Mass Effect, Volume 3: Invasion

Mass Effect (Dark Horse Comics) #3

by Mac Walters, Omar Francia (Illustrator), John Jackson Miller (Scripter)

Mass Effect 2 and 3 lead writer Mac Walters returns with an essential story from BioWare''s massively anticipated video game, Mass Effect 3! The Omega space station is the center of lawlessness in the galaxy, a den of vice ruled by the deadly asari Aria. It is also a strategic foothold in a galaxy-wide power struggle, and when the station comes under attack from a new threat unleashed by the humanity-first organization Cerberus, Aria is forced to become more ruthless than ever to protect her home - and her dominion!

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Science Fiction, Video Games, Fiction, Comic Book, Graphic Novels Comics

112 pages, Paperback

First published October 19, 2011

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

[Nicky · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this to review through Netgalley. I couldn't resist requesting it -- I haven't read the other Mass Effect graphic novels or books, but I've played Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, and I'm partway through Mass Effect 3, and Aria is a character who has always intrigued me. This book fills in the gaps a bit, showing a person who is passionate about her leadership, protecting her people -- as little as she pretends to care, she's ready to come through for her people and do everything necessary.

The art is great -- easily distinguishable characters, despite the difficulty in making aliens of the same race distinguishable from each other -- and the story fills in some gaps about what Cerberus/the Illusive Man are up to, and the lengths they're willing to go to.

If this is the quality of all the Mass Effect spinoffs, I'm going to get hold of them as soon as I can.

[Melanie McCullough · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's no surprise that I thought this one was awesome. I love Mass Effect. I love everything to do with Mass Effect. I play it more for the character interaction and amazing story line than anything else. And Aria T'Loak is a character that I enjoyed while playing the game. So when I saw this baby appear on Netgalley I knew I had to have it.

I played Mass Effect 3 prior to reading Invasion, so I knew from conversations with Aria that something had happened to her control of the Omega space station. However, it was never made clear exactly what transpired. This is where Invasion comes in. It fills in the gaps between the end of Mass Effect 2 and the point where you encounter Aria in Mass Effect 3.

I loved seeing a story from Aria's point of view. She is definitely an intriguing character and Invasion gives the reader or gamer a little bit of insight into her character. I don't know much about art, but I'm a comic book and graphic novel fan and the art work in Invasion was incredible, staying true to the characters and alien races I've come to know and love through playing the video game. I also enjoyed seeing Omega. I love Omega by the way. I was poisoned there once by a Batarian. Ah, good times.

Overall, an amazing read and a great tie-in for those who love the Mass Effect games as much as I do.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5*

A very fun and detailed comic that fills in gaps between Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3.

The artwork was fantastic and a great tie-in to the games, expanding the universe and exploring the back story of Aria T’Loak. The comic also provided hints to a possible DLC, which is never a bad thing.

The only negative thing to say about this is that I do not find the digital format to quite suit comics, resulting in some of the panels being confused, but that is just me nitpicking.

An advance reader copy was kindly supplied by the publisher through Netgalley.

[Brian Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Comics, as a medium, really shine when you can expand upon a universe like Mass Effect. Minor characters can take on a life of their own like Aria does in Invasion. Do I even need to mention the fantastic artwork? If you love Mass Effect, then you'll love this graphic novel too. Pick it. You won't be sorry.

[Syahira · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I've considered that Renegade interrupt... the General was effing annoying. Next time.

[Fengxia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mass Effect: Invasion

Probably the best ME comic so far. It feels like the only story (so far) with a proper beginning middle and end. The first comic Redemption was just sort of average. A story of the Drell and Liara locating Shepard’s body from the Shadow Broker and the temporary alliance with Cerberus. I didn’t feel like it added anything to the universe or story of Mass Effect. Wasn’t interesting character wise either.

