Mass Effect: The Complete Comics

Mass Effect (Dark Horse Comics) #1-8

by Mac Walters, John Jackson Miller, Jeremy Barlow

The champions of BioWare's award winning series embark on thrilling interstellar expeditions through alien war and existential crisis, struggling for peace and fighting for the right to survive.

Mass Effect 's vibrant world is teeming with conflict, and always on the edge of tipping into despair--but there are some who still struggle to maintain order in the chaos and secure the future of the galaxy. Join Liara as she teams up with the Drell Feron to recover the body of Commander Shepard from the Shadow Broker, uncover the origins of the Illusive Man in an epic tale of betrayal and discovery, and witness Aria defend the space station Omega from Cerberus forces, as well as the internal conflicts at Cerberus and the lives of the agents who serve it. Also included in this volume are collected stories of characters you love like Garrus, Tali'Zorah, and Wrex, and the series Discovery which follows the Turian soldier Tiran Kandros.

This book compiles all of the Mass Effect comic book series in one affordable, accessible, and comprehensive format--a must buy for fans of the Mass Effect universe and BioWare.

Collects Mass Redemption #1-4, Mass Evolution #1-4, Mass Invasion #1-4, Mass Homeworlds #1-4, Mass Foundation #1-13, and Mass Discovery #1-4.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Fiction, Space Opera, Video Games, Fantasy

800 pages, Paperback

Published November 3, 2020

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

[Noah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Together forever through rain or whatever / Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah you and me / So long as I'm living true love, I'll be giving (This Will Be An Everlasting Love – Natalie Cole).

You know how when you sit down with your meal and figure you’ll go on YouTube and look up a book you just read or a movie you just watched or a game you just played and you’re super excited to watch a video with some rando’s analysis. Maybe you’ll understand something new, or gain a new perspective and all that! But then you realize you're half-way through the video and the whole thing is literally just another damn plot summary! Oh boy, an eight hour video of a guy explaining a thing in the most dry and monotonous voice imaginable! “Then the characters do this and then they do that.” Damn it, we know already! that's literally why we're here. What are your thoughts! Engage with the text!! ...I don’t actually know how widespread this problem is (#relatable), but it may have happened to me once or twice. Yeah well, I’m going to take a page out of the “Meandering YouTuber Guy” guy’s playbook and summarize the plot of Mass Effect in meandering detail! Yay? Oh, spoilers for the first game’s big twist, by the way. Ahem, the premise of Mass Effect is that thirty years before the start of the series, in the early days of humanity’s space fairing nature, they found out that one of Pluto’s moons was actually an ancient alien piece of technology called a Mass Relay, which is able to transport spaceships across the Milky Way galaxy in an instant. This discovery is somewhat undercut by the fact that after using it, humans soon realize that the known galaxy is already populated and governed by a massive society of thousands of alien species who all discovered their own Mass Relays in their own ways. I always thought it was really fun how the story of Mass Effect is very human centric while also showing how insignificant we are to most races as a whole. We’re the new guys on the block! And we’ve got a chip on our collective shoulders because of that. Anyway, we’re quickly told that Mass Effect technology wasn’t created by any living species, but rather our precursors called The Protheans, who promptly went extinct due to unknown reason (hint, hint). But then (spoiler bit)… dun dun dunnnn, it turns out that The Protheans simply fell into intergalactic travel much in the same way that everybody did in our current cycle, and that the technology was actually created by these moon-sized Cthulhu-esque creatures called The Reapers; who wake up every 50,000 thousand years or so to wipe out all known advanced species. All life as we know it! And they use Mass Effect technology as a sort of “fishing lure” in order to simply “flip the switch” whenever they arrive, making their whole “killing everything” job that much easier. Okay, I think that’s it! I wish I could keep my cool, nonchalant image and say that I did research in order to remember all that… but that really was all off the top of my head. Did I really need to explain all this? Nah, but it’s not unimportant to understanding why I love this series so much.

