A friend of the Devil is a friend of mine . . .

Faith is a runner, and a runner runs, whether her friends think she’s ready or not.  Having made a deal with one of the most notorious criminals in Glass City, Faith has found a way to be a runner, even without the tools that most of the city’s runners rely on.  Having found a prize she’s willing to work for – a painting by her mother hung in the den of iniquity – she jumps into working for a man that no one trusts and begins to see the results of her choice.

Christofer Emgard continues his ramping up of our new look at Faith.  She’s not the strong, poised, yet reckless woman we met in the original game; this Faith is nothing but the reckless part.  Emgard paints the picture of a young, headstrong woman looking to prove herself and willing to take any risk because she still feels invincible.  It’s not a terribly original storyline, but it hits all the right notes for what it is.  Not surprisingly, we see her distance from her friends and begin to question her new path, pushing in spite of her reservations.  For anyone who’s played the original, this will keep you chomping at the bit for the February release, and new fans to the series whose interest has been piqued by all the hype for Catalyst will find a solid look at the tone and attitude that underlie the game.

The art team continues their stellar work.  I do miss the cel-shaded cut scenes from the original game; I thought that style was very interesting but unfortunately timed because of the e-surance commercials using the same style and tone around the same time.  It’s just an unhappy coincidence, but it makes the new style of the comic welcome and refreshing.  The action is handled well, and Faith is much more expressive than I remember in the game.  Everything in this issue is kept close; the only distance we see is in an elevator shaft, and even that gets tight quickly.  The intimate setting backs up the narrowing of Faith’s options, and it’ll be interesting where things will force her to next.

Another step closer to the game release, we get to keep getting more pieces of the re-established world we’re getting in a few months.  The story just makes the release date that much harder to bear, but I’ll take anything I can get until I can glide through the city of Glass on my own again.

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