Assassin's Creed: The Fall (Deluxe Edition)

 

Bought at Goodwill, Davis Square, Somerville MA USA.

Title: Assassin's Creed: The Fall (Delux Edition)
Date: 2011
Publisher: Ubisoft
Writer: Karl Kerschl, Cameron Stewart
Artist: Karl Kerschl, Cameron Stewart
Colorist: Nadine Thomas
Letterer: Studio Lounak's Serge LaPointe

Around the end of the 20th Century, a man suffers from hallucinations of the fall of the last Czar of Russia and the battles between the Assassins and Templars in the years leading to the Russian Revolution. When the modern-day Assassins make contact with him, Daniel Cross gains their trust and embarks on a pilgrimage to seek out the elusive leader of the Order of Assassins, the Mentor. As he does, Cross sets off a chain of events leading to a modern purge of the Assassins by their ancient enemies, the Templars.

I bought this with the upcoming Assassin's Creed/Magic: The Gathering crossover in mind, having never played any of the Assassin's Creed games. For a newcomer to the lore, this did a pretty good job of getting me up to speed. I enjoyed the integration of history into the storyline, including the connections to the Tunguska Event and Nikola Tesla.

The story itself does a reasonable job of building