Borderlands: Origins is a four-part miniseries which goes back to the time before the first game and tells the stories of Roland, Lilith, Mordecai, and Brick and how they wound up together on a bus as Vault Hunters at the start of the original Borderlands.
This first issue centers on Roland during his time as a soldier of the Crimson Lance and shows what made him turn his back on the unit and the Atlas Corporation. This issue captures the bada–ness and humor of the games quite well, while staying within the means of what can be reasonably represented in a comic format. The new characters introduced are awesome enough that I was bummed that this is only a one-shot, and that I probably won’t get to see many of them again; however, the personality injected into these characters made them come alive and contributed a lot to what made this issue fun. In particular, I have to give a shout out to Aebri who had me giggling the entire time and was responsible for my three favorite moments of the issue.
Origins #1 takes an interesting approach to introducing Roland. Just about everything we learn about him comes from the other characters. Even this early on, Roland demonstrates the qualities that make him a good leader and a rebel. While the rest of the cast stand out and add a lot to this issue, I never felt like Roland was being overshadowed. Aebri may have been my favorite character of the issue, but Roland had plenty of funny and bada– moments of his own.
The issue also looks great. While lacking the distinctive cell-shading of the games, Pandora feels like Pandora – a dangerous, barren wasteland where even the things that look cute are probably going to bite your face off. The artistic team paid a lot of attention to the games. Besides the setting, the characters all fit into the established style of the universe, bear similar weapon and armor designs to the games, and, with their unique quirks, they are as identifiable as any of the cast from Borderlands 2.
If I have one complaint about this issue, it’s that it cuts out a huge chunk of story to wrap up in time. I could easily see content for at least two more issues for Roland’s story alone, but the way in which the story is bypassed is smart, subtle, and still satisfying.
While the print issue is out soon, the first issue is available on Comixology for free. Roland is probably my least favorite character of the original cast, and they knocked his story out of the park. I can’t wait to see the humor and killer action scenes they throw into the remaining three issues.
