Published Sep 2017 by Dynamite Entertainment
Limited 1 for 10 Retailer Incentive Variant Cover
Written by Ian Edginton
Art by Cam Adams
Cover by Yildiray Cinar
32 pages, full color

The Shadow Lord Gargos has been defeated! But the battle to save humankind from his Astral invasion has taken a terrible toll on the Earth. Our world lies in ruin, and a sinister new power called the Coven has risen from the ashes, vying with the megacorporation Ultratech to rule the shattered nations. The heroes Kim Wu and Jago-their Astral powers weakened by their devastating war against Gargos-must band together with the scattered remnants of the Night Guard to forge a pathway into the Astral Plane. Here, in the birthplace of The Shadow Lord and The Guardians, festers the secret malevolence that threatens to destroy them all…and enslave the world forever.

Looks like the world of Killer Instinct is about to get a lot deeper, thanks to a new comic series from Dynamite.

Writer Ian Edington said, “Killer Instinct has a colorful and diverse cast of characters, each with their own rich back-stories and with plenty more tales to tell. The Killer Instinct pantheon effectively comprises a superhero universe and it’s hard not to get overwhelmed with the wealth of riches there is to work with. I’ve taken a dozen or so characters – Kim-Wu, Jago, Aganos, Tusk, Aganos, Kan-ra, etc, and built a story around them that’s self-contained but can spring board into other series if need be. I’ve structured it to appeal to die-hard Ki fans and those coming to it cold. You won’t need any foreknowledge of the game to enjoy it. Likewise, there will be plenty of nods and easter eggs to the game for Killer Instinct fans.  I’ve had a huge amount of fun writing this series. It’s a fantastic world to be permitted to play around in.”

Fantastic indeed. There’s no shortage of stuff going on in KI’s universe, and it’s filled with pretty much anything and everything that you could imagine. I mean, where else are you going to get a dino going up against a robot and a werewolf?

The series has quietly been making quite the comeback too, since its early days on the SNES and N64. Now on the Xbox exclusively, there’s a whole new legion of fans who can’t get enough of its fast, combo-based fighting system. One thing it’s always been lacking in though, was a deep story.

As you can pretty clearly see above, series writer Ian Edington is pretty enthusiastic about the stories that he can tell within Killer Instinct. And his first beachhead into the game’s universe is sounding pretty darn cool. Check out the backstory that he’s established as a lead-in:

The Shadow Lord Gargos has been defeated, but the battle to save humankind from his Astral invasion has taken a terrible toll on the Earth. Our world lies in ruin, and a sinister new power called the Coven has risen from the ashes, vying with the megacorporation Ultratech to rule the shattered nations. The heroes Kim Wu and Jago-their Astral powers weakened by their devastating war against Gargos-must band together with the scattered remnants of the Night Guard to forge a pathway into the Astral Plane. Here, in the birthplace of The Shadow Lord and The Guardians, festers the secret malevolence that threatens to destroy them all…and enslave the world forever.

Cool stuff. And it ties together all the various arms of the KI universe pretty well I think. Edington knows what he’s  doing too, which is a very good thing since he’s building a while new world. As a New York Times best-selling author who’s been up for multiple Eisner Awards though, he should be more than up to the task.

As for game developer Double Helix, well they’re pretty excited too.

“Killer Instinct has always been a killer game, and the team at Double Helix Games have been a sheer pleasure to partner with on this property,” said Nick Barrucci, Dynamite’s CEO and Publisher. “By bringing on widely celebrated writer Ian Edgington, and the endlessly talented Cam Adams, we’re confident this is going to be a killer comic book series as well!”

Based on the old video game of the same name. Killer Instinct takes us to a dystopic future wherein the earth’s energies are depleting and many live hand to mouth.

This first issue sees Kim Wu coming to the aid of a stranger in an encampment by offering her food. When the camp is attacked Kim Wu is forced to use her martial arts skills and enlist the skills of her spirit dragon Jago.