Titan Comics 2015
Written by Anthony Del Col & Conor McCreery
Illustrated by Neil Edwards
Coloured by Ivan Nunes
Lettered by Richard Starkings & Jimmy Betancourt
In an instant, Charlotte de la Cruz had her normal, boring, life turned upside down when the Assassins Xavier Chen and Galina Voronina plucked her out of her San Diego apartment... And dropped her into the Animus, and in Salem, 1692. On the eve of the infamous Witch Trials. With no time to find her feet, Charlotte dives into the memories of her cantankerous ancestor, the Master Assassin, Tom Stoddard, looking for the secret that will save the Assassin Brotherhood …
I’m a huge fan of this already and i’m not a video game player so for me this is all I know about the franchise. That this involves a time in our nation’s history that we don’t have reliable records on and then in the present some incredible almost science fiction type technology to bring the two together makes for one heck of an incredible idea. That the people using this technology visit their ancestors who just happen to be assassins and that they are working against folks who can do what they do well I can’t wait to see how that interaction comes into play.
Neil and Ivan do some of the most incredibly detailed and fascinating interiors here. I love seeing these guys in that old time style of dress. I live for the times people had style and class and dressed to their station in life and this was not only flattering but colourful and extremely visual in nature. Plus i’ve come to think that Neil’s style of work is one that should be recognized the world over for how gosh darn good it is.
I really enjoy the characterization that we are getting here from the guys. With Charlotte seeing what her ancestor is doing and we see how he behaves we really do get this incredibly complex and well rounded story unfolding before us. I love the idea that these folks are assassins back in the day and their skill sets are such that fighting and underhanded tactics to enhance their fighting style really is impressive. We forget that there was a time when people trained how to do hand to hand combat and to be killers the Far East for example I mean they perfected that.
While most of this issue is spent in the past learning about what was and how Charlotte and her ancestor we do also get to see more of what’s happening in the present. I like how it’s just enough to question what the motives of this group is and why they are willing to let her be inside so long without all the proper training or experience. They don’t really know her but are relying on her and yet she seems totally expendable.
Plus we’re only two issues in and already we’re seeing an objective being reached but there’s still so much more to experience and see. It’s funny because the story doesn’t seem like it’s on overdrive but it certainly comes across to the reader that way. There’s so much action and stuff being revealed that it feels like we are a lot further into this than we are. This is the sign of some truly inspired and wonderful writing.
This is fun people! I love the idea behind it the execution and this whole world we are being introduced to. There’s so much unlimited potential and it’s obviously in the right hands.