Hawken: Melee #1
Written by Dan Abnett
Illustrated by Federico Dallocchio
Colored by Chris Northrop
Lettered by Julia Fung
Cover by Tim Bradstreet
Boom! Studios
Release Date: December 4, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Back in April, I reviewed Hawken: Genesis, Archaia’s prequel tie-in to the hit, free online multi-player game, Hawken. Having never played an online multi-player game, I enjoyed the graphic novel so much that I even considered pursuing the world it’s set in some more within its main form of media. Well, Boom has just released issue one of the their sequel series, Hawken: Melee, and I obviously jumped at the chance to check out the newest venture into the gritty, war-torn world of Hawken. Does it live up to its predecessor? Find out below.

In Hawken: Melee #1, I was submerged into battle with a Mech (giant robot controlled by a human) pilot who was caught in the middle of a fast-paced attack from multiple opponents. “20 Seconds,” the first title in the five stand-alone issues series, literally takes place within the span of twenty seconds, though it feels much longer.

Hawken: Genesis
Story by Dan Jevons, Miles Williams, and Khang Le
Written by Jeremy Barlow
Illustrated by Francisco Ruiz Velasco, Alex Sanchez, Kody Chamberlain, Sid Kotian, Bill Sienkiewicz, Bagus Hutomo, Michael Gaydos, Federico Dallocchio, Nathan Fox, and Christopher Moeller
Colored by Grant Goleash, Derek Dow, Eddy Swan, Chad Fidler, and Logan Faerber
Lettered by Deron Bennett
Cover by Khang Le
Archaia Entertainment
Release Date: April 9, 2013
Cover Price: $19.95

Hawken: Genesis is a graphic novel based on the popular free online multi-player game, Hawken. While the game allows you to go to war, controlling a massive, robotic killing machine, Hawken: Genesis explores the origins of why you are fighting in the first place. Archaia Entertainment pulled together a solid team for this graphic novel with the story written by Jeremy Barlow and illustrations provided by a slew of fantastic artists.

“Come to Illal. Come to Paradise.”