The much anticipated follow-up to hardcore hit Dark Souls, Dark Souls II, is getting its own stand-alone prologue in the form of a comic book. Setting up the story of a whole new hero thrown into the abyss of a gothic Pandemonium, Andi Ewington, author of graphic novel 45, is working with writer Rob Williams, of The Amazing Spider-Man and Dark X-Men fame, and Marvel artist, Simon Coleby, to create this unique comic.
Coming together to talk to fans at MCM London Comic Con, we had the chance to have a quick chat with Ewington about the comic.
Laying Down the Lore?
Ewington, unsurprisingly, was incredibly coy about what the comic’s story contains, being as closely guarded a secret as the game’s content. But the one thing that Ewington mentioned that wouldn’t be in the comic was the wealth of lore that lies beneath the series.
“We don’t want to give away too much with the regards to the lore, because that’s something that the players enjoy, and want to experience and find out for themselves.”
The compromise?
“We don’t want to give away too much with the regards to the lore, because that’s something that the players enjoy, and want to experience and find out for themselves.” – Andi Ewington, co-writer of “Dark Souls II: Into the Light”
“What we’ve done is produced a comic that touches on those experience touch points that people come across: the fear and trepidation, and the fact that death could be around the corner. Those are the real emotions that we’re trying to push through in the comic…Almost like a first step into the world of Dark Souls II.“
But the other reason there is so little to give away about the comic’s contents in relation to the game might be because Ewington and the other creators have only played the game as much as anyone else got to at both Eurogamer 2013 and MCM London Comic Con.
“I’ve have probably played about 2 hours worth, and within that, I didn’t get very far and died many, many times.”
When asked if he managed to defeat the Mirror Knight, his answer, like so many gamers at the con, was a firm “no”.
Going Into The Unknown With “Into The Light”
Although acclaimed for his graphic novel 45, Ewington is comparatively not as established as his counterparts. So what was it like for him to receive the call from the developers asking him to help mould the character and history of a whole new hero to one of gaming’s pieces of hot property, alongside two of comic books’ well-known writers and artists?
“Trepidation; much like the game. I think it’s one of those steps into the unknown. Certainly, there’s a huge heritage there, and I totally feel the weight of responsibility to deliver something that the players are going to resonate with. [But] I was delighted to have been chosen to be part of the crew on that.”
But despite this slightly overwhelming task, it hasn’t stopped him from working tirelessly with his colleagues on creating the comic. Having already spent nearly three months working on it already, it’s finally close to completion.
“We started development work sometime in early August, just to get the style right and make sure [Williams] was happy with what we were producing. We pretty much hit the button in September [and have] been working solidly since, and we’re still about four pages away from finishing. So yeah, you’ve got about another month’s worth of work and then it all goes off to be ledgered, which is the last thing we need to do: the last piece of the puzzle.”
Beyond The Light?
Although the comic currently exists purely as a piece of promotional material, Ewington’s last comments were that he hopes the comic has a life beyond the game’s launch.
“We’re hoping that what will happen is the fans will really resonate this, and then [Williams] will see the potential to actually start developing this and touching into the lore and background stories that people really love to explore.”
“Dark Souls II: Into The Light” will be available to download for free online in January 2014. However, gamers and collectors can get their hands on a physical copy of the comic by pre-ordering via exclusive outlets, such as Zavvi in the UK. The game will be available for release on March 11th 2014 (US) and March 14th 2014 (EU). For more information on the game visit www.darksoulsii.com.