Moving on though, I enjoyed this comic a whole lot! It’s basically a combination of stories exploring all the different side-characters that we meet during the games, and I’d say that it did wonders to expand the universe and helped to add context to certain actions that are made throughout the trilogy. Now, is it important context? Well, not really, but as a super fan myself (see: the wall of text up there), it’s still cool to see different perspectives outside of the series main character, Commander Shepard. I think that’s my main point though, as you’d probably have to be a super fan in order to find a lot of enjoyment from this. If I were to step out of myself for a second and ask if these would hold up on their own, I think the answer would be “no.” I liked this and even I had to wonder why some of these stories were even being written. Like, I’m sorry, but who really gives a shit about random side-character, Commander Bailey!? I certainly don’t. And the thing is, I don’t always have the best experience with adaptions of my favorite stuff in other mediums. A line I cried over from my most beloved book will often seem stilted and wooden in the movie version. And that’s much the same here, as the amazing writers from my favorite game Mass Effect don’t shine as bright in a comic format. It’s quite sad, really. Also, a lot of the stories presented in this brick are expanded stories that you learn in the game through talking to your companions, so I already felt like I have an intimate familiarity with the subject matter. And while I appreciate a healthy dose of nostalgia every now and then, I’m left wondering if I actually needed to see these things in a more fleshed out manner. I guess it’s kind of cool to point at a thing an go “Oh hey, I remember that thing from that one thing.” But that’s where it ends. What am I actually getting here that I didn’t get from just playing the games and having it be told to me in one line of dialogue? I mean, it’s nice and all to see full context, but there’s a reason why these stories were small asides delegated to simple exposition. Besides, the thing about print adaptions of my favorite things is that they don’t have the music! Is it even Mass Effect without the “Vigil” theme playing softly in the background? Final complaint, but damn, was this book hard to read! Er… not because of the subject matter or the nostalgia or the art-style or anything like that, but because it was so incredibly heavy! It has a tome-like nature that made me feel like I was trying to lift the Necronomicon every time I wanted to give it a read! Um, I really did like this. I promise that It’s not all so dire, as the art-style is gorgeous and honestly… the “Homeworlds” story about Garrus Vakarian alone could have easily made up for any mid story thrown my way. Is that one comic the sole reason for my high rating? Who’s to say? All I know is that my love for Garrus is everlasting! Yeah so, I love Mass Effect. Sure, it’s true that the games are definitely “of their time,” but in my opinion, I don’t consider something beloved because it’s timeless, but rather because they manage capture a moment in time.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was hoping this would help me fill the endless void in my soul that will exist until the new Mass Effect comes out, but instead I read it in a day and am back to feeling empty.

But it might be my favorite collection of comics on the Citadel.

See more of my reviews: Instagram

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

You know what this collection really needed? Something, anything, resembling more consistent "chapter" markers. Enjoyed many of the stories within, but man I needed a better indication of when I was between issues/series. TIM orgin was definitely my favourite, if only because I don't recall seeing it addressed in game. I also am terrible about reading codex entries.

Edit: Also what was that elcor writing in the first set? That is not how Elcor have talked in ANY of the games why would you write the comics like that?

[Yoder · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really a fun set of comics that lead into and tell backstory for the Mass Effect games. On the up side, reading this really makes me want to replay the series, however, one of these comics (the one that takes up the majority of the book) has incredibly nonsensical jumps that made me have to jump back and forth to ensure I wasn't missing anything.

Great comic collection for fans of the Mass Effect series.

[Joey Nardinelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars feels pretty generous for this mega volume of ho-hum content. A lot of these stories had little impact on any of the core characters and I think mostly existed to drum up interest in the games and expansions. I honestly am not sure a single story stuck with me. Upside was that the art style was consistent, but the lettering was often rote and sometimes it was incredibly hard to determine who was speaking in any given story. Given how rich the games and their narratives are, I can’t believe 800 pages of EU comics content was churned out with almost nothing inspiring. Just Blasto. That’s it.

[Howard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not necessary but it is nice to see in comics characters or event only mentioned in games. Drawings are nice and clear. Stories are quite good, however I felt inconsistency with Liara character - in games she is fragile and calm but in comics she's just badass. In general biotics (ex. Aria, Liara, Cerberus members) in comics are very powerful, it was strange that soldiers or security guard does not have any biotic in squad.
For me important information would be that when I should read specific story. As I play ME games for the first time, some of information were spoilers for me. However I understood that most of comic readers already know story from ME trilogy.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

The review in which I dive head-first into the Mass Effect universe without having played the video games, a decision for which I will forever be ridiculed by a certain household member, who vociferously implores me to "just play the damn game, Dad" and then stomps off.

