MGS comic book creator talks

Kris Oprisko, the writer of the forthcoming Metal Gear Solid comic book, has shed some light on how the project came about and what he and artist Ashley Wood are attempting to do with it in an article published on The Comic Wire here.

The piece also includes pictures of three pages from early on in the story, which sticks pretty firmly to the plot of the original game. The first two (pages 12 and 13 of the comic) show how Solid Snake arrives at the Alaskan facility he's infiltrating and makes a break for the lift that will take him to ground level, while the third (page 26) sees him sprawled in a ventilation shaft eavesdropping on a conversation between a pair of guards.

Fans will doubtless be pleased to hear that Oprisko and co. are approaching the project with a great deal of respect - something that series creator Hideo Kojima apparently has for them already, which contributed to getting the project off the ground. "First I'll say that the story in the game is already a great one, and I am not trying to change the elements that made the game so popular," Oprisko comments, before revealing that certain things may not unfold in quite the same way.

"At the same time, the comic genre is different than that of video games, so there are things I can do with pacing to draw out the tension," he adds. "And although I won't be making up anything whole cloth, I will from time to time expand on scenes that may be alluded to in the characters' dialogue but do not appear in the game itself.

We recommend any MGS fans check out the full piece here. The first volume of the comic book itself is due out in the States this September.