Before I get into reviewing the four comics included, I’ll make a quick note of some overall things about the Library (and, by extension, the Mass Effect comics) that I enjoy. The main thing is that it lets the creators add comments to pages at the bottom – like a commentary track you’d find on a DVD, but in comic form. It’s fun seeing what the artists’ and writers’ thought processes were in translating the game to the page, providing insights on everything from making biotics still look awesome without the glow to illustrating parts of Omega that hadn’t been revealed in-game yet but would be, thus necessitating a careful hand in order to avoid rendering a canon supplementary materially inaccurate later on (something fans would surely notice).

The other touch I quite liked and found to be essential that ran through the comics was a more personal one – Shepard is not only never depicted, but also never assigned a pronoun. In a game like Mass Effect, where creating your own Shepard is a big aspect of the game (to the point where myself and many of my friends have elaborate backstories and pretty strong emotional attachments to our various Sheps), it is vital to not lock in one singular canon Shepard. We all know Jane and John Shepard, sure, but mercifully they don’t even risk choosing between those two – Shepard is Shepard, and while it may make for some clunky dialogue at times (say “Shepard” one more time, Illusive Man, I dare you) I much prefer a panel of awkward to raging that my female Shepards are suddenly forever rendered as non-canon. There are even some moments where the writers intentionally lampshade this planned ambiguity (“hard to tell if it’s even a man or a woman, blown to hell like that”), and they make for some quality comedic moments while recognizing the importance of gamers’ attachment to the character.

(Anyone even thinking about creating a Mass Effect movie,take note: you’re gonna piss everyone off. There’s a reason the comics and the anime series, Paragon Lost, do not include Shepard and never assign Shepard pronouns. It fundamentally changes the narrative, and people don’t want that. Seriously, you already smacked your fans in the face with the ending; you really don’t want to try your luck by creating a canon Shepard that will invalidate our own personal stories.)

Anyway, more to the point, the comics.

First off is Redemption, a Liara-centric story that looks at what happened between Shepard’s death in the beginning of Mass Effect 2 and the delivery of Shepard’s body to Cerberus. Now, it being Liara-centric is either a cause for delight or dismay, but hear me out. I did not like Liara in ME1. She weirded me out a bit, as she was just way too into me. However, I found her to be much improved in Mass Effect 2, and once I’d played through the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC, I was sold on her because damn, I don’t think I’ve ever laughed as hard at a game sequence as I did during the chase scene of that DLC. If you’re like me and Liara had to grow on you, fear not – the Liara of this comic is the Liara of the Shadow Broker DLC, in no small part because this is where that story began.

Related to that, we get to see a lot of Feron, which makes me really, absurdly happy. It’s good to know more about the guy Liara wanted to save so badly. Feron himself is just a quick-talking, snark bucket of delight with solid motivations. Seriously, I did not expect to love him as much as I do.  Overall, Redemption was a solid read that I feel contributes well to the canon, as it gives you more insight into how Shepard’s body got to Cerberus and for what reasons, while also setting up Liara for her information broker role in Mass Effect 2. It also very neatly sets up the Lair of the Shadow Broker DLC to have even more impact, to the point where, excuse me, I really want to go replay that now.

The next is Evolution. It utilizes a more realistic, mature art style compared to Redemption, and takes a very interesting story arc. It starts with Shanxi, which fans will know as a place highly relevant to Ashley Williams’ grandfather, and it follows the person who will become The Illusive Man while also providing insight into the First Contact War. Quite a few familiar-ish faces show up, making this read both highly informative in regards to the making of the Illusive Man and fascinating in terms of how all the components of the Mass Effect story intertwine.  I do wish they’d let Eva zip her suit up, though. Seriously, that gratuitous cleavage just isn’t necessary. I’m accustomed to the Ass Effect, but I don’t need that!

While Redemption felt light-hearted and comedic at times, Evolution is straight-up serious exposition and narrative, and it works. It suits the creation story of the Illusive Man, informs his choice to create Cerberus, and sets up a really fascinating parallel between him and Saren. I already rather liked TIMmy, and honestly, this just made me like him more because I got to understand him more. Always a good thing.

Moving right along, we have Invasion. Continuing the trend of following characters from the game, this one focuses on Omega and Aria T’Loak. While I love Aria, this one dragged for me a bit, mainly because it was mostly space dogfights and lots of bickering. I loved Redemption and Evolution for their backstory and the light they shed on certain in-game events, and that isn’t as center-stage in Invasion. It’s still damn pretty, though, and not necessarily a bad read; it just doesn’t hold up to the previous two in my opinion. Although I did rather enjoy Petrovsky, particularly his Russian literature references, and the abundant military history references spoke to my history major in a rather pleasant manner. It ends more strongly than it starts, I will give it that. Just get through the first bit, and it becomes just as good as the previous two.

(Being fair, Invasion sets up the Omega DLC, a DLC I haven’t yet played. Maybe this would be more meaningful to me if I had. I’ll come back and update this if I find it fundamentally changes my stance.)

Next, there’s Homeworlds. These are quicker, one-issue stories that show us the personal history of some of the squaddies. Vega’s goes into how he entered the military; Tali’s opens with her struggling to get to Dr. Michele (all the way back in ME1 – we get to see how she got that intel on Saren!); Garrus’s tale is framed by him recalling his life while making his stand on Omega (the Archangel recruitment mission from ME2. His is probably my favorite one, right in the feels), and Liara’s explains how she ended up on Mars (beginning of ME3). I enjoyed all of them, and I felt them to be very true to the characters they depicted, although I did find myself wishing for more. I suppose I shouldn’t be greedy; my two favorites (Tali and Garrus) did get issues, but I would’ve killed for a Kaidan, Ashley, Thane, or Mordin-centric one.

Following Homeworlds is Incursion, a quick, one-shot comic following Aria on Omega. It was, well, quick. Pretty, but didn’t really do much. Although it is always nice to see Aria being badass.

Next up: Inquisition. This follows an unexpected side character–Bailey, the C-Sec officer turned Commander–and shows how he got his promotion. And, again, this story hits you in the feels. Remember how you and Bailey talk about contacting loved ones on Earth? Yeah, we see him lose his chance to take some leave to Earth to see his daughter at the hands of Udina in the name of a promotion. Like I said, feels.

And now we come to Conviction, the final tale in the book called a Library for a damn good reason. This one follows Vega, reacting negatively to news reports painting Shepard as a terrorist after Shepard takes down the Batarian system (I think that was also a DLC. There seems to be a trend of comics setting up or responding to DLC). Not much else to say, it’s quick.

That does it for the comics, although there’s a fun sketchbook-type component at the end where we get to see concept work from artist Omar Francia. Always nice to see some concept work, especially since, honestly, the ones he illustrated were my favorites in terms of art style, as it felt the truest to the game while still being remarkably beautiful.

… This review got long, and that’s a testament to the amount of content it had to cover. There are 400+ pages of comics and art in this Library, including all four series and all the one-shot stories published elsewhere around the web. It’s a bit pricey at $59.99, but considering each of the four series in it would run about $16 each, it’s a hard-cover, and it includes one-shot stories that haven’t been published elsewhere (and honestly, while they’re not bad, wouldn’t really merit buying on their own in my opinion), it still seems like a reasonable price. Also, the cover art is gorgeous, which is a check in its favor. If you haven’t been following the comics and want to get your hands on all of the already published ones in one go, this is your best bet. This is a collection that won’t disappoint and will look mighty pretty on a bookshelf.