I've long heard that Mass Effect has one of the best sci-fi plots in a CRPG, and knowing that two of my favorite authors N.K. Jemisin and Catherynne M. Valente are fans, I insta-jabbed the borrow button when this title appeared in my Hoopla feed.

This book is basically all the official Mass Effect graphic novels, evar (through Andromeda as of this writing). What you get is background and interstitial arcs that motivate the games' support cast (NPCs), illuminate the dynamics of the various alien/human factions, and set up the major events or delve their fallout. What you don't get is any direct appearance by the character you play in the first three games, one Commander Shepard, nor--notably--any wave function collapse of Shepard's gender pronouns, keeping with the game's customization options.

The comics are mashed together in chronological order, separated by a title page per volume. Early standout "Invasion" covers the buildup to the battle for Omega station. But the strength of the first half of the volume is in its deep-dives into the characters Shepard encounters in the games. There are several devoted to ME1's most popular NPC (and apparently male-gaze eye candy), Liara. But eventually, each of the NPCs get coverage, most notably in the "Homeworlds" collection, in which Garrus' story is my favorite.

The book's centerpiece is the gargantuan "Foundation" graphic novel, which shines with multiple artists and story arcs, and lays out the central power dynamics among the major races, figures, and organizations in the galaxy. The scaffolding for all this worldbuilding is a frame story centering on the life of the human thief Rasa, with sub-arcs featuring yet more NPCs, the most memorable of which is Thane Krios' tragic story. It's an impressive feat.

The final entry is the Andromeda prelude "Discovery", a graphic novel which does double duty setting up the game's plot and exploring Tiran Kandros' background.

It's an epic collection, and after 800 pages of alien-drenched space opera, I am convinced I will indeed have to "play the damn game". You win, son!

[Conor Gresty · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's nice when a franchise is small enough you can hold all its tie-ins on one shelf. Take this volume, which is just what it says on the tin: All the comics based on the Mass Effect video games. Obviously, with this many comics, quality will vary, but not as much as you'd think, with Bioware creative director Mac Walters overseeing the vast majority of them. The best stories are, for the most part, the ones with the best characters (except, sadly, the Thane Krios issue, which just recaps his backstory). The art is mostly solid throughout, with only one real misfire; on the opposite side, the art for the Jack issue is a delight. It won't make you a Mass Effect fan if you're not one already, but if you are, you should enjoy it.

[Melanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved seeing all the background stories and learning more about some of my favorite characters. If you're a Mass Effect fan, I definitely recommend picking this collection up!

[JJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mass Effect was one of the series that sparked my interest in media tie-ins, and Mass Effect comics were some of the first videogame tie-in comics I ever read. This collection runs the gamut from those excellent comics that got me started to some utterly forgettable side-stories, while failing to include useful quality of life features.

The best part of the collection is that it does, indeed, collect every Mass Effect comic ever published (including online one-shots). I was unable to find the high-quality Dark Horse Library Editions, which you should pick up instead if you can find them, so this was my only option for completeness' sake. However, every other element of this collection -- as an item, not the individual comics -- falls flat. There are no dividers between issues, no table of contents, no full cover gallery, it's soft-cover, and my copy was even printed upside down and backwards (I have to start at the back of the book and flip it upside down to read in order). The art is reasonably uniform and all looks like Mass Effect, but the colors don't pop and none of the visuals stand out as particularly memorable. Various shades of brown run into each other, and it's sometimes difficult to determine who is speaking.

Quick summary of each collected comic series:

Redemption: One of the first tie-in comics I ever read, which instantly got me hooked. A good addition to the story, four issues set between Mass Effect 1 and 2 which flesh out Cerberus and Liara.

Evolution: I loved the Illusive Man in Mass Effect 2, so I enjoyed this four issue look at his origin story and seeing some of the First Contact War was a bonus.

Invasion: I didn't find these four issues memorable at all. Maybe because Aria and Omega never really did anything for me? I'd say this one felt more inessential than the previous two.

Homeworlds: A different format, four issues each focusing on a different Mass Effect 3 squadmate (Vega, Tali, Garrus, Liara). Garrus and Tali are my two favorites, so I'm glad they were included. Nothing anyone on the Mass Effect writing team does can make Vega interesting though. The art styles also varied more in this series, with the style in Tali's story being a rare miss for the collection.

