second player is present, side missions become available that deal with Carver's guilt concerning the way he treated his family, as well as over their deaths. Adaptations The Dead Space franchise includes various types of adaptations and merchandise outside of the video games. EA's multimedia efforts to market the franchise includes novels, comic books, animated films, and other licensed products like action figures of series protagonist Isaac Clarke. Print media The Dead Space franchise has been adapted into literary format, beginning with a comic book miniseries which serve as a prequel to both the first Dead Space game and the Dead Space: Downfall film. It was written by Antony Johnston, illustrated by Ben Templesmith and published by Image Comics between March and August 2008. Dead Space: Martyr is a 2010 novel which explores the origins of Unitology as well as the initial discovery of the original Black Marker by humanity. Set roughly 200 years before the events of the video game series, Martyr tells the story of geophysicist Michael Altman, who discovers a mysterious signal within the Chicxulub crater and after secretly obtaining a piece of the Marker, leaks it to the public and spreads the visions he received from it. Other published literary works from the franchise include the 2010 comic book Dead Space: Salvage by Antony Johnston, and follows a band of ill-fated scavengers known as the Magpies who discover the seemingly abandoned mining ship USG Ishimura following the events of the first game; the 2012 novel Dead Space: Catalyst by B. K. Evenson, set two hundred and fifty years after the events of Martyr, where EarthGov decides to tamper with dangerous technology from the Black Marker in the hopes of saving humanity from an energy and resource crisis; and Dead Space: Liberation, a 2013 comic book by Ian Edginton which provides the backstory for the Dead Space 3 character John Carver. Film Dead Space: Downfall Dead Space: Downfall is a 2008 animated film prequel to the first game which takes place after the limited comic series of the same name was released direct-to-video in October 2009, before seeing a television showing on Starz Encore the following month. It details the events leading to the Necromorph infestation on the USG Ishimura following the transportation of the Red Marker from the Aegis VII Colony to the ship. Dead Space: Aftermath Dead Space: Aftermath is the 2011 animated film sequel