The second comic EVOLUTION was an improvement as it gives a pretty basic origin story for The Illusive Man whose real name is Jack Harper. We see him fight in The First Contact War as a mercenary. He discovers an ancient alien monolith that seems to have been created by an extinct alien race. Its purpose seems to be to enslave the minds of advanced alien species devolving them into mindless slaves to the monolith ready for exploitation. Ironically eventhough this is TIMs origin story the most interesting part of the comic is learning more about Saren’s backstory. Saren had a brother Desolas who was a Turian general that took interest in the monolith but eventually succumbed to the deadly fate of it.

It’s a decent story overall, but there was no real display of explanation of how TIM went from small time merc to the head of Cerberus. How was Cerberus formed, where did their wealth come from and how did TIM accrue so much power. Also disappointed by the extent of sexualisation in these comics. The games have it quite a bit too so it’s not surprising but the female character in Evolution was far too sexualised.

[47Time · Rating 5 out of 5]

Omega station governed by the asari crime boss Aria T'Loak is under attack by powerful creatures that arrived on Cerberus ships. A Cerberus captain named Oleg Petrosky helps Aria fight them off. They are the result of Reaper tech that infects and rewrites genetic code to create bloodthirsty monsters called adjutants. While Petrosky convinces Aria to fight together, another Cerberus agent named Raymond Ashe goes off on his own, following the Illusive Man's direct orders to take over the station.

Aria helps Petrovsky clear out the infectation in Avernus station, the source of the Reapers, but is then captured. With Aria away, Ashe declares he has taken control of Omega for Cerberus. The many factions Aria kept united aren't impressed and now fight against each other for control as well. Aria returns to Omega and gathers her followers to push back the intruders.

Noticing he is playing a losing hand by fighting Aria openly, Petrovsky tries a ruse - to make her believe she has won. His real plan soon comes to fruition - several of his vessels surround Omega with orders to destroy it if he can't seize control. Aria finally retreats, though she won't give up on Omega.

[Kacey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aria is one of the most interesting side characters in the Mass Effect universe. Showcasing her for this comic was a lot of fun. I think a lot of her fierceness shone through. I liked getting the full story of the Cerberus invasion, because of course Aria isn't going to tell the whole truth of what happened. There were some cool moments from Aria and the various Cerberus guys.

Maybe the one thing I would critique it on is that for some reason, Aria was initially drawn as wearing a sexy outfit like you'd see on the asari consort. I didn't even realize it was Aria at first, because I couldn't picture her wearing something like that. I'm not even sure why she had that outfit on. It was weird, way too vulnerable for a character like Aria to purposefully wear in public.

Overall, though, the story was good. I liked the art style for the most part. Probably my favorite of the comics I've read so far, but still nothing too amazing. Just a fun little story for Aria fans.

[ur didact · Rating 4 out of 5]

nice little filler pre-me3's omega subplot, and this one is your standard mass effect level comic, which means it's halfway decent, unlike standard dragon age comics. i've always liked aria, so reading more about her and the way she is able to leash all the various gangs on omega under her control, was cool, as i really love how they only answer to her, despite all these lesser characters having lofty ambitions of their own. surprisingly, i also liked the main antag, and it was nice getting to see a villain who's similarly concerned about the lives of his own people as well as civilians, rather than making him out to be a 2-bit villain, like the secondary antag. good read, though would've liked to get more insight into cerberus' actions apart from the obvious.

[Kyst · Rating 4 out of 5]

Of all the Mass Effect tie-in works I've read over the past couple of months, this is by far the best. It was exciting, cohesive, and made sense, which has proven to be a surprisingly high bar to clear. The introduced characters were simple but interesting - perfect for a simple but interesting story. It wasn't even that bad with the sexualisation of female characters (well, character), which is good because Aria is not here for all that bullshit. She has a station to run.

Would I recommend this for someone unfamiliar with Mass Effect? Hell no, they'd be completely lost. But it was good regardless. I'd play this DLC.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story centered on Aria, Omega, and Cerberus being dicks, just a great formula.