Insursion: A forgettable Aria-focused one-shot.

Inquisition: A one-shot notable for its focus on C-Sec Captain Bailey, but nothing else.

Conviction: More Vega (ugh), but a neat one-shot tie-in to the Mass Effect 2 Arrival DLC.

He Who Laughs Best: A one-shot focused on Joker, another great character, that captures him well.

Blasto: Eternity is Forever: Taking a joke piece of media from in the games and turning it into its own one-shot mostly pays off, but the novelty wears thin even in the scant few pages it contains. Overall a slight disappointment, considering how much I liked Blasto in the games.

Foundation: By far the largest, this 13-issue series weaves throughout the trilogy (good), but mostly sets up the villain for the Mass Effect 3: Citadel DLC (not a great payoff). Considering that villain was a total waste and only existed to heighten the crew-bonding experience for the DLC, I was not excited about reading 13 issues after that DLC came out to give background. There are nice nods to other parts of the series though, and some interesting interactions with characters at different points in their journeys to give more context on the events we've seen before.

Discovery: Four issues with excellent cover art that pays homage to classic sci-fi, but focuses on a boring character (Kandros from Mass Effect: Andromeda) and wastes the opportunity to do more with mysteries set up in the game surrounding the Andromeda Initiative.

Overall, the Mass Effect comics are a mixed bag. The one-shots aren't particularly good; Foundation was a weird choice to exist at all, let alone take up 13 issues; and they need to stop forcing James Vega on me. But Redemption is a high point for tie-in media and some of the other offerings are good enough to be worth your time. At 38 issues for $39.99, you're also getting a great value -- even if you're not getting any of the usual benefits of reading a complete collection as opposed to individual issues.

As a result, I would highly recommend this collection for Mass Effect fans. Short of tracking down the Library Editions, this is the best (and will always be the cheapest) way to acquire a wide assortment of Mass Effect content.

[Graham Barrett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Back in high school and early college, the Mass Effect series became one of my favorite video game and science fiction franchises. My interest in Mass Effect kind of petered out throughout the mid to late 2010s due to a lack of content and moving away from gaming but it has come back a lot in the last year due to the re-release of the original Mass Effect trilogy and a growing audience among a younger generation of gamers/fans. “Mass Effect: The Complete Comics” is my attempt to expand my familiarity with the Mass Effect universe beyond the games.

Unlike other series like Star Wars, I always thought doing expanded universe stories for Mass Effect was asking for trouble because so much of the universe’s and main characters' stories are flexible and dependent on player choices (i.e., you can't do a story about one of your Mass Effect 2 squadmates after Mass Effect 2 as there's a chance the player got that squadmate killed). That remains the case in The Complete Comics, as a lot of the stories have to be set before the games, and in some cases set up levels from them (i.e., “Invasion” tells the story of how pirate queen Aria T’loak lost Omega Station which the player then helps her reclaim in Mass Effect 3). As such, some of the comics’ stories feel fairly limited but overall there are plenty of good stories spread throughout.

Highlights for me include stories about Joker (when he was a cadet) hijacking the Normandy to show he’s the ideal pilot for it, Agents Brooks from Mass Effect 3 complying the dossiers of all the trilogy’s squadmates/her rebelling from Cerberus, and the Illusive Man’s origins and how that ties his story in with the original game’s villain Saren. My personal favorite story was showing everyone’s favorite turian, Garrus Vakarian, during his days as Archangel before you reunite with him in Mass Effect 2. The story ends with maybe my favorite page of the collection as it leads directly into the reunion and a good reminder that “There’s no Shepard without Vakarian”


I can’t say these comics are truly necessary to the lore of the Mass Effect trilogy and Mass Effect Andromeda (which I never played) and the artwork varies in overall quality. Nonetheless “Mass Effect: The Complete Comics” was a very fun and entertaining read and exploration of the Mass Effect galaxy, fan favorite characters’ backstories, etc. beyond what players got to experience first hand playing the games. The comics probably won't entice unfamiliar readers to play the games but long time Mass Effect fans should probably enjoy the collection.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

An omnibus of over thirty comics telling stories from the First Contact War all the way through the events of the first three Mass Effect games and onto the beginnings of 'Mass Effect: Andromeda'.
Here we get backstories and additional tales for such major ME characters as the Illusive Man, Aria T'loak, Saren, Liara T'soni and most of Commander Shepard's companions.

