“Strength for Cerberus is strength for every human. Cerberus is humanity.”
Voiced by Martin Sheen in Mass Effect 2 and 3, the Illusive Man is one of the most intriguing and charismatic anti-villains in all of video gaming. True to the sound of his name, the leader of Cerberus was a mysterious figure, his name and origins unknown — until Dark Horse’s 2011 miniseries, “Mass Effect: Evolution,” which introduced us to a mercenary named Jack Harper, and a younger version of Saren Arterius, the first game’s villain, during the First Contact War.
Written by John Jackson Miller, Mac WaltersCover by Massimo Carnevale
Art by Omar Francia, Manuel Silva
Colored by Michael Atiyeh
Lettered by Michael HeislerThe Illusive Man sits at the center of many of the galaxy’s greatest mysteries and is a key figure of Mass Effect 2 and beyond. Now, for the first time anywhere, the origin of the Illusive Man is revealed, in a story exclusive to this graphic novel!
Though an origin story, “Evolution” works well as a twisted, standalone King Solomon’s Mines-type adventure, with Miller and Walters’s customary opening narration explaining the disastrous first meeting between humans and turians, and humanity’s use of mercenaries as the conflict wound down. Harper and his two allies, Eva Coré and Ben Hislop, are an affable lead trio, and it’s a lot of fun seeing them use a hostage to force a platoon to surrender, without firing a single shot.
As it turns out, the hostage is General Desolas, Saren’s brother, and his troops were uncovering a Reaper artifact, which has already zombified some turians. Ben dies protecting Jack, though Jack is subtly transformed by the energy of the relic, his eyes changed into his older self’s trademark synthetic irises. It’s the first of several gut punches, that’ll leave you with a true understanding of why Harper was so ruthless in later life.
The Reapers have always provided Mass Effect with a Lovecraftian undercurrent: they are the closest thing to gods in the universe, but also banal machines, only preoccupied with harvesting all sapient life. The artifact grants Jack the ability to speak alien languages (literally speaking in tongues), but his experiences also make him realize there are no gods, heroes, or aliens who can save us, and that only we can be the vicious guard dog preventing our doom.
This religious subtext is taken to the next level with Desolas, who believes the Reapers’ power could elevate the turians above every other race in the galaxy: of course, nationalist and religious rhetoric often go together, but only in a Mass Effect story can a) the religious order Desolas revives also turn out to be the result of the Reapers’ influence, and b) does the antagonist really believe what he’s peddling.
Admittedly, this point is better understood by those who’ve experienced other Mass Effect stories, which explain at length how Reaper technology exploits your own desires to eventually take control of you, but it still illustrates a great point: how susceptible would someone be to aggressive ideas if they hadn’t been conditioned to believe in them? Would Desolas have so easily become a Reaper puppet if he’d been raised to be less resentful of the galaxy’s newcomers?
Saren’s backstory understandably takes a backseat, with his point-of-view not being touched on until the fourth issue’s omniscient narration starts setting up why Desolas isn’t in the games. However, he’s suitably portrayed as equal parts noble and ruthless, sides that players could draw out in the game depending on their preference, and his farewell speech to his brother is a bleakly comical delight, initially telling Desolas he’s “right behind” him, before admitting, “actually, that’s not true,” as it would put him in the blast zone.
Francia and Silva’s art is much more realistic than “Redemption,” and Atiyeh’s coloring is much more accurate to the games in one major respect: unlike the first miniseries, the metallic carapace and skin on the turians’ heads are colored separately, which matches the humans’ description of them as “skull-faces,” but also makes them look less like generic talking reptiles.
Continued belowSpeaking of carapaces, it is odd that Jack and Eva are taken to the turian homeworld, but are unaffected by the larger amount of radiation on the planet. This isn’t some minor canonical detail from the games’ codex that can be overlooked, since the world’s weak magnetic field is the whole reason turians evolved their distinctive “feathers” — it won’t weaken the story for any readers largely unfamiliar with Mass Effect, but hardcore fans will have to invent a no-prize explanation.
The comic also marked the first time female turians were seen in the series, and their “bald” appearance — lacking the long, spike-like plates on the tops of their heads, and the ones descending down their spines — similarly didn’t take into account what had been established about their evolutionary history. Alas, the design made it into the games, so a higher risk of cancer is apparently something all female turians have to deal with.
Anyway, there is a lot else to enjoy: Michael Heisler’s lettering is excellent, especially when it comes to the Reapers — there’s a distinct, alien calligraphy shown throughout the comic, including the walls of Desolas’s ancient turian temple, which is spooky and evocative, more so than any sound design would’ve been. Also, at the start of the second issue, Jack hears the voices of the machines themselves, which are rendered in angular block letters that perfectly capture how enormous and menacing they are.
Likewise, there’s a prominent role for Ashley Williams’s grandfather (the general who surrendered to the turians), and Desolas informing Jack that he’s read up enough on human culture to recognize a reference to Arthur C. Clarke. Above all, diehard fans were given a chance to see the main villains when they were still reasonable, and realize how bitterly ironic their paths became, while non-fans got a superb military horror story that happens to take place in outer space. “Evolution” is a great jumping on point, and like the first prose novel Revelation, it could be a better starting place for a live-action Mass Effect project than the games themselves.
