New StarCraft lore and chilling adventures await in StarCraft: Scavengers issue #1

Dark Horse has released the first of a brand-new, four-issue series set in the StarCraft universe. StarCraft: Scavengers tells the story of a group of terrans that are hired to pillage the remnants of a derelict protoss ship — but it’s a dangerous job. The theoretically deserted ship is currently in a decaying orbit over an uninhabited planet. It’s a race against time as the crew tries to salvage what they can before the ship burns up in the planet’s atmosphere. Oh, and you know, avoid detection by Dominion police forces, who definitely would not be happy with what they’re doing.

Written by Jody Houser, Scavengers promises to be a sci-fi horror thrill ride — and given the creepy nature of the mission, it should deliver nicely. Houser’s worked on a number of different titles, including Star Wars, Spider-Man, Faith, Mother Panic, and Doctor Who. She’s in her element with this title, and although we’ve only got one issue to go by, it looks like this series is going to be the kind of creepy space adventure I can get behind.

Art for the book is done by Gabriel Guzman, a familiar name if you’ve read Mass Effect or Star Wars comics, among others. He’s no stranger to illustrating sci-fi, and it shows. The first issue ends with a bang, leaving readers with the distinct impression that this is anything but a typical salvage mission. I do enjoy a good cliffhanger in my comics, thank you very much.

Given that it’s been years since we’ve seen a new StarCraft title — Legacy of the Void was released back in 2015 — the comic might seem an odd choice. Blizzard has a multitude of active IPs out there, so why focus on StarCraft? At the same time, the series is a timeless tale that was — and still is — ridiculously popular. And given the more recent release of StarCraft: Remastered, Blizzard hasn’t given up on this particular IP. It might not have as much of a major focus as Blizzard’s other titles from a development standpoint, but there are still tales to be told.

And there’s nothing like a well-crafted, gritty sci-fi tale, something that Blizzard doesn’t do very often. With most of their focus set on fantasy titles like WoW, Hearthstone, Heroes, and Diablo, it’s nice to see StarCraft get some love. You can pick up the first issue of StarCraft: Scavengers on Amazon, or through Kindle and comiXology if you prefer a digital format. The four-part series continues next month with the release of the second issue on August 29.