As with any anthology, this is a mix of high points and low points but overall the highs definitely outnumber and outweigh the lows.
Due to the involvement of writers who actually worked on the games, the stories here genuinely feel like part of the lore built into the ME universe, rather than tie-ins just bolted-on afterwards. As a result, this book also answers a lot of questions I've wondered about whilst playing (and absolutely loving, it has to be said) the games, such as why do the Illusive Man's eyes glow blue and how did Aria go from the somewhat timid researcher of ME1 to the badass espionage expert we see in ME2 and ME3.

These stories also do something that initially bothered me but which, in hindsight, actually works really well; they very carefully avoid exploring anything directly involving Commander Shepard or the Reapers.
At first it felt a bit of a cheat to avoid Mass Effect's two main elements, but the more I think about it the more it makes this book and the games work together really well. Neither holds the full story of these characters/situations but both can be enjoyed to their fullest without relying too much on overlapping their stories.

The low points mentioned above mainly come amid the 'Foundation' story arc (by Mac Walters and Jeremy Barlow) which follows the character Rasa from one of ME3's DLC stories from her childhood and through her service to Cerberus. Because she's occasionally the main character but sometimes merely a framing device for someone else's story, the whole arc feels a bit fragmented and confusing.
Also, at one point, the art quality had dropped to the point that I genuinely couldn't tell which character depicted was Rasa and which was Miranda, making their action scenes together almost unintelligible.

Overall, a great read for a Mass Effect fan and all that remains to be said is that 'Andromeda' wasn't nearly as bad as everyone said it was (fight me!).

* More reviews here: https://fsfh-book-review2.webnode.page *

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, a worthwhile read for any big Mass Effect fan. For casual fans? I dunno. Some hits and misses. Some too short, a few too long.

Redemption -- I hated the way they drew Liara but I don't ship Liara/Theron any less 👀
Evolution -- A lot of interesting worldbuilding and information that significantly affects the way I understand the events of the trilogy, but just a meh story
Invasion -- For a second, I was worried it was gonna make me regret killing Petrovsky, but don't worry, he's still a piece of shit. Disappointed Aria's girlfriend wasn't in it.
Homeworlds: James Vega -- Very short. Fairly sad. Absolutely adjusts how I see Vega.
Homeworlds: Tali'Zorah nar Rayya -- Again, just a little snippet of a story. Also pretty sad tbh. Loved the style.
Homeworlds: Garrus Vakarian -- what we're all here for, tbh. Mostly just the dialogue you get in game, but with more context and more feelings.
Homeworlds: Liara T'Soni -- A good showing for Liara's character but less a story and more a statement. First Homeworlds that wasn't sad, though!
Incursion -- That was... nothing. But Aria was hot so 🤷‍♀️
Inquisition -- Commander Bailey being used by Udina. Almost interesting.
Conviction -- Just a tiny little story to bridge the gap between ME3 and Paragon Lost
He Who Laughs Best -- I mean, come on, it's Joker!
Blasto: Eternity is Forever -- ...not a Blasto fan... If I found Blasto funnier in general I might have liked it.
Foundation -- after a slew of stories that were too short, man this one was just so many cooks in the kitchen. Also, those colorists need to be arrested. She was black in maybe 10% of the frames she was in. PLEASE stop whitewashing your own characters. ESPECIALLY in a comic where skin color is one of the few things that you can count on to tell one generic woman from another
Discovery -- Bridging the gap between the original trilogy and Andromeda. Almost made me want to dip back into Andromeda.

[Y.S. Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

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Mass Effect: The Complete Comics by Walters, Miller et al - Book Recommendation
October 27, 2020
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Mass Effect: The Complete Comics - Book Review

Mass Effect: The Complete Comics is a collection of all Mass Effect comics into one huge volume. The stories here adds a bit of flesh to the narratives in the video games (Mass Effect 2 and 3). This volume gives us the background to the grand conflicts in the Mass Effect universe and how some characters came to be who they are.

The tales here range from the origins of Illusive Man to Garrus' adventures while Shepard's body is with Ceberus. We are able to also catch a glimpse of what it took for Liara to recover Shepard's body and Aria's bust-up with Ceberus, right before she enlists Shepard's help.

