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Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: Power of the Mind Worms
Chronicles, in graphic novel format, the war between the environmentalist Gaians and the technologically superior Morgans.
43 pages, Paperback
First published October 1, 1999
16 people want to read
About the author
Rafael Kayanan
135 books2 followersRafael Kayanan is a Filipino-born naturalised American comics artist and Filipino martial arts master in the Sayoc Kali system.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 8, 2021
I really enjoyed the game, *Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri,* so reading this and learning more about the fascinating background lore was great. Full disclosure: I'm not sure if this would hold the attention of someone who had not played the game. It held mine, but I loved the game, and spent hours playing it. You get to experience a conflict between two factions, the Morganites (believers in capitalism) and the Gaians (believers is an extreme form of ecological activism). A sensitive young botonist and xenobiologist, Lindly, develops a mystical rapport with the planet and is able to control its elemental life form, "the mind worms." So, in response to the Morganites capitalistic attempts to harvest the planet's resources, Lindly is able to unleash the powers of the planet, but she risks losing her humanity in doing so. I am not a confident judge of comics. In my amateur opinion, this was well done. It told an intriguing story, in a compressed way, and the art was curious and unique. The worms were rendered in a very sublime way.
March 21, 2023
Alpha Centauri (SMAC) is, without a doubt, a stellar strategy game and perhaps the best of 1999. It used the systems from 1996’s Civilization II as the basis for a wholly new adventure that is just as addictive and in some ways even deeper. Its expansion, Alien Crossfire (SMAX), doubled the number of playable factions and added some other exciting new features to SMAC. An engrossing narrative, interesting backstory, and fascinating universe were created for this game (the prelude to the events of SMAC and SMAX was told via two episodic short stories in 1998). The storyline in the game itself, however, was presented in a fairly minimalistic though captivating way.
It was later enrichened by countless player-made mods, as well as official fiction in the form of a book trilogy by Michael Ely, a GURPS tabletop role-playing game, and of course the graphic novel Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: Power of the Mind Worms (PotMW). The latter was written by Steve Darnall, with input from Meier and Ely, while Rafael Kayanan illustrated it. It primarily follows key characters from the Gaia's Stepdaughters (arguably the most important faction of SMAC), namely its leader Lady Deirdre Skye and her native-lifeform specialist Lindly.
As tends to be the case with female characters created by male authors and artists, both Skye and Lindly are portrayed as beautiful and compassionate. Some of the panels in PotMW sexualise them, but overall they are still quite solid protagonists – Skye in particular, who is already established as a captivating persona in SMAC itself. Though the art style of the graphic novel is a mixed bag; with its somewhat washed-out aesthetic, sometimes it complements the enigmatic atmosphere of the game while in other parts it looks cheap and shoddy. Nevertheless, there are some stunning moments in here.
The writing feels a bit rushed. You can tell they were trying to replicate the minimalist approach of the game’s narrative, but the graphic novel is another art form that warrants a different approach. You spend many more hours with SMAC than you do with PotMW (even the brief voiced quotes, when grouped together as a whole, are more numerous and give greater exposition than Darnall does in about 45 pages), so a longer and better developed plot would have been preferable. On the other hand, if you are already familiar with the setting and central characters from the game, this will not bother you as much.
Ultimately, Power of the Mind Worms is a pretty enjoyable read with visuals of uneven quality. I give it three stars out of five because I am already in love with the universe of Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, but your experience may vary. If you are a SMAC fan too then this is worth checking out. If not, you might still enjoy it as a standalone little sci-fi curiosity, but I would just recommend the fantastic game instead. You can get the Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack (a digital bundle of SMAC and SMAX) for a low price on GOG, where it was tested to work on modern operating systems.
It was later enrichened by countless player-made mods, as well as official fiction in the form of a book trilogy by Michael Ely, a GURPS tabletop role-playing game, and of course the graphic novel Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri: Power of the Mind Worms (PotMW). The latter was written by Steve Darnall, with input from Meier and Ely, while Rafael Kayanan illustrated it. It primarily follows key characters from the Gaia's Stepdaughters (arguably the most important faction of SMAC), namely its leader Lady Deirdre Skye and her native-lifeform specialist Lindly.
As tends to be the case with female characters created by male authors and artists, both Skye and Lindly are portrayed as beautiful and compassionate. Some of the panels in PotMW sexualise them, but overall they are still quite solid protagonists – Skye in particular, who is already established as a captivating persona in SMAC itself. Though the art style of the graphic novel is a mixed bag; with its somewhat washed-out aesthetic, sometimes it complements the enigmatic atmosphere of the game while in other parts it looks cheap and shoddy. Nevertheless, there are some stunning moments in here.
The writing feels a bit rushed. You can tell they were trying to replicate the minimalist approach of the game’s narrative, but the graphic novel is another art form that warrants a different approach. You spend many more hours with SMAC than you do with PotMW (even the brief voiced quotes, when grouped together as a whole, are more numerous and give greater exposition than Darnall does in about 45 pages), so a longer and better developed plot would have been preferable. On the other hand, if you are already familiar with the setting and central characters from the game, this will not bother you as much.
Ultimately, Power of the Mind Worms is a pretty enjoyable read with visuals of uneven quality. I give it three stars out of five because I am already in love with the universe of Sid Meier’s Alpha Centauri, but your experience may vary. If you are a SMAC fan too then this is worth checking out. If not, you might still enjoy it as a standalone little sci-fi curiosity, but I would just recommend the fantastic game instead. You can get the Alpha Centauri Planetary Pack (a digital bundle of SMAC and SMAX) for a low price on GOG, where it was tested to work on modern operating systems.
February 23, 2020
his book is set in the world of the Alpha Centari video game. Two factions are warring on a distant planet. The Gaians are environmentalists, and the technologically superior Morgans believe in exploiting the planet's resources. Into the mix comes Lindley, a Gaian who can communicate with the "mind worms" who have been attacking the colonists, turning them into a weapon against the principles of their society and her own. Excellent art and a morally ambiguous ending put this above similar stories.
January 1, 2020
Terrible art and hackneyed story.
The characters seem to be actual people (un-credited) that got "computerized" and added to the HORRIBLY techno-rendered environment. The mid-1990s (or any era) constraints of computer rendering don't excuse horrific art that looks like a blurry bad joke. If you can't produce something worth looking at with a medium then you avoid it until it's capable.
The characters seem to be actual people (un-credited) that got "computerized" and added to the HORRIBLY techno-rendered environment. The mid-1990s (or any era) constraints of computer rendering don't excuse horrific art that looks like a blurry bad joke. If you can't produce something worth looking at with a medium then you avoid it until it's capable.
May 16, 2012
Kinda dumb.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews