Comic Book Review - Horizon Zero Dawn: Liberation #1

Rob reviews Horizon Zero Dawn: Liberation #1...

I'm a massive fan of the Horizon Zero Dawn video game. Guerrilla did a brilliant job in bringing everything about Aloy and her world to life. The sci-fi setting plays right into the need to discover what happened to the world, and it's a history lesson thats shrouded in a lot of darkness. Even as humanity takes tiny footsteps back into the world, its destruction by the long dormant 'Farro Plague', rogue A.I.'s, and even other humans is but a stones throw away...

Set during the events of the game, Horizon Zero Dawn: Liberation sees Aloy talked into hunting down the mysterious Korl, by her charming companion - Erend. Along their journey Erand tells Aloy of his hatred towards the Sun-King. Before the events seen in the game Erend and his sister, Ersa fought against the Sun-King with Korl. During a botched mission to rescue some prisoners, Ersa is captured by the Sun-King and forced to fight within his arena. 

Within the arena, Ersa finds herself up against a Ravager, a canine-like machine with a serious attitude problem. Unarmed and trapped, Ersa had to fight the Ravager, or face a pretty horrific death. Back in the present Aloy realises that Korl knows he's being hunted and as such both Erend and herself venture into a field full of Ravager mechs. 

Adapting a video game into comic format is certainly not an easy job. This is made more so when the comics timeline is within the games timeline too. As so you have to remain faithful to what's come before, without deviating too much from what's yet to come. Thankfully Anne Toole and Ben Mccaw have done exactly that with this opening issue. 

Both Toole and Mccaw capture the essence of what made the video game such a hit. Both Aloy and Erend are written well with each being just as charismatic. It's nice to also see that Erand is being fleshed out more as the character has had a somewhat more troubled past when compared to Aloy. 

Elma Damaso also brings the video games world to life. Everything from characters to the Ravager retain their looks. Even the landscape is just how you'd imagine it from playing the game. It's beautiful to look at, even with the desolation. Damaso also illustrates a great fight scene. The battle between Ersa and the Ravager is filled with ferocity and desperation as Ersa literally fights for her very survival. 

Away from this, Brian Valenza uses a great colour palette that mixes the lush green of the present, with some vibrant - firey oranges of the past. What I also found a nice touch is when Aloy consults her Focus we get to see the purple hex-grid. It's small but appreciated. 

As a fan of Horizon Zero Dawn I totally fell into what Liberation has to offer. It's a great way to flesh out more of the world and its characters motivations before the upcoming sequel hits shelves. The only downside is that there's not much world building. This means that you'll need a slight understanding of the video game to fully appreciate what story Anne Toole and Ben Mccaw are telling.

Rating 8/10 

Rob Lake - For more comic book and video game chat why not follow Geek Culture Reviews on Twitter and Facebook @GeekCultureRev