THINGS I LOVE
These stories adds much colour to the franchise. It gives an opportunity to reconnect with favourite characters as well as glean some insights into their backgrounds and motives.

DISLIKES
None.

WHO IS IT FOR
Fans of the franchise will enjoy the story so much as to play the games again.

Many thanks to Dark Horse Books for review copy.

[Kim Pelletier · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was honestly so nice to get insight into so many characters and their stories in this compendium, whether it was Shepard’s companions or other side characters, it was great to see more of their stories. I loved learning more about the Illusive Man and Miranda and Kai Leng, as well as Liara and how she changes and grows from ME1 through to ME2, just as examples. We got so many stories and so many insights that this compendium and the graphic novels in general are almost a must read for fans of Mass Effect.

While a little challenging and in some ways annoying that there’s no chronological order to the novels/stories, there’s a lovely reddit thread that breaks the compendium down into chronological order which is how I read it and I’d definitely recommend going that route. The artwork is great as well, but a little off-putting at times strictly because some of the designs are different from how we’re used to them in the games, which isn��t overly a big deal. Overall, I truly loved reading this compendium and I highly recommend it to anyone who’s a fan of Mass Effect! 4 out of 5 stars.

[Charlie Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big Mass Effect fan and wanted to expand on the story and dive into the alternative story arcs via the comics. I loved these, all of them are perfectly paced and interesting side stories that have a tie into the lore that we have come to know.
I personally loved all the comics relating to finding Shepards body and the attempts at making clones within the Cerberus organisation. Both the Illusive Man and The Shadow Broker are scheming, devious yet complicated characters with goals that are not black and white good or bad, but rather morally ambiguous relating to the whole story.
Rasa is probably the most fleshed out character in the comics and has become a well deserved focus point.
Aria, the Asari leader on Omega, is equally as likeable as this Anti-Hero type leader that is necessary to band together the outcasts of the galaxy.

Overall, i wish there was more!

[Uroš Novaković · Rating 5 out of 5]

I haven't read a single Mass Effect comic prior to this release even though I am a fan of the games.
Bought this before the release of MELE cause I was hyped to replay the trilogy again, but this time with the extended knowledge that the comics and the books provide.

The majority of comics in this collection I truly did find interesting. There were some highs and some lows, but mostly highs.
The art and the colouring in these are out of this world. Every page was a blessing for the eyeballs, truly.

All in all, a fantastic collection for the Mass Effect fans. One edition to have all the comics ever released.

[Dominik N · Rating 3 out of 5]

Komiksowy spin-off serii gier wideo - to już wskazuje jakie należy mieć oczekiwania wobec tej pozycji i całość nie wychodzi poza ten poziom. To zbiór poprawnie napisanych historii uzupełniających wątki z gier. Zdecydowanie pomaga bogactwo świata Mass Effect, a także to, że fajnie znów było sie spotkać z lubianymi bohaterami z trylogii. Osoby nieznające gier chyba nie mają tutaj czego szukać.

Natomiast redakcja tego wydania zbiorczego to masakra. Wrzucone wszystko bez ładu i składu. Ani to w kolejności chronologicznej wydarzeń, ani to w kolejności czytania względem gier. Do tego brak rozróżnienia poszczególnych numerów. Kompletny chaos.

[Dweller Dark · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book contains every comic made for the Mass Effect series starting from ME2 onwards, and it's the best way to experience them. There's a lot of lore here, so I can't unpack all of it, but there's comics for virtually every squadmate and important figures in the franchise. Sometimes more than one for characters like Liara. If you've ever wanted to know who the Illusive Man really is, or see the stories your squadmates have told you, this is what you want to read. The only people this doesn't cover are minor characters, Admiral Anderson, and Kahlee Sanders, the latter of which have their own stories in the Drew Karpyshyn novels.

[Kurt Vosper · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are a Mass Effect fan this is an amazing book to feed your addiction — like me. Stories that cover the beginnings of the characters through each game (and the spaces in between) up to and including leaving for Andromeda. Great back fill on certain characters. I really enjoyed learning more about my favourite characters. Best for me was probably the Thane story. Heard it before in game about meeting his wife and their life but was great to see it drawn out — very well.

