Quantic Dream are releasing their latest video game, Detroit: Become Human, on May 25, so this month’s edition of We Want Comics is taking a look at their previous project, 2013’s Beyond: Two Souls. The paranormal action-adventure game/interactive movie starred Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, and like all Quantic Dream games (written and directed by David Cage), it had a divisive reception. Cage evidently decided to spearhead Detroit: Become Human instead of developing a sequel, which makes it an ideal story for someone else to continue in the medium of comics.
In Beyond: Two Souls, Page played Jodie Holmes, a young woman has been tethered since birth to a disembodied entity she calls Aiden. We meet Jodie on the run, as flashbacks reveal how her upbringing by two kindly scientists studying ghosts on the government’s behalf, her induction into the CIA, who wanted to use Aiden’s psychic powers in the field, and her acrimonious departure after she realized they were manipulating her.
During the game’s climax, Jodie discovers the Pentagon have built a Condenser, a device capable of opening a rift between this world and the next. Jodie and Aiden are able to close the breach and stop the flood of vengeful spirits pouring through, though the ties between them are severed, and Aiden passes on into the next world. Jodie can join him, or return to the world of living, which branches off into several different endings:
- Jodie resumes life on the road, still able to perceive the dead souls among us. One day, while in a motel, Aiden writes “still here” on Jodie’s TV, revealing he’s still looking out for her despite no longer being tied to her.
- Jodie resumes her relationship with Ryan, her CIA handler. While on a beach, Aiden informs her he’s “still here” by writing in the sand.
- Jodie reunites with Jay, a Navajo farmer she befriended while hitchhiking. Like the previous endings, Aiden will let her know he’s still floating around by writing “still here” on a mirror.
- Jodie moves into an apartment owned by a group of homeless people she helped while on the run. Among them is Elisa, whose baby girl Zoey was delivered by Jodie. Zoey seems to recognize Jodie, despite having never seen her since her birth, implying she’s gifted like her too.
In all of these endings, Jodie has a vision of herself in post-apocalyptic gear, looking over a city overrun by ghosts, implying the Pentagon will make another disastrous attempt at building a Condensor. If she moves in with Elisa and her friends, a teenaged Zoey will be there as well, presumably having become her protégé. And if Jodie passed into the Beyond during your playthrough, Zoey becomes the epilogue’s protagonist, with the implication that Jodie has become her guardian spirit.
A talented writer could marry together elements of all these disparate endings for an ongoing sequel narrative. Given Cage wrote the game, it’d be great if a woman could continue Jodie’s story this time: Marguerite Bennett (“Batwoman,” “Animosity“), Jody Houser (“Mother Panic,” “Thrawn“), and Becky Cloonan (“Southern Cross,” “Punisher“) would be great given how dark their scripts can be, as would Caitlin Kittredge, whose current run on “Witchblade” has been quite gritty and evocative of a horror thriller, which Beyond: Two Souls often was.
It’s important that a comic of Beyond: Two Souls maintains the game’s cinematic live-action feel. Stephen Molnar, a veteran of IDW’s “Star Trek” movie comics, is a strong storyteller adept at drawing actors’s likenesses, and his recent work on Tim Seeley’s Vertigo series “Imaginary Fiends” (which has a superficially similar premise to Beyond: Two Souls) showed he could do phantasmagorical specters like those that haunt Jodie too.
Other artists we’re thinking about include Cat Staggs (“Crosswind“), Rachael Stott (“Motherlands“), Elena Casagrande (“Doctor Who: The Tenth Doctor,” “Vigilante: Southland“), Angel Hernandez (“Star Trek/Green Lantern“), Stephen Mooney (“Half Past Danger,” “The Dead Hand“), and Luke Ross (“Thrawn,” and other “Star Wars” titles). They’re all capable artists who can use photo reference without being adhering too slavishly to it, which could be a danger with a “Beyond: Two Souls” comic, where the temptation would be to just rely on painting over gameplay screenshots.
Continued belowWe’re interested to know if you’re a fan of Beyond: Two Souls, and how you’d like to see the story be continued, or if you hated the game and remain skeptical about its potential, even with a different creative team. Perhaps you think there should be a comic, but that Quantic Dream should make it in-house? Be sure to let us know what you think in the comments, and remember, “once Pandora’s box is open, it can never be closed again.”
Following the death of Verne Troyer, we considered making Austin Powers the subject of this month’s post. It turns out WildStorm pitched a comic by J. Scott Campbell after the first film’s release. Perhaps DC will step up someday, and finally give us the confrontation with Scott Evil we were promised at the end of the third film?
We also considered writing about a comic book based on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, the fabulous police sitcom that was briefly canceled last week. A Captain Holt prequel series would be appreciated, though not as desirable as an ongoing. As always, let us know if you have your own suggestions, and which artists and writers you’d like spotlighted in future.
