Metal Gear Solid: Sons Of Liberty From IDW

[NickRocks]

Is anyone reading this book? It's written by Alex Garner and illustrated by Ashley Wood.

It's somply REALLY GOOD. The art is different than the other Metal Gear Solid comic. In the first one, the art was more painted. In SOL, it is more scratchy and scribbly. This gives the art more excitement and energy.

The story is alright. The writer tells the tanker mission in flashback, so this is REALLY Raiden's story. But it's also written in a different way, so other perspectives are seen, like the patriots egging fatman on, etc. my only complaints is the pacing is a bit rushed. the fights are "BANG BANG!" in one panel, return fire in the next, then its over, then alot of talking.

Bottom line is, it's an interesting take on the events that happened in the video game. it doesnt just reiterate what happened in the game, and is worth a look.

my rating: 7/10

[jack_of_asses]

alex garner is doing an alright job with the story, i agree the fights are too short as was evident from the first series(i only have the first issue of sons of liberty) but i was disappointed that they haven't canned ashley wood. the art is so half ass and looks like one of picasso's wet dreams, utter shit. its a bargin basement version of the concept artists work (i enjoyed the concept artist work although his name escapes me), very pale in comparision. its the major thing holding back this book. in fact if they are going to keep the art this crappy they might as well make the pages two ply and quilted to wipe my ass with it.

[Johnny Blaque]

You speak blasphemey Jack.

[Crimson Spider]

the fights are "BANG BANG!" in one panel, return fire in the next, then its over, then alot of talking.

So in other words, it's very true to the game ;)

[lost-spartan]

I just got done reading the series tonight, and I really loved the whole thing. As a huge MGS fan, I was thrown off at first at how quick the pace was, and how it seemed to gloss over certain things. But once I finished it, I love how Garner skewed his retelling of the story and got rid of the things that made the game work in favor of slightly altered scenarios that really added a lot of richness to the story. I like he included things from Snake Eater like the Sorrow being dissapointed in Ocelot as a son, and the behind the scenes stuff like Ocelot really struggling to fight off Liquid. I agree the story was more about Raiden, but I loved that Snake was given more of stake and role in the things happening on the shell then shown in the game. Ashely Wood's art will be very love or hate. I really loved his work on this book. His style leaves alot to the reader to fill in, which some panels ends up being very muddy and vague at best, but a lot of the panels and page designs for the most part are pure genius at minimum. If you are fan of MGS, pick up this series solely for how much this book adds to the overall fabric of the saga story that is MGS, as wellas the amazing read, and jaw dropping artwork.

[larq2525]

I bought the entire run of the first MGS comic series from IDW before reading it and was extremely disappointed. Perhaps the best thing about the game is the story, and it was butchered and condensed greatly to fit into 12 issues of a comic book. It felt very, very rushed. Also, while I quite like Wood's artwork, in my opinion it doesn't fit the subject matter at all. With all of the technology at play in Metal Gear, I would have preferred to see an art style more reminiscent of Travis Charest, Steve McNiven, or some other very detail-oriented artist take on the book. Metal Gear Solid for the Playstation is my all time favorite video game and the comic left me extremely disappointed. After reading the first twelve issues I have not bothered with the Sons of Liberty adaptation.

[NickRocks]

Well I finally got a chance to read the series completely through....and man am i dissapointed!

Alex Garner had done a pretty masterful job of ignoring the first third of the game, and just telling the Big Shell part with flashbacks fleshing out the Tanker. He also eschews the ridiculous mundane-ness of the game, like Raiden running around freezing C4 and needing all the different card key levels.

My favorite aspect of Garners writing is how, unlike Kojima, he actually treats Raiden as more than just some idiot. Raiden is smart and does on the spot improvisation, like bringing stillman along to finish fatman (much to the "colonel"s chagrin). its a smart move and makes total sense, and also sets up the fact that Raiden ISNT a total noob to war later on.

The showdown between solidus and raiden is intense, and the Metal Gear Ray showing up is well done. Wood's art is also awesome, subtly nailing the feel of big shell with different hues of orange, brown and green.

However, the part that left me dismayed was after Raiden gets captured. everything seems rushed. The art also suffers IMO. wood suddenly forgets that he has a color pallette, throwing everything in dark greys (it would have been so easy to have done arsenal...moody blues and greens was the color scheme in the game, if i remember correctly). Also, Garner suddenly writes every page with a lot more panels. It feels like he was rushing to cram alot of story and explanation to fit 12 issues. The only part I dug was how they actually showed arsenal hitting manhattan. That scene was cut from the game if you remember, (due to post-9/11) and that was one of the weirdest parts. "why is raiden suddenly on city hall?"

The final battle between Raiden and Solidus also was dissapointing. It was supposed to be Raidens final mission, but instead he gets knocked out and Snake beats Solidus. Not that big of a deal, but still jarring.

Its a shame that the end dissapointed me so much, since i absolutely loved the first 8 issues.

[bdog]

Spammer above ^

Anyways I haven't read this yet, but I enjoyed the video game very much. So after reading it, is it worth the money to by the trade?