[Grant Laird · Rating 5 out of 5]

This volume collects the Dark Horse comic book series Mass Effect: 

Redemption #1-4, page 5-94

Evolution #1-4, page 95-184

Invasion #1-4, page 185-274

Homeworlds #1-4, page 275-370

Incursion, page 371-380

Inquisition, page 381-390

Conviction, page 391-400

He Who Laughs Best, page 401-410

Blasto: Eternity Is Forever!, page 411-424

Foundation #1-13, page 425-712

Discovery #1-4, page 713-794

Bonus, final few pages.

[Diego · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good except for one or the stories in it. Not sure if someone can go into the franchise blind with these comics though. Feels like you have to be a huge fan of the games like myself to truly enjoy it. There is however one story that was meant to be a prequel to one of the story dlcs, that felt pointless to read. This is my main issue with reading this collection for the first time. Aside from that, I loved this.

[Sneha · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know how I feel about this collection.
On one hand, there were some very interesting stories set in the world of Mass Effect (like the one with Saren, his brother, and TIM.) One the other hand, the vibe was off. A vast majority of this collection felt superficial and even somewhat disrespectful to the layered characters in the game series, which is not at all what Mass Effect is like.
It took me forever to get through.
2 Stars

[Marie · Rating 5 out of 5]

"In space, every moment is the middle of the night-- and every attack is an ambush."

Absolute must read for any fan of Mass Effect! Loved all the background story that really added some context and appreciation for the events that happened in game. The only chapter I didn't quite understand was the Blasto one, seemed out of place to me. That, and I feel like Foundation could've been organized better to show they were on a different character. I know overall they all related to Rasa but it was a little jarring to be focusing on one character on one page then the next page it's focusing on someone else entirely and I had to adjust to the the previous being over.

[Christian Terry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book!

If you're a fan of the games you should most definitely pick this up. It's great getting back stories for all of your favorite characters. Things that happened in between games like what happened to Shepherd and his crew. Illusive Man origins and the beginning of the Andromeda Initiative. If you're a fan I highly recommend this.

[Isaac · Rating 5 out of 5]

A welcome compilation and a great companion read while playing Mass Effect Legendary Edition. It's fantastic that the variant covers for Discovery are included at the end, as they are some of the best variants I've seen for Mass Effect comics.

The comics include characters seen briefly in-game and expand on events mentioned in passing during the games. Blasto's comic is also included!

[Adrian Montanez · Rating 5 out of 5]

YES! Just what I needed to cure myself of my need for Mass Effect.

This was actually worth every penny. While the first collections suffered a bit in the art department. Everything else was rock solid. There were like 2 one shots that I found boring, but everything else was engaging.

The funniest one overall, had to be Blasto: Eternity is Forever.

4.5 out of 5 stars.

[Varian Nash · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Amazing Piece Of Mass Effect Lore

I'm always impressed with how the writers filled in the gaps between games. And this did so much more. I wasn't expecting a connection to Andromeda, but good on them for putting it where they did. Any fans of Mass Effect and all stories connected should definitely check this out.

[Rahel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The big question is: is buying this book worth the $40 pricetag? There are a number of answers, in my opinion. If you're a diehard Mass Effect fan and want to own every piece of media associated with the property, this probably isn't a bad choice. It looks gorgeous, the printing quality isn't too shabby and you know what you're getting - for a compilation of so many stories, it really isn't a bad deal.

If you're in it for actual content and depth, you might be better picking up single issues and separate books, because of the 13 stories (by "stories" I mean separately numbered issues/books in the Mass Effect Graphic Novel series that aren't the omnibus volumes), I only really enjoyed Homeworlds, Foundation: Volume 3, Discovery, and the two one shots Blasto: Eternity is Forever and He Who Laughs Best. I truly disliked most of the other stories; Redemption and Incursion were my only 3-star ratings.

A lot of the issues in the Mass Effect comics lie in the writing and the art style: my favorite stories often had a looser, more experimental art style, which might not be what you are looking for when reading an action-packed sci-fi comic book. It's also very obvious that most of the female characters are presented with the male gaze in mind (do regular action comic readers just accept this as status quo or is this a Mass-Effect-specific issue? I do not know!), and that often impacts the story of familiar strong characters, such as Aria, negatively.

These stories aren't meant for those with no knowledge of the Mass Effect universe and while it helps flesh out the universe for those that love the series, I wouldn't consider it required reading. Nonetheless, I was glad to spend a bit more time with the characters I love dearly.