upon death. The story is driven by the conflicts between the factions created by capsuleers.
What separates EVE Online from other MMO’s is that the events in the game: The factions, the battles, even the economy is almost entirely player driven. If a player wants that ship, they don’t just buy it from an NPC vendor. They either mine or buy the raw materials themselves and then build it themselves using their own money or another player had to do that and they buy it from them.
The Story: The events of the story are player driven. In 2009, there were two factions of players which made war on each other constantly, the Band of Brothers and Goonswarm. Then, an act of espionage brought down one side and ended one of the greatest wars in the history of EVE. This was not created by developers. It was created by the players. As the cover says: True Stories.
The Good: EVE Online is a rich and diverse universe, chock full of story potential, so it is very great to see any kind of media being released about it. Books and stories about EVE are lacking compared to other games like World of Warcraft.
Like many graphic novels, the artwork is done by several artists. The artwork is very well done, though to be honest, it might have been better if they had focused more on ships rather than people because it is really the starship battles that get people hooked on EVE, at least from Bookworm’s perspective. The artwork has a dark and crowded feel which is characteristic of EVE.
The story is full of action and also plenty of interpersonal interaction, all of which contributes to the epic feel of EVE Online.
The Flaws: The biggest flaw in this book is the plot format. There is a trend in comic books lately, that makes it seem like writers are allergic to the traditional format of beginning, middle and end. The story is told through a variety of flashbacks by the characters during one of the main battles of the war. The flashback trend may have been avant-garde back when it was new but nowadays it makes the story very confusing and really doesn’t add to the narrative. It works slightly better in written works, as the author has to make it clear what is happening, but in comics, which are told through visual communication with the reader, it makes it very difficult to figure out what is occurring. They need to go back to the old story where the sequence of events is told in sequence. Also, the story itself is very short. Some readers may feel like they are being ripped off.
The story itself is not bad, but it can go over the heads of those who are not familiar with the EVE Online Universe.
Finally, while no doubt intended to attract readers, the sexy Femme Fatale on the cover does not appear inside of the book, which is very disappointing.
Final Verdict.
A good idea on the part of CCP Games but they have got to do a better job on the next one.
Two out Five Stars.
January 3, 2016
A graphic novel retelling of a 'true-life' event that happened in a video game... that's some convoluted creation there. And unfortunately, it doesn't do the story justice. I read an article about the events chronicled here, and even with that background, the story, full of double and triple crosses, doesn't come through very clearly. Part of it is that everyone looks similar; part of it is that some characters exist in two places at once (cloning), and part of it is that it is truly a convoluted story. By the end, I've only got the vaguest notion of who won and lost, and no real explanation as for WHY the event happened. Make no mistake, it's an interesting concept, all the more so because it actually happened in a digital world, but trying to glean the story from this source is not the way to learn about it. The art is occasionally attractive, so that's not enough justification either. Interesting concept, less than ideal execution.
April 20, 2024
Bringing stories of EVE to life in comic format is a great idea. Unfortunately, as someone who can barely consider themselves knowledgeable about the basics of EVE, I do not feel this is a book meant to attract newcomers and have a hard time recommending it to others like myself. While the stories in EVE can be wild, there are likely better places for those interested in the universe and not the game, to hear them.
April 2, 2021
Mittani is sneaky.
May 5, 2021
Very convoluted. I was completely lost almost from the beginning.
February 17, 2017
Interesting because it tells a story that emerged from player gameplay, but the story itself was confusing and kind of boring to me as someone unfamiliar with the games.
February 19, 2016
Not being familiar with the ins and outs of EVE I was left kinda lost to start with. I managed to figure out what was going on while the story was proceeding but I really think this story is for someone who knows the intricacies of EVE.
The story was overall quick and weak. It felt like we should already know who these people were and some of the background.
The art for the first three issues was great. Characters were vivid and easy to identify. For the last issue the art was horrible. Everything was dark and the characters looked like they had deformed features. It really reminded me of bad 1980's 2000ad.
Overall i would give this a 2/5.
The story was overall quick and weak. It felt like we should already know who these people were and some of the background.
The art for the first three issues was great. Characters were vivid and easy to identify. For the last issue the art was horrible. Everything was dark and the characters looked like they had deformed features. It really reminded me of bad 1980's 2000ad.
Overall i would give this a 2/5.
January 2, 2016
When I first heard about this idea, I was really excited about it, but in the end I don't think the execution was there at all. By and large, my biggest problem was that the authors didn't deviate all too much from the story as it happened in the game to create a more fuller story about the EVE universe.
For more detailed thoughts, you can check out my blog review of the book: http://jyoungjuharris.com/2014/08/13/...
For more detailed thoughts, you can check out my blog review of the book: http://jyoungjuharris.com/2014/08/13/...
March 14, 2015
An alrigh visual retelling of a much more interesting story. Trying to make it a more 'in world' kind of story really ended up hurting it. Still, as one of the notorious stories to come from Eve online in its more than ten years of history, it's cool to have it memorialized in such a way.
January 8, 2015
I'll agree with past comments that the non-linear nature of the story made it somewhat difficult to follow.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews