Civ – Patrick Anderson
What’s your familiarity with comics?
I read Thor almost exclusively as a kid because I was obsessed with mythology. After college I lost my comics and never went back.
What’s your favorite game?
Favorite video game is Civilization. I’ve probably put 10,000 hours into all the various iterations.
Recommended Comic:
To play that much Civ, you need to be patient and meticulous, picking up on little details and willing to start game after game after game. I’ve got the perfect comic for you: The Wicked + The Divine written by Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Jaime McKelvie. It’s about the Recurrence, a 90 year cycle that sees the gods and goddesses of mythology reincarnate as great people through the ages. In 1831 they were the Romantics. In 1923 they were the great writers and poets. Now they are pop stars, clearly inspired by Rihanna, Florence + The Machine, My Chemical Romance, Prince, and Kanye West. History and mythology play a big part in the story. The comic is densely packed with detail, and rewards multiple re-reads. Stick with it long enough and you’ll be treated to a stunning sequence that shows the entire history of human civilization in a half dozen pages.
Mega Man – Hayley McDonald
What’s your familiarity with comics?
I read comics occasionally, I like Spider-Man, but I’m not a devoted reader. I read a lot of manga, and I read the full run of the Archie Comic’s Mega Man series (RIP).
What’s your favorite game?
My favorite video game is Mega Man! Specifically #3 since that was the introduction of Proto Man, and I love his back story. I just love robots. And with Proto Man, his struggle is what makes him, well him. I really like Robots/AI questioning their humanity type things so despite being a David Cage Game, Detroit was SUPER my jam!
Recommended Comic:
There are a lot of great robot and AI comics – Vision by Tom King and Gabriel Hernandez Walta comes to mind! It’s hard to pick just one, but I gotta. So I’m going to go with a romance, Alex + Ada, written by Jonathan Luna and illustrated by Sarah Vaughn. It takes place in the not too distant future and it’s about a nice, melancholy guy named Alex who is given an expensive sexbot (named Ada) for his birthday by his grandma. Alex is creeped out by this, and quickly realizes that he’s more interested in freeing Ada from her programming than he is in banging her. It’s not the most subtle or trippy or existential robot story, but it’s got the most heart. Someone who loves Mega Man and can find it in their hearts to love Detroit is sure to fall in love with Alex + Ada.
Link to The Past – James Paley
What’s your familiarity with comics?
I soak up superhero movies with vigor but I haven’t read many comics in decades.
What’s your favorite game?
My favorite game of all time is The Legend of Zelda: A Link To The Past.
Recommended Comic:
If you’ve been out of superhero comics for a while and love epic quests, you’ve got to check out Jason Aaron’s run on The Mighty Thor, especially his first stories The God Butcher and Godbomb, both drawn by Esad Ribic. The bad guy is a little darker than your typical Zelda nemesis – he’s an intergalactic serial killer who specializes in killing gods. But like A Link to the Past the story messes with time in an interesting way. It highlights three different times in the life of Thor when he has to fight the God Butcher. Once when he is young and stupid, once when the Avengers are at their height, and once at the end of the universe when Thor is an old man ruling over a broken and desolate Earth. You better believe that Thor’s epic journey ends with some time travel shenanigans that would do Link proud.
Thief – Alex Everatt
What’s your familiarity with comics?
Some Marvel (X-Men, Punisher) and DC (Batman). Video game tie-ins like Gears of War, Street Fighter, Halo. And the Army of Darkness series.
What’s your favorite game?
One of my favorite games is Thief: The Dark Project. Not sure if you know it, but it’s essentially a first-person stealth game where you take on the role of Garrett, a master thief who robs castles but gets caught up in some mystical shit. I loved sneaking around in the dark and picking off guards one by one.
Recommended Comic:
John Constantine isn’t exactly a thief, but his attitude isn’t too far away from Garrett’s. You can’t do any better than his most classic story Hellblazer: Dangerous Habits written by Garth Ennis and illustrated by Will Simpson. This is the comic where all his bad decisions (mainly chain smoking) finally catch up with him, and he’s diagnosed with lung cancer. Being Constantine, he sets out to literally cheat the devil, maybe for a laugh and maybe to get his one last chance. If you like your heroes sly, duplicitous, and cunning, Constantine is your guy.
Do you have a favorite comic book? What about a favorite game? Let us know in the comments below!