Jacob is from the city of Staalbreak, which is in the Dreadlands, close enough to Mount Arreat that it caught some of the fallout when the mountain exploded. He’s the son of the city constable, who acts as one of the highest powers to the people living there when it comes to the law. We’ll get to see how he passes on his lessons about justice and fulfilling the promises that laws afford the citizens under them to Jacob, and how those lessons shape how Jacob and the sword work together. When we start our story, all isn’t well in Staalbreak, and events there have led to Jacob and his father crossing swords with each other, and in the fray, the constable is killed. Jacob runs, and we catch up with him in Lut Gholein, where he’s trying to avoid being captured by his kinsmen, who were sent to bring him back for trial. It’s here we see there’s something not quite right with Jacob’s fellow Staalbreakers, and we also get a sense of how Jacob’s upbringing is filling him with conflict about continuing his flight or just letting himself be taken. A chance encounter with an old seer sends Jacob away from the city and into the desert to find… well, that’s where it gets interesting.

Shanar the Wizard is Jacob’s companion and sometimes mentor throughout the story. She appears in the story at the same time the sword does, and she helps Jacob to find his way after he takes up the weapon. Even though wizards are somewhat rebellious in the world of Diablo, Shanar is often the voice of reason and practicality to Jacob’s justice-and-honor-driven tendencies. She’s not a means of breaking the fourth wall, but she often says things that I’m sure players have yelled at many a video game hero when they decide to do something inconveniently honorable instead of what we’d call “sensible.”

The third character that really isn’t much of a hero but was fun to write for is Ivan. He grew up with Jacob, and they shared their first battlefield experience together. Ivan has fallen under the influence of whatever is “wrong” with Staalbreak, and he leads the men that have come searching for Jacob. Ivan is pretty ruthless by the time we meet him, carrying a large halberd-like weapon, the blade having come from a barbarian chief’s axe. Ivan is Staalbreak’s executioner, and doesn’t mind swinging his weapon away from the headsman’s block. He’s got a dark wit that was a pleasure to bring to the page.

As for the characters being in the game, I don’t have too many details, but I do remember a conversation about wanting to make sure the sword’s powers were well-defined so they could be game-friendly. Blizzard is really keen on making sure the stuff from the fiction generated about the game is accessible one way or another, so I bet there’ll be more than a few elements shared between the comic and the game.

Jacob does fight a most definite evil big-bad, but he’s new to Diablo lore, as is most of the cast. The Archangels and demons make appearances, though mostly in stories told about the history of Sanctuary early on. Hints of Tyrael appear now and again, of course, as Jacob begins to learn what the sword can do and fully grasp where it came from. Generally, I steered clear of using characters that were being used elsewhere, much as I did with locations that were already planned for in the game.

It’s not so much abandoned as “stored for safe keeping.” I think of it like King Arthur having Excalibur returned to the Lady of the Lake after he was wounded, so it could be used again when the time was right. Except in this case, a new person is being allowed to use the sword for the time being. And once you see where the sword came to rest, it’s strongly assumed that Tyrael knew what he was doing when he used it at the end of Diablo II.

In the development of Jacob’s character and the sword’s abilities, we kind of thought that they weren’t as tightly paired as, say, King Arthur and the Sword in the Stone. Others could wield the Sword of Justice, but they have to be... I guess the word is “acceptable” to the sword. Evil or demonic forces can’t even touch it without risking injury or worse. An average “good” person could carry it without harm, but to unlock its potential takes a little something extra on the part of the wielder.

Jacob’s initial goal is to help his home free itself from whatever evil seems to be set on corrupting it. He’s not even certain what that evil is until we’re pretty well into the tale. He pretty much gains the sword and decides that it’s the best chance he has to stop whatever is brewing in the wastes before it spreads.

Joseph Lacroix: It’s very exciting to work on a universe that is so dark. I love that! I really want to keep this apocalyptic atmosphere. I think that to do so, it’s necessary to immerse in it one step at a time. The darkness exists only if there is a light to contrast it with. I don’t know if Diablo III will be more colorful, indeed I saw some sets with lighter atmospheres but others that are really very dark and creepy. I don’t feel like sharing my chocolate bar with any monster I saw! The comics will be very dark, Blizzard always urges me to put more shadows on faces and on sets, the sequences of fighting and violence will link fervently throughout the whole story.

I’d like the reader to find this unique atmosphere, where his character moves forward in a narrow maze while some oppressive music plays on. With the certainty but at the same time the apprehension of knowing that around the next bend a myriad of devilish creatures is going to appear. Will he make it through? This atmosphere has to emanate from the pages of the comic book, through the drawings but also through the narration. I work hard on that.

I’ve been mainly asked to give life to the world of Sanctuary. It exists in the game and in cinematics, and I am bringing that same world to comics. It has to be dark, accurate to the game, and dynamic. When I did tests and design research, Blizzard was waiting to see my vision of Sanctuary. This is what really interests me in this project. I can propose new characters, places, and sets and really get involved in the creation of this story. Blizzard’s publishing team is always available to supply me with all the documentation and all the visual references I need. As soon as I ask them for information on an existing character, I receive all they’ve got: screenshots, 3D character designs, drawings, and illustrations.

I hope so. I was in the middle of a big illustration before working on Diablo, where I was piling tiny skulls on a huge paper sheet. It’s terrible but I have it in my blood, my inspirations are very morbid. I still hold on a little in Diablo but I think, as I said previously, that I’ll let loose my inspiration more and more in the issues to come.

Diablo is an action game, thus the fights must be rough and violent. My goal really is to follow this policy: dark and violent.