The stories behind the stories

Mass Effect: Evolution #4

“I can still be successful. I just need to … adjust the experiment.” — Desolas

“Evolution, Part 4”

A new series featuring the origin of our galaxy’s most mysterious powerbroker — The Illusive Man!
Published by Dark Horse • April 20, 2011

Written by John Jackson Miller

Story by Mac Walters

Art by Omar Francia

Lettered by Michael Heisler

Colored by Michael Atiyeh

Covers by Massimo Carnevale and Joe Quinones

Edited by David Marshall and Brendan Wright

The origin story of the Illusive Man concludes, here — and as we see, it is a bit of an origin story for Saren, too. Everyone learnes that the past is something best left alone.

Since the artifact was the one thing that the Meta-turians — and that Meta-Hislop — cared about, we worked the story in such a way that Desolas would always have to use it to keep them on a leash. And eventually, it becomes his undoing.

We also wanted to suggest a little tension between Saren and Desolas as the series went on; now, we see the final stage of it. It’s a rough day for the Arterius family.

“We can — and will — take our rightful place in the stars. This is my manifesto. I hope you will join our cause.” — The Illusive Man

The Meta-turian name was mine — I needed a way to keep the transformed versions distinct from the others.

This story concluded after Mass Effect 2 had been out for a while, so most people at that point had a notion that something wasn’t right with the Illusive Man.

I never cared for the name Hislop — just the sound of it — but I suspect it was something that had already been determined in the game.

We went from this story into working on Mass Effect: Invasion, not long afterward.