Not long ago we revealed that Electronic Arts had commissioned the creation of both an animated movie and of a comic book title to help promote its upcoming Dead Space game. Now Sierra is aiming to do something similar with a comic book that's set to launch in August to endorse its Prototype game.

It casts the player in the role of Alex Mercer, who's the typical memory-lacking hero but with a twist. Mercer might have amnesia and he might not remember much about himself but he has the power to consume the persons around them. This has a couple of very interesting effects. First Mercer can assume the shape of anyone he consumes, while also gaining their memories and their skills. This means that you can learn to use new weapons and items as the game progresses.

Consuming people also grants Alex Mercer biomass. And using this biomass he can morph into defensive and offensive aspects, which appear as monstrosities to the nearby people. During the periods in which he is morphed Mercer has extraordinary strength and resilience, which allow him to take on the Police and even military units. But you cannot spend too much time morphed.

The action takes place in New York City where a plague is beginning to affect the population and turns them into mutants. The government is trying to apply a lockdown, but the protagonist must maneuver around the military and the mutants to uncover his past.

The comic book, produced by DC Comics, will most likely trace some of the past of Alex Mercer and provide some backstory related to the plague that's threatening New York. It will probably not be required reading material for the players of the game, but it surely makes for some good cross genre promotion for Prototype.

Sierra Entertainment's Prototype is developed by Radical Entertainment and is supposed to arrive for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC in the fall of 2008.