Comic Book Review - Life is Strange: Coming Home #1

Chloe Osborn reviews Life is Strange Coming Home #1...

Life is Strange: Coming Home is part of an ongoing series featuring characters from DontNod’s episodic video game Life is Strange, released in 2015. It covers the events after one of two endings of the game, “Sacrifice Arcadia Bay”, where Max and Chloe leave their home to be destroyed by a storm. Since I chose the other ending in my playthrough, it’s an extremely intriguing premise.

Written by Emma Vieceli, Coming Home is Volume 5 in the Life is Strange comic series. Unfortunately, I haven’t read the previous volumes and there was a lot that I had missed out on story wise. Luckily, there was a double page spread summarising what had happened previously and due to the two different realities, a cast of characters from both dimensions and a description of them.

The overarching story is of Max, time traveler and trapped in another reality with an alive Rachel and a different Chloe from the one she fell in love with, trying to get back to the universe with her Chloe in it. Specifically in this issue though, the story follows the tense relationship between Max and this other Chloe who isn't quite her Chloe, and Tristan's ability to phase between the two realities. Meanwhile, Max’s Chloe is determined to reunite with the help of drummer Pixie, who has the power to see future possibilities. We also get to see more of Victoria, a mean girl from the original game, as a fellow survivor of the storm and touring actor turning over a new leaf.

Emma Vieceli has done a fantastic job with the writing, really capturing both Max and Chloe to the point where I can almost hear the game's voice actors saying the lines. The dialogue is realistic, bringing life to the new set of young adult characters who bounce off each other. 

I really loved the addition of people with new supernatural powers, since Max in the first game is seemingly the only one. It also fits in well within the lore of Life is Strange, seeing Daniel with telekinesis in Life is Strange 2 and Alex with empathy in True Colors. Speaking of True Colors, it was very exciting to see a snippet of Alex’s move to Haven Springs at the end of the issue!

A useful technique of showing the two Chloes not only through their personalities was that they looked different too, with different clothes. This helped alleviate the confusion between realities, without a need to be super on the nose about it. There was a certain scene which confused me a little since it took place in the same shop with the same characters who are part of both realities. However, this is probably down to me for not having read the previous comics, and they too did have slightly different clothing.

Speaking of the art, Claudia Leonardi and Andrea Izzo beautifully create real human emotion in the characters' faces and expressions. I have always admired this ability to do so through still images, to the point where I forget they are as I can see the scenes unfold in my head. Though it's a different art style than you see in the games, it's refreshing to see Chloe and Max in this new light. The colours, though varied and colourful, aren't too bold and easy on the eye, almost washed out in some scenes. The various covers are absolutely stunning too and unique to each artist.

Overall, it's the perfect accompaniment to the original game and fans will be eager to spend more time in the universe. I definitely would have enjoyed it more having read the previous issues, but the recap was helpful enough and I could still tell this was an advancement in the story (especially with that ending but no spoilers!) It feels familiar to return to Max and Chloe and I'm very much looking forward to reading more.

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