Opening up the comic books

With Spider-Man 2 and Wolverine, Insomniac could revolutionise comic-based games

Ever since videogames beacme an stablished form of media, there have been games based on superheroes. Both gaming and reading comics started out as geeky pastimes (we know), and both, as the years have rolled on, have become more mainstream. But that doesn’t mean the two have always moved at the same rate. However, that’s something that could change with Sony and Insomniac’s announcement of Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 and Marvel’s Wolverine.

After all, while games have always drawn on comics, many of them have been truly dire. True classics like PS1’s Spider-Man or PS2’s Spider-Man 2 were few and far between. It’s only become tougher as game budgets and production times have ballooned. Comic readers expect multiple books with their favourite heroes on them each month, and even MCU-watchers now get several films and TV shows a year. On top of that, most game tie-ins are licensed to game publishers or developers, meaning there hasn’t been much consistency.

A new standard was set in 2009, when Rocksteady kicked off its Arkham series with Batman: Arkham Asylum. Not only was the game superb, the series had a tight creative vision (which even extended to the WB Montrealdeveloped Arkham Origins). These ongoing, years-running Arkham storylines respected the original comics, and were massively anticipated multimedia vehicles in their own right. Arkham Knight closed out the series in 2015. We have an upcoming spiritual successor in Gotham Knights, and a true-yet-fresh successor in Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, yet it remains to be seen if they’ll really be able to take up Arkham’s cowl.

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