In the grand scheme of things, does this prequel even matter?  Or are we better off without it?  Read on to find out.

The official description from Titan:

In a world controlled by demons, Dante is humanity’s last remaining hope.

But Dante is lost, imprisoned far from the human world. Accompanied by Kat, a human psychic, and nearly driven insane by his inner demon, Dante’s twin brother Vergil must now attempt a rescue!

Discover the shocking secrets behind the stunning new Capcom videogame, DmC: Devil May Cry!

This year players got the privilege to strap in, grab their nearest controller and slice some truly nasty demonic monsters.  Thanks to a stellar re-imagining of a series originally launched back in 2001, trust me I don’t want to think about that twelve year gap either, but because of that we got a taste of what the world of Dante would be like with a decidedly Western feel.  And the results were quite good.

Now flash forward to this graphic novel, a collection of a two part arc that focused on the second son of Sparda.  To be fair, when prequels are done, one has to ask some pertinent questions.  The first being was this necessary or just a shameless cash-in? Secondly, does it do enough to justify it’s existence as a franchise extender?  It’s hard to answer both of these concretely so let me keep it simple and brief: In hindsight it wasn’t crucial but it found context within its own confines to birth a compelling narrative.

The credit for that must go to Izu, the scribe behind these festivities.  He absolutely nails the characters but fair warning the way the author starts things off yields several pages with light spoilers.  In my opinion it was the right way to go, because for fans that have already experienced a portion of this odyssey it gave them a moment of innate familiarity before the author dove headfirst into his own tale. Like the main arc our protagonists travel between their world and limbo as they fight hordes of demons in an attempt to battle with the fate of human souls in the balance.  To his credit, the talent does a tremendous job nailing the feel of the saga but the dialogue, at times, came off rigid. Because of that there were some off moments that hindered the complete package.

The art done by Patrick Pion is absolutely the type of skill Vergil deserves.  From the opening page to the final panel he nails the look and feel of the game while implementing just enough of his own design sense to give this romp legs to stand on.  I was particularly impressed with his handy visualization of the more monstrous figures, as the illustrator displayed the wherewithal to keep all the characters strait even in moments of high chaos and confusion.  There were a couple instances where the line work seemed to a be a wee bit shaky, but these minor stumbles did little to sully an otherwise captivating experience. 

Digikore Studios delivers and impresses on every level as they conjure up colors that have it within themselves to make or break the narrative.  Whatever they’re asked to do they accomplish as they highlight the visual side of this adventure.  It’s fair to say that comics are comprised of two components, and without the skills of this group this story just would not have transitioned as well as it did.  They bring the vibrancy of the console and PC to the page with ease, and trust me, that’s no easy task.  A lot can be lost in translation but they find a way to succeed nonetheless. 

The design sense of the package is fairly standard.  This novel is an effectively bound release but there isn’t much else to be found. In truth for the $9.99 purchase price that’s reasonable but it still left me wanting some additional content.  All we get is the the story itself, and trust me that’s quite good, but I wish there would have been more.  An interview with the people behind it, character art, anything that would help make this a necessary addition for even the most discerning fanboy or fangirl.

DmC Devil May Cry: The Chronicles of Vergil is an entertaining outing that may be a bit bare-bones but it captivated my interest.  The team does a great job nailing what they set out to do, so much so, that that they bring forth something that’s a worthy own.  Recommended.

4/5