Real Space. Real Terror. DEAD SPACE is the prequel to Electronic Arts' upcoming survival horror game. Set on a restricted and illegal barren planet in a distant solar system, Dead Space tells the disturbing tale of a deep space mining colony that unknowingly unleashes an ancient and vicious alien life form from the storm ravaged rock!

We spoke with writer, Antony Johnston, about the project.

The Big Bad Wolf: Can you give us a synopsis of Dead Space?

Antony Johnston: DEAD SPACE is the story of a deep space mining colony that prepares dead worlds for "planetcracking" - literally ripping them apart to harvest their natural resources. It's a huge operation, requiring thousands of people, and giant planetcracker-class ships that come in and process all the ore and rock.

Our story starts shortly before planetcrack is about to take place, when the miners are running surveys on the planet, and one team finds a strange artefact that is most definitely not man-made... but is a near-replica of another artefact allegedly discovered on earth a couple hundred years previously. I say "allegedly" because there's no public evidence of this artefact, and a religion that sprung up around it claims the government have it hidden away on Earth somewhere.

So the discovery becomes a flashpoint for gossip, rumour and speculation that drives the colony into chaos. And it all leads up to the moment when they finally "pop the cork" on the planet, and unleash something pretty horrific...

DEAD SPACE is sci-fi horror, but it's a nice mix of psycho-horror and gore. There's plenty to squick you out, of course, but underneath it all is a very human, psychological thriller.


The Big Bad Wolf: So this comic book will serve as a prequel to the Electronic Arts Video game?

Antony Johnston: Yes. The comic covers the five weeks leading up to the game, and finishes pretty much where the game begins. Ben likes to compare it to the first ten minutes of the Special Edition of ALIENS, the scenes on the LV-426 colony before the shit hits the fan. In contrast, we actually show the shit hitting the fan - and a lot of it! - but it's not a bad comparison.

The fun part is that 80-90% of the comic story is independent of the game, which is quite unusual for this sort of "franchise extension" in comics. The game and comic complement each other. You don't have to read the comic to enjoy the game, and you don't have to play the game to enjoy the comic.

That level of freedom is great, because it's allowed us to explore characters and situations that we wouldn't have been able to if we were just adapting or extending the game, and means we can do it without spoiling anything. Sure, we show what happens before the game. But we don't explain *why*...

The Big Bad Wolf: Will the main character in the comic be the same as in the video game, Isaac Clarke?

Antony Johnston: No. Our story is entirely focused on the characters in the colony. A couple of characters will cross over between the comic and the game, but not Isaac.

The Big Bad Wolf: Can you give us a brief bio of some of the main characters in the book?

Antony Johnston: The main character is Bram Neumann, a P-Sec officer on the colony. P-Sec is Planetside Security, and it's basically a low-risk glorified security guard job. The worst thing most P-Sec officers have to handle is an occasional drunken fight between miners, or maybe a break-in at the pharmacy. It's a common semi-retirement post for ex-cops, and that's exactly what Bram did - left the stress of his job in homicide, and joined P-Sec for easy money. He's sarcastic, sceptical and world-weary, qualities you'll find in any veteran detective, and he's suspicious of what's going on at the colony right from the start. But even he doesn't expect the level of "fan-shit interface" that occurs.

Vera Cortez is Bram's long-suffering partner, and a lifelong P-Sec officer. She's the first one to understand the significance of what's happening, but it affects her badly.

The other main characters are Tom Sciarello, the colony's chief doctor, who realises pretty quick that something very strange is going down, but is at a loss to explain it; Natalia Deshyanov, an engineering supervisor who gets caught up in the discovery early on; Deakin Abbott, a lay priest who believes there's more to the artefact than meets the eye; and finally Hanford Carthusia, the colony project manager and company man.

We see the story unfold through their eyes. Each of them has a different point of view, a different (but connected) experience and, ultimately, a different agenda.


The Big Bad Wolf: Can you give us a little more detail about the Necromorphs?

Antony Johnston: No, sorry. That's something we're leaving pretty ambiguous for now.
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The Big Bad Wolf: Ben Templesmith set the eerie tone for cold, dark, Alaska, in 30 Days of Night. Do you feel his art sets the tone for this gut-wrenching tale?

Antony Johnston: Absolutely, yes. There aren't many better horror artists than Ben in comics right now, and the mood he sets with the art is fantastic. Even a scene of people just talking and having lunch becomes ominous and creepy as hell under Ben's pencils.

The Big Bad Wolf: Do you have a website or MySpace page where fans can check out more info about Dead Space?

Antony Johnston: The best source for all official info on the game is the EA site, which is at www.deadspacegame.com.

The Big Bad Wolf: When is the first issue due out?

Antony Johnston: #1 ships March 5th, and monthly thereafter.

The Big Bad Wolf: What is the cover price?

Antony Johnston: $2.99.

The Big Bad Wolf: In closing, is there anything else you would like to say to fans about this comic?

Antony Johnston: I'd just like to say "give us a try". I know there have been many comic spin-offs and adaptations of video games that have been, well, not very good. But I truly think what we've done with DEAD SPACE is different, because EA have given us so much free reign. We've focused on making a good comic above all else, and I think it shows.

The Big Bad Wolf: Thank you for your time, Antony. Keep us posted on DEAD SPACE.

Talk about the DEAD SPACE Interview.