Warframe #1 Review

Freeze Frame

Story: Matt Hawkins
           Ryan Cady
Art: Studio Hive
Publisher: Image Comics
Cover Price: $3.99
Reviewer: Andrew McAvoy


 
Okay, so here's the deal, I have no knowledge of Warframe the game. That being said surely the creators of this new comic book would recognize that at least some comic book readers wouldn't have played the game. After all, the two formats are completely different, with comic books a more passive form of engagement with characters within a story.




Well. For starters this comic just drops you right into a story mid-battle. Now that ain't necessarily a bad thing; one of my favorite films of all time Star Wars drops the viewer right into a world, and expects us to deal with that immersive technique where you aren't told everything. Unlike Star Wars though, by the end of this first issue I was really no wiser as to the overarching dynamics at play. I knew there were two groups Grineer and Tenno, I got the impression that the latter were the good guys. That was about it. Who the main characters were, why the names Grineer and Tenno seemed to refer to both individuals and groups, what the battle was about, were all still unknown to me.

There was also a blind woman who came into the mix at various points. I could relate to that character, as I was blind to where the story was taking me. Then in the last few pages another character called The Lotus seemed to communicate with the Tenno, and we were treated to what was actually quite a beautiful full page of art. Thing is though, it made no sense to me whatsoever. I was dying for it to make sense to me as that page was beautiful in comparison to the rest of the dark dirge, but by that stage I was completely lost.

Alas, that was one of the few beautiful pages of colorful art. The artwork more generally was rendered in tones of black, gray and dark blue with the occasional fire-burst thrown in. This tended to give the whole issue a gloomy tone, which could have done with a lot of brightening up because of the impenetrable story.

Bits and pieces:

I did "google" the game Warframe after I read this issue, and it did impose a slight logic on proceedings. From what I can gather however, it doesn't seem to be a game that is so popular that the makers of this comic can afford to assume everyone who goes into a comic store would know the basic game dynamics. At the end of the day, this book has a cover price of $3.99, it is a competitive market, and there are many more deserving titles, doing similar things in a better fashion, to make this a good use of your time or money.

3.5/10