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Review: Assassin’s Creed Graphic Novels
Assassin’s Creed isn’t just for video games anymore. Like any good franchise, they’ve branched out into other mediums, including a series of graphic novels released in October from publisher Titan Books. They recently sent me some nice hardcover copies of their Assassin’s Creed graphic novels, translated from their original French into English. The art style is definitely very European (not that I’m an expert), and the story is the familiar Assassiny goodness that we know and love. I only wish the series had taken a few more liberties with their story and really explored the larger Assassin’s Creed universe.
The Assassin’s Creed franchise has a lot of room to expand beyond Desmond Miles and the ancestors you play in the video games. And while these graphic novels do a good job with some of their ideas beyond the usual, they don’t go far enough. If you’re an Assassin’s Creed completionist – or perhaps shopping for one for Christmas – you should enjoy this series. But otherwise, the comics are pretty light on material.
Comic rating: 4/5: Good.
Desmond, Aquilus and Accipiter
The three Assassin’s Creed graphic novels – titled Desmond, Aquilus and Accipiter – tell one long, connected story by following two parallel plots. One is Desmond’s story from the video games, about being kidnapped by Abstergo and then going on the run with Lucy and the Assassins. The other is an original trip into the Animus to visit Aquilus, an ancient Assassin from the Roman Empire. As with the video games, the most interesting material comes from the trips back in time, but writer Eric Corbeyran definitely give us plenty of Desmond action. The guy is much more active and brutal in this series than he is in the games, which is cool to read.
Of the three books, the first one is the weakest because it basically just retreads ground covered in the first game, only in a much more rushed manner. It squeezes in the story of Altair even though it’s completely unnecessary to the overall plot. The two other books delve into original material, including the life of Aquilus and a few adventures that Desmond and his friends have while on the run. The third book is the best of the three, introducing the concept of dueling Animus trips as we see someone else go into the Animus and visit his ancestors. I wish the entire series had been about this new character and his story, but perhaps Corbeyran needed to focus on Desmond and the established game material.
All three comics play hard and fast with the strange concepts of Assassin’s Creed, from the Animus itself to the various characters involved. There were a few times where new characters suddenly pop up and act like we’re supposed to have known them all along, so it was a little confusing. You definitely need an understanding of the games to keep up with the comic. Though considering how big a fan I am of Assassin’s Creed, it wasn’t a problem at all.
You can purchase all three graphic novels on Amazon.com: Desmond, Aquilus and Accipiter. You can also join me after the jump for more review!
The Tyranny of King Washington Trailer
Just in time for Assassin’s Creed Week, Ubisoft has released this trailer for The Tyranny of King Washington, their upcoming 3-part downloadable content.
This sounds genuinely insane. Apparently, this isn’t going to be an addition to the existing Assassin’s Creed 3. Instead, it’s going to be an entire alternate game, in which Connor never became an Assassin (and never even became Connor). He still goes by his Native American name, and as you can see at the end of the trailer, is dressed like a badass wolfman! This DLC will explore a ‘What If…’ scenario. What if…George Washington turned down the Presidency in order to rule America as a king? It’s a totally badass premise, and I’m actually really eager to start playing.
I don’t think a release date has been announced. But you can buy a Season Pass, which gives you 25% off the bulk price rather than paying for each chapter individually. Sounds like a damn good deal to me since I definitely want to play all three!
Besides, George Washington was a total tool in Assassin’s Creed 3. It’ll feel good to kill him…
The Ultimate Assassin’s Creed Song
This video sums up Assassin’s Creed 3 nicely. With some profanity.
I gotta say, the Tomahawk Chop is definitely as much fun as Smosh makes it out to be. That was a funny thing about Assassin’s Creed 3: despite being able to buy or build different small weapons, I never switched from the Assassin Tomahawk. That thing was just too badass to part with.
Assassin’s Creed Whale
I would play the hell out of this game. I think we need some kind of Ecco the Dolphin remake with more swords, or at the very least, some lasers attached to his friggin’ head.
Welcome to Assassin’s Creed Week!
Welcome to the first ever theme week at Henchman-4-Hire! For some reason, a lot of different aspects of my life became focused on the Assassin’s Creed video game franchise over the past few weeks, so I decided to try something awesome and new and introduce a blog theme week! We’re going to have a lot of Assassin’s Creed posts, jokes and even an Assassin’s Creed-themed List of Six on Wednesday! Also big this week will be a review of the three Assassin’s Creed graphic novels from Titan Books – which marks my first ever semi-professional comic review – as well as my long awaited review of Assassin’s Creed 3! This week is going to be a killer!
The views aren’t so bad either
I am not above making a few puns.
I’m very excited about the graphic novels. You guys have been reading my comic book reviews for months now, and I’d like to think I’m building a fanbase. But all those comics, or the video games and movies I’ve reviewed, were things I bought on my own and reviewed on my own. Now, for the first time, a professional publishing company has reached out to me to review some of their work! I’ve been recognized as a legitimate review blog! That’s pretty exciting. Look for the graphic novel reviews on Tuesday.
And then on Friday, I’ve got my review of Assassin’s Creed 3. It was my most anticipated video game of the year, and I waited until it came out for the PC before playing and reviewing it. I’m really excited for that review as well.
So stay tuned this week, keep coming back and check out all of the Assassin’s Creed fun!
And if you have no idea what the heck I’m talking about, join me after the jump for a primer on Assassin’s Creed!
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