Multiple books, 2015

Serving as the prequel to Mortal Kombat X, the official comic book does an admirable job of filling in the story between Mortal Kombat 9 and the actual game. How deep you want to get into lore is the only factor in judging if you want to read this.

The limited-edition comic starts in the past after the death and loss of Mortal Kombat 9 with Kenshi bringing Takeda, his until-now unknown son, to Scorpion. Scorpion has reformed himself, recreating the Shirai Ryu with new fighters and teaching the old ways of fighting to the new version of his clan and Takeda. It then picks up with Sub-Zero attempting to snatch the Kamidogu and becoming cursed in the attempt. Sub-Zero, Takeda, Kenshi and Scorpion will converge through a series of events leading to Havik manipulating Reiko into attempting to become a blood god, the rise of Mileena and Kotal Kahn in the Outworld civil war and introduce the other infamous Kombat Kids in Jacqui Briggs and Cassie Cage.

The action is good, the art is fantastic, and the writing is strong, thanks to friend of GI Shawn Kittelsen’s expert craftsmanship. Though it’s a bit long, the 36-issue book is a nice read that gets even the most-ignorant of Mortal Kombat lore up to speed on the events of the first reboot and what happened before MKX. – Lyndsey