Please support Game Informer. Print magazine subscriptions are less than $2 per issue
Find Out If The Mortal Kombat X Comic Is Worth Your Time
Today marks the release of Mortal Kombat X on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. As you may have already seen in our review, it’s worth your time. But if you’re in it for the story, you might want to dive deeper.
The Mortal Kombat X story picks up long after the close of Mortal Kombat 9. Instead of wasting time in the game on exposition, Warner Bros. decided to hand a prequel story to DC Comics.
Written by Shawn Kittelsen with art by Dexter Soy, the first volume of Mortal Kombat X (assembling issues one through four) answers questions and introduces characters that play a pivotal role in the new game.
I greatly enjoyed the nods to lesser-known Mortal Kombat characters, including Reiko, Fujin, and Hsu Hao. The likelihood of these showing up later as DLC is unlikely, but they certainly add flavor to the narrative.
The comic is a bit too faithful to the game, though. The forced use of the X-Ray technique is a bit too overt of a callback for my taste. Alternatively, the deeper understanding of Scorpion as a man who has control of his demon and how Kotal Khan comes to rule Outworld are enough to warrant a read for fans of the lore.
Mortal Kombat X: Blood Ties, the first volume in the series, is a good companion to the game. It’s hard to recommend it as a standalone read, though.
The character development is in service of understanding the relationships between members of the game’s roster. Especially since each fight begins with witty repartee between the kombatants that taps into their existing relationships – the back knowledge from the book helps deepen those brief moments.
The writing feels in line with the game script. It’s slightly campy and doesn’t take itself completely seriously, even amidst spilled blood and broken bone. As a fan of what NetherRealm put together for Mortal Kombat 9’s story mode (and what I’ve played of Mortal Kombat X so far), the book enhances the tale.
If you’re considering the comic because you enjoyed Machinima’s Mortal Kombat Legacy series (or the movies in the 1990s) and don’t have interest in the current games, there’s no good reason to pick this up. You’re better off just re-watching those to get your fix.
I’d like to ask you to support Game Informer’s continued coverage of games with a subscription. For less than two dollars per issue, we mail you a full year of 10 print magazines, each with cover stories and preview features filled with exclusive details about the most exciting upcoming games. We profile and interview game creators. We look back on the rich history of gaming, and we celebrate what’s next.
Here on the website, we offer much of our content for free, including game reviews, daily news, videos, event coverage, and more – all with minimal ads.
We do so with a small editorial team, alongside contributing paid writers from around the world – over 65 individuals from 9 countries around the world, just in the last couple of years.
It’s not possible without support.
In a time when game makers and games coverage have faced hard struggles and layoffs, the future of this 30+ year magazine and community is at risk. Our new standalone magazine subscription is the number one way you can keep us alive – and we believe you’ll get a pretty fantastic gaming magazine in your mailbox every few weeks for your trouble.
Thank you.
