While the Life is Strange game franchise continues to chart bold new frontiers with the Diaz brothers and their year-long road trip, the story of Max and Chloe continues in the pages of Titan Comics’ Life is Strange series.
Written by Emma Vieceli, with art by Claudia Leonardi and coloring by Andrea Izzo, the book's been telling a compelling and emotional story about the next stage in these young women’s lives.
With the third issue now available, we thought we’d give you a brief look at where it all started - so you can see why it’s the perfect time to jump on board if you haven’t already!
DANGER! SPOILERS START HERE
…a multiverse of infinite possibilities
The first Life is Strange game ended with an impossible choice: save Chloe or save Arcadia Bay?
When brainstorming the plot for a Life Is Strange comic, the creators chose to spin out of the ending where Max saves Chloe and dooms the town because it offered a lot of potential for future stories - as well as plenty of drama and surprises for these two beloved characters to grapple with.
As the comic’s own introduction makes clear, Life is Strange takes place in a ‘multiverse of possibilities’, with the comic’s tale being one possible future timeline out of many.
The ‘official’ ending of the game will always be the one that you chose yourself - but we hope you’ll still be entertained by all the twists and turns that lie ahead for Max and Chloe in the issues to come… whatever you made Max do!
The wings of a butterfly
As well as introducing us to Claudia Leonardi and Andrea Izzo’s stunning art, it also emphasizes one of the central themes of this initial arc - just how much control over fate does Max really have?
After the storm
The story proper picks up nearly a year after the events of the final episode of Life is Strange, and answers one of the biggest questions of that ending: where do Max and Chloe go from here?
As it turns out, they went home. Or more specifically to Max’s home - Seattle.
Right away it’s clear that Max is still the Max we know and love - photography remains a focal part of her life, and she’s still deeply uncomfortable acknowledging her own skills.
When we meet Chloe, she’s tagging a wall with graffiti. Her rebellious streak’s still alive and well, but it’s clear that the events of the past year have had a profound impact.
A new life
Max and Chloe have formed a new life together in Seattle. Max’s parents helped Chloe get an internship as a mechanic, and the two have developed a friendship circle in Dex, Dwight, Pixie, and Tammi - collectively the band The High Seas.
It looks like both Max and Chloe are starting to settle down, but Vieceli makes it clear that it’s not all plain sailing.
Reminders of the past are everywhere, from TV reports about the rebuilding efforts in Arcadia Bay as the town heads towards the first anniversary of its devastation, to memories of those lost, and it’s a clear source of tension between the leads.
What’s happening to Max?
Over the course of the first issue, odd things start happening to Max. She starts experiencing conversations that, from the other person’s perspective, didn’t happen. Couldn’t happen.
Characters seem to drift in and out of existence, the art of posters changes in the background, memories start to get confused… and every time, this is what happens to Max:
As anyone who’s played Life is Strange knows, that’s not a great sign.
As the mystery deepens, these incidents increase in frequency, leading Chloe to make a big decision. And you’ll have to read the issue to find out what that is - we don’t want to spoil everything.
That’s just a small taste of Life is Strange #1.
You can catch up with the full story yourself on comiXology, and in all good comic stores. As issue #3 has just arrived, now’s the perfect time to catch up with Max and Chloe.
