Dead Space Salvage tells the story of a group of illegal miners who come across the USG Ishimura and decide to salvage some stuff from it. Of course the Ishimura is the mining ship that Dead Space takes place on (the story takes place between Dead Space and Dead Space 2). Attempting to salvage this doomed ship, in restricted space at that, proves to not be a smart decision; there are necromorphs on board and that means death is coming for these Magpies.
The first portion of this graphic novel introduces us to the miners (the Magpies) who come across the Ishimura and there’s some decent character development here. The second half they’re losing their minds and being killed off by the necromorphs. To that end, the illustration here by Christopher Shy works. At first, I was a bit turned off by the art becomes it came across as distorted and at times a swirl murky colors, but it did grow on me. I don’t think the particularly art style would work for most things, but for Dead Space it fit.
I have the first two Dead Space games, although I haven’t spent much time at all with the second one, but this graphic novel doesn’t really add anything to the universe. It’s not like you’re going to read this and learn something that’s going to play a meaningful role in anything, but that doesn’t prevent it from being a worthwhile read (especially for Dead Space fans).
Antony Johnston wrote a pretty good story, and the dialogue is really good (I’d say the best I’ve seen in the few graphic novels that I have read). The character development is quite good in the beginning, and I particularly liked when Stefan (I believe) realized the Ishimura crew was all dead and wondered if they (the Magpies) had accidentally killed them with their shockrings and a bad shockpoint. Then they find some shards and necromorphs start reanimating, and that’s when things get violent.
This was originally released in 2010 by IDW Publishing, but has just been re-released by Titan Publishing. So if you missed it back in 2010 and are interested in it, you can get a new 2013 first edition from Amazon for $8.23. If you’re a fan of graphic novels and Dead Space, then there’s really no reason not to pick this up. It’s an enjoyable read.
Dead Space Salvage gets a three out of five: GOOD.
*A copy of this book was provided by the publisher for review.
