The Demons of Eden

"Your faith isn't real."

Writer: Ian Winterton

Format: Comic Strip

Released: January 2021

Printed in: Omega #1-4

Featuring: Mandrels

Synopsis 

Following the tragic events aboard starship Empress, jungle planet Eden – revealed as the source of addictive drug Vraxoin – is designated a 'haven world', all settlers ordered to depart. Aside from Space Corps marines sent to combat the drug cartels that still thrive within Eden's rainforests, the only humans allowed to remain are the holy sisters of the Convent of Saint Eve. But, though a presence since the first wave of colonists decades before, the nuns' sanctuary is about to succumb to the deadly reality of life on Eden.

Verdict 

The Demons of Eden was a really enjoyable comic strip adventure! This served as a terrific backup story to the Omega series and really complimented each issue nicely. I only ever read comic strips in their entirety and with the inconsistent publication schedule from Cutaway Comics, this one has certainly been a long time coming to get complete and read! It was a lot of fun though and I think it’s great that we basically get a what happened next sequel to Nightmare of Eden with this story. That Fourth Doctor serial is not exactly the greatest or most fondly remembered adventure from the Doctor Who television series, but there aren’t exactly many serials left that haven’t had some sort of sequel or follow on so why should this be any different! Eden certainly has a great deal of potential as a setting and I thought it was utilised very well here. I really enjoyed the continuity from the aforementioned serial with us seeing the Earth Council in 2116 basically say that the planet could no longer be inhabited. There were a couple of exemptions in the form of the Convent of Saint Eve and some drug cartels were going against the orders to continue their ransacking, but as a whole the planet had become quite contained and quiet as a haven world. We were now in 2129 so the politics of the planet was now well established, but still the cartels and came whilst the Convent remained. I thought the action in this comic strip was really well done and with each part being six pages long, I was impressed that as a whole the adventure felt like a full comic strip adventure! It was referred to as a backup which is understandable given the length of each part of Omega, but this didn’t feel like that in the slightest and it’s no surprise that the story has now been given its own separate print. I was expecting the Mandrels to feature more heavily in this adventure and it’s a little bit of a shame that they didn’t given they’re what we are familiar with from the planet. They are the source of the Vrax drug after all! However, I do admire the efforts in presenting something new in the form of the Sarzok as the Demon Beast of Eden. That sounded like a cool title and it was sold as being even more deadly than the Mandrels and the source of an extremely rare drug. So of course there would be a bunch of trophy hunters en route to get it! The Convent were saved by these hunters which was quite a mashup of styles between the two groups, and their interactions were both amusing and full of urgency given the situation. Sister Akhenaten was a fantastic character and I loved that she had an oath to not use a gun. She had a bad experience in her time as a private of the Space Corps and Sarzok pounced on that brilliantly. It used her mind well and I loved the concept of it having psychic control. Overall, a great comic story!

Rating: 8/10