In 2005, Marvel teamed up with video game giants EA to bring our favourite superheroes to consoles in a game meant to be like no other - Marvel Nemesis: Rise of the Imperfects. It was pitched as having a deep, dark story and stunning gameplay, which would make you feel just like the hero you are controlling. Then the game came out. Quite frankly, it sucked. The critics hated it, the fans hated it - it was a real low point in superhero games. The only thing of vague interest was the story, which was told interestingly enough, but was wasted on such a poor product.
Well, this is where the comic comes in. Written by the great Greg Pak, he weaves an interesting tale which works far better when removed from the awful graphics and gameplay of the game. I was slightly sceptical going into it, as I felt it had possibly been sullied by the rancid taste of the game, but I thought ‘What the hell’ and decided to give it a shot.
The story itself isn’t the most original, but it does keep the pace up and is intriguing enough to carry the comic to a healthy conclusion. At times it does feel a little like a ‘who’s who’ of heroes that were big at the time, with members of the Fantastic Four, Spiderman and the X-Men all getting involved, plus the added bonus of Elektra (who is pretty awesome in this story). This culmination of heroes works most of the time but some characters, such as Iron Man, feel almost entirely unnecessary, like they are there just to draw in more fans and highlight the other characters in the game.
So, is the comic yet another promotional tool to try and sell more copies of the truly appalling game?
Maybe…. But I’d argue it works far better when taken as a completely separate entity not related to the game.
One issue I do have with how the story is how it is shown in the layout of some of the panels. At times the story jumps around and it almost feels like whole sections of it are missing. It’s quite jarring when this happens and does distract you from the story being told, as you start wondering what it is you’ve missed.
Overall, even though I did have a few issues with the book, I did have a really enjoyable time reading it. It tells quite a fun, if muddled, story and has some great, if sometimes confusing artwork. I guess the best way of describing it is as a highly enjoyable mess of a comic which is worth reading even with all its faults (just don’t play the game).