Publisher's Blurb:

The stars teem with life...and death.

In the generation since discovering the mass relay near Pluto, humanity has used the ancient device to make its presence felt in the cosmos. Welcomed into the Citadel Council the people of Earth have proven adroit and adaptive - to the consternation of some longer-established species.

But tragedy struck one of Earth's greatest heroes just weeks after rescuing the galactic capital, the Citadel, from a devastating strike. Commander Shepard, one of the few elite agents known as Spectres, was lost in a mysterious attack on the Normandy.

Now, Shepard's friends - including the intrepid asari, Dr. Liara T'Soni - want answers. But Shepard's enemies are searching for something, too. Something worth killing for...

With Mass Effect 2's impending January 26th release looming ever closer these days it's hard not to be excited about the franchise. Still, if that's too far away for you, if you're looking for your Mass Effect fix RIGHT NOW, look no further than Mass Effect: Redemption, issue 1 of 4.

The story takes place shortly before ME2 and a few weeks after a mysterious attack on the Normandy leaves Shepard MIA, presumed dead. The story opens with Shepard's potential love interest from ME1, the asari Liara T'Soni (personally, I went with the comically bigoted Ashley) flying to the depths of Terminus Space (think Badlands) in pursuit of any conclusive info on Shepard's true condition. Without giving a page by page play, let's just say things quickly heat up and all is not as it seems.

Redemption acts as an adequate bride tying into ME2. It introduces us the Illusive Man (not to be confused with Elusive), a shadowy figure who will play prominently into ME2's story as it unfolds, along with the pseudo-criminal organization Cerberus (A Pro-Human "hate" group that looks down on aliens), of which he is the presumed leader.