StarCraft (comic)


 * This article is about the DC/Wildstorm comic. For the Blizzard-sponsored fan comic contest, see Vespene Laughs.

"No Rules. No Problem."

- StarCraft comic tagline

A StarCraft comic covering events prior to StarCraft II was published by DC Comics (Wildstorm). It centered around a team of outlaws, the War Pigs.

The first arc lasted 7 issues and will be published in StarCraft: Book 1.

A character significant to the entire StarCraft universe was to be introduced in Issue 4 and was to become a main character in the second arc. They were revealed to Leonid Celsus in the submission for the 8th issue. Furman has stated that the second arc would feature "two of the StarCraft Universe’s biggest and baddest characters." Nova and Infested Kerrigan were confirmed to appear in the series at some point.

Development
Wildstorm wrote the comic, but Blizzard Entertainment employees such Chris Metzen, Andy Chambers and Micky Neilson acted as story consultants for the series.

Blizzard carried out at least one change in artistic style and writing. Shawn Moll was on the original team. The new team consist of Simon Furman and Federico Dallocchio. By the second arc, Mike Miller was to take over the primary artwork.

It was a monthly ongoing series with twelve expected issues. On December 16, 2009, DC Comics reported the series was canceled after issue 7. Instead, it intends to refocus its efforts on a series of original graphic novels.

First Arc

 * Main article: List of StarCraft comic issues

The War Pigs were a band of convicted criminals forced to work as soldiers by the Terran Confederacy, under the command of bureaucrat Tamsen Cauley. They were not neurally resocialized so they could keep their unique talents. Cauley ordered them to attempt to kill Arcturus Mengsk at Atticus Minor, but they failed and he betrayed them, since Cauley believed that Mengsk would win the war unless he died, and since Mengsk was still alive, Cauley intended to switch sides without leaving behind loose ends like the War Pigs. Cauley co-opted one of their number to lead the rest into a death trap which would be carried out by his new, upgraded Cerberus Program. However, the attempt failed and the outlaws escaped and scattered.

Two years later, Cauley had become an important official in the Terran Dominion, the director of the Dominion Internal Security Division. Due to a comment from Emperor Mengsk, he became nervous about the previous assassination attempt, and still wanted to eliminate the War Pigs to cover his tracks.

He visited Cole Hickson at the New Folsom Prison and convinced him to bring the team together again and do a job for him&mdash;assassinate Jim Raynor (as part of his plan of ascension), and as a reward their records would be expunged. However, they must first find Raynor. Cauley would then use the Cerberus Program, which he said did not belong to the Dominion, to follow and eliminate the War Pigs once the job was done.

Second Arc
The War Pigs believed a suicidal attack against Tamsen Cauley to be their only option. However, Cauley's enemy, "Ghostmaster General" Leonid Celsus, decided to make his own move, and saw the War Pigs as a resource for this. The stand-alone monthly issues of the second arc have been canceled.

Plot Notes
While the comic series focuses on terrans, it also includes the protoss and the zerg. A "particularly cool" protoss appearance was seen in the third issue and some major characters from the games make appearances. The re-emergence of the xel'naga is also touched upon.

In addition to tying in with the previous games and published fiction, the series will show a lot of the StarCraft universe, lay the groundwork for the on-going story, and the comic's first arc as a transition between the first and second game.

Characters Yet to Appear

 * Infested Kerrigan
 * Nova

Previews and Excerpts
Medievaldragon. 2009-05-01. StarCraft # 1 Preview Scans. Blizzplanet. Accessed 2009-05-05.

2009-04-24. Exclusive "StarCraft" #1 Comic Book Preview. MTV. Accessed 2009-04-25.

A four-page promotion of the comic was present in the BlizzCon 2008 "goodie bag"; the sampler was split between the StarCraft comic and a preview of Ashbringer issue 1.

A preview can be found in the World of Warcraft comic, issue 19: The Winds of War.