Aria is one of the most interesting NPCS you meet during the Mass Effect franchise, and her iron grip on Omega in many ways defines her as a person. This story explores Aria's role in Omega, but not just as a gangster, but as a leader.

I also love how this story is juxtaposed against the introduction to the Illusive Man's background, as it shows just how far he fell, even in prioritizing human life.

Great action, awesome artwork, and a great cast of characters, well worth a read.

[Zian B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had forgotten who Aria was for a bit but after some pages, I finally remembered her side-character role in the games. It was very interesting to see all of the different characters interacting and butting-heads with each other; especially when the characters were deemed “on the same side” at one point or another. Overall this was a good read and I like that the comics are revealing the different and more ‘minor’, yet still impactful, moments in the games.

[Queen of Stray Cats τ · Rating 2 out of 5]

To be honest, this came off as pretty dull. Perhaps the biggest gripe I have with the plot is how easily Aria--who is clearly smarter than this--is manipulated by Petrovsky, yet somehow he doesn't realize TIM's main plan but by the ending. It was obvious from the start, and frankly speaking, had Petrovsky used his brains more, his arc could've gone a different way. Now, I know that would've totally messed with the story of ME3's Omega DLC, but I'll rate a book/comic as it is.

[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.*

I liked this! I was always curious as to how Cerberus managed to take control of Omega right from under Aria's nose, and this provided a lot of insight!

[Rae Rivers · Rating 2 out of 5]

This one was just boring, I was begging for it to end. Aria is cool in game but for me she just isn’t enough to carry a whole graphic novel. They give me no reason to care about Omega or it’s residents. Obligatory comment about too many Aria butt shots.

[Anirudh · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's great fun to read these mass effect comics, covering small parts of the story the game left out.

It also made me rethink my renegade option at the end with Petrovsky

[Adrian Montanez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Now the Mass Effect 3 DLC makes even more sense.

[Joe Davies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aria T'Loak is bae

[Crook · Rating 4 out of 5]

Aria is terrifying

[Bogdan Balostin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aria vs Illusive Man

[Matthew Ciarvella · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Mass Effect graphic novels continue to be interesting, though like book two, I don't feel like these are essential reading. The first book set an incredibly high bar with its focus on what happened to Commander Shepard between the prologue of Mass Effect 2 and the main story. It also focused on Liara, one of my favorite characters, and it was just a great story to boot.

This book focuses on Aria and how she lost control of Omega Station, which is something that becomes a sidequest focus in Mass Effect 3. And while Aria herself is an interesting character, the line this story has to follow is basically a tightrope. There's very little room for deviation. We know Aria's going to lose the station. We know we'll help her take it back. It makes it hard to really feel invested in the struggle. This might also be due to a general 'meh' feeling that I have towards Omega itself as a plotline, as the Omega downloadable content (DLC) missions were fairly lackluster.

Still, although this book doesn't excel, it's good as a straight-up comic book tale of kicking ass and cool battle art. I really love how biotics are depicted in the comics; even with the hard sci-fi approach that the Mass Effect universe takes, biotics are shown as these incredibly cool space wizards. It's also been one of my laments about the game narrative, that it can't be more of a plot point if my Commander Shepard is a biotic (which he always is).

In conclusion, we have a solid, serviceable story, but one that won't go on to impress. It doesn't meet the high bar set by its first predecessor, but there's nothing here that's absolutely wrong either, the way the novel "Mass Effect: Deception" was so horrifically flawed. That's one of the fascinating things about the Mass Effect story universe; its tie-in materials have ranged from the amazing to the awful. "Invasion" falls solidly in the middle, and so I don't mind telling diehard Mass Effect lore aficionados to give it a look even as I tell more casual fans that they're safe giving this one a pass.

