Hawken: Melee

Hawken: Melee is a collection comprised of five comic books written and illustrated by five different creative teams. They are centered around the exploits of individual pilots for Prosk or Sentium and set during the Vitrolium Wars, after the release of the Hawken virus.

Volume 1: 20 Seconds. By Abnett, Dallocchio, Northrop
The comic relates a firefight between a Sentium pilot codenamed "Nardine" and a group of 4 Prosk mechs that ambush him in the middle of a city. Upon calling for backup, he is informed it'll take 20 seconds to arrive. Time slows down as adrenaline kicks in and the fight seems to stretch on forever as he scrabbles to survive.

Volume 2: Friendly Fire. By Mahfood, Chunn
This volume is about Lance Armourstrong, aka "Loverboy", a famous musician turned Prosk ace. His impressive piloting skills coupled with the consumption of drugs lead him to become selfish and dangerously reckless in the field, colliding with allies, stealing kills, and acting condescending to the team under his command. After a string of particularly bad outbursts, his team decides to take action.

Volume 3: Last Call. By Kennedy, O'Hare
Here we follow a pair of unnamed Illans sitting at a bar, who learn from the newscast that a battle is taking place over the ridge from where they're sitting. After deciding it'd be too dangerous to go witness the conflict first hand, they start talking about the top mech pilots of each faction. One favours Havok, Prosk's best A-tier fighter while the other prefers Proto-God, Sentium's best Rocketeer pilot.

Volume 4: Lapse. By Gaska, Dussault
The story opens with a pilot exiting his mech in the middle of an area covered by the Giga-Structure. We learn from flashbacks that he used to live there as a child, on what was then a farm. This area is close to Praxis Valley and was exposed to massive doses of radiation and the Hawken Virus after the explosion of James Hawken's research lab. At the time, the pilot's mother decided to assemble herself a mech and join Sentium to make enough money to support her family.

Volume 5: Gadget. By Fox, Spicer
Randalin Haden is on a date with Hesa, a hot shot Prosk pilot whose quick rise to fame led him to hard partying and substance abuse. After being kicked out of a club, they're taken prisoner by a group of corporate soldiers who want Haden's cutting edge inventions to gain an advantage over the competition.