[João Jorge · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Mass Effect: Invasion” is a great comic which no fan of the rich universe created by Bioware should miss. As you may know this is the origin of the story which culminates in the Omega DLC for “Mass Effect 3” and it details how exactly Cerberus got control of Omega and defeated Aria T´Loak, its leader. We are also introduced to Oleg Petrovsky, a cunning and highly intelligent agent of the Illusive Man and the DLC´s main villain. Oleg along with Aria of course, is the main draw of this comic. He is not your typical villain but a somewhat complex character who truly believes he is acting for the greater good. He is also an honorable soldier and his relationship with Aria is one of mutual respect and close to a mutual admiration. Unfortunately this was lost in the DLC where the story is so thin and his character so undeveloped you´ll hardly recognize the military mastermind presented in this comic.
The story is interesting, with a new “reaper” enemy introduced and the writer truly captured Aria´s personality from the games. Again, unlike the DLC, this is the Omega you know and love from ME2, with the gangs, Afterlife and even Anto, Aria´s batarian bodyguard.
The art is good, with beautiful drawings and very good use of color. All the different races are drawn exactly like in the games and the various locations of Omega are reproduced with magnificent detail.
Although the other comics may offer stories with more “weight” on the greater picture of the trilogy, with details of the Illusive Man´s past or Liara´s rescue of Shepard´s body this is my favorite ME comic by far. Aria is just a great character and the book is filled with fun space battles, great action sequences and a satisfying ending. Its a shame the DLC did not follow up on this great “half” of the story of Omega´s invasion but still this is a book that as a fan you must own! Buy it!

[Tobias · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now I'm a big fan of the Mass Effect series. So I was curious to fill this gap between the ME2 and ME3 games.
Invasion is an action-packed story with some great artwork.
Why am I not enthusiastic then? It's mainly because of plot and narration.
Since Invasion was originally released as a series of comic books you had to have a cliffhanger at the end of every episode to keep people interested. Then at the start of the next episode you'll have a few sentences to recap what happened. When reading it now as a single volume that gets a little bit annoying because it's not necessary.
My main point is about how confined and restricted the plot feels. It's no wonder since starting and ending point are very rigid. On top of that, the plot could not have any impact on or reveal any details of any of the major Mass Effect plot lines. For those players who (like me) did not read this book before playing ME3 the game also had to give enough details to understand this subplot of ME3 and the Omega DLC without the book. So, I can literally feel this little piece of writing struggle to add something new to all that and tell an interesting story despite these restrictions.
You could say it does reasonably well given the circumstances. But why was that necessary at all? We don't need to see everything in pictures. Alternatively, the story could have been told just as well in a two to three-minute animation in Mass Effect 3 or the Omega DLC to give the player some impressions. The book is of no interest to anyone except players anyway. But, no, they needed to go and expand the franchise ...

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is certainly one graphic novel I'm going to try and find when I get the chance, it's worth owning and re-reading.
It's no secret I'm a big fan of Mass Effect and any chance I get to find out more from that series I take it without hesitation. This book gives you some insight on Aria T'Loak of Omega's situation after the 2nd game, which if you haven't played the 3rd game will definitely make you super curious as to what's going on in a larger sense.
Seeing as I have played the 3rd game I know exactly what's going on and when it takes place, and it doesn't detract from it at all. Seeing as Aria mentions this particular storyline in the game it's kind of one of those great "ah-ha" moments where you get to fill in the blanks.
I also loved the mentions of Earth history, kind of cool considering they are so advanced and wrapped up in their own problems you would think they've forgotten all about it.

The mini-comic in the back about James is also pretty cool. It's set farther back in the story though, but it's still nice to get some extra info. I didn't quite get why he freaked out in the beginning but other than that it was pretty good for something so short. Kind of like a teaser really.

Great artwork and great story, I definitely look forward to more.

I received this from Dark Horse and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Rahel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This comic left me extremely frustrated. The art and coloring was great (finally I was able to actually recognize the characters portrayed!) and Aria is a character that I'll gladly read more about.
Nonetheless, the scripting and characters left me cold and to some extent angered me. *Why* are characters referencing World War II and the battle of Troy in the year 2186 CE? I can let Oleg Petrovsky - whose sole characterization is now quoting Douglas MacArthur and reading Tolstoi (in book form!) - slide, seeing as how being a Cerberus general will lead you to being obsessed with human history. But why is Aria T'Loak of all people referencing the Phillipines Campaign? This is like Kaidan Alenko suddenly talking about some obscure Hanar event that happened 2000 years prior to first contact. It makes no sense for non-humans to be this interested in human history! Had there been a similar stunt pulled in the First Contact War I would have looked the other way, but really, it makes no sense whatsoever. Aria has been on Omega since the 1880s, I really doubt she cared what was happening on earth, far far away in the 1940s.
This comic really doesn't bring much to the table beyond explaining why and how Cerberus managed to take over Omega, but beyond that, I really don't see any point in recommending this to anyone.

[Alex Jones · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this pretty much at the same time as playing through the 'Omega' DLC for Mass Effect, which this is a prequel to (although note this does also take place before Aria's small part in ME3), which was a nice idea as it meant everything going on in the DLC felt relevant to the graphic novel. Really enjoyable story, especially if you're an Aria fan like myself, although not sure how much sense this would make for someone who hasn't played Mass Effect 2. The characters felt like they did in the video game and the antagonists were suitably complex and interesting, especially General Petrovska who felt a little one-dimensional in the DLC. My only complaint is that it felt like towards the end the writers suddenly realised they had to change how the plot of the novel got from where it was to where the plot of Omega begins in Mass Effect 3 and this felt a touch out-of-character, but it wasn't overly so. In counter-balance the art was FANTASTIC. Fresh, vibrant, detailed, a lot of the pages looked incredible and I was really impressed with them. Recommended for any Mass Effect fan :)

[Paige · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did I like this one the most because it featured so much of Aria? You better believe it! Aria is the best character in the game. And this makes so much more sense now reading this and thinking about what happens in Mass Effect 3. Aria is literally the coolest. The blood pack and the blue suns uniting under her reign to take back Omega. Also I hate Cerberus so much. I don't get why they think they're so much better then all the other life forms when they came to the relays so much later (I was going to use the idiom late to the game but I didn't want to make it confusing). I just want to punch the Illusive Man in his glowy eyed face especially for what he did to my girl Aria.

[This Is Not The Michael You're Looking For · Rating 2 out of 5]

A graphic novel which takes place between the 2nd and 3rd Mass Effect computer games, this tells the story of a battle over Omega between Aria and Cerberus. Like the other graphic novels in the series, it lacks any particular depth, but rather gets the plot out in a workman like fashion. The art style was a bit overdone and the text was particularly hard to read at times (this may be due to the eBook version of the ARC which I read). Still, it explains in a bit more detail changes in the galaxy's political structure which took place between the two games.

[Caleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

The third of the Mass Effect graphic novels which takes place between the second and third game. I thought the story wasn't too bad. It focuses mainly on Aria T'Loak, the queen of Omega, and takes place fully on Omega. Cerberus, the human supremacist group, is the main antagonist here. Without revealing too much of the plot I will say that it starts with Cerberus bringing something to Omega that spirals out of control and will show what lengths Aria will go to to keep Omega. So overall it is a good story though I'm not sure how much it adds to the lore since it is a self contained story.

[Garrett Ballendine · Rating 4 out of 5]

An effective little tie in.

I honestly wasn't expecting such quality.
Generally these days video game comics haven't been that great of quality.
Usually just there to sell a little bit of extra merchandise.

But the artistic quality shines through, as does the narrative.
We get to find out what happens to the Element Zero Spacestation Omega, something that was of, sadly, only minor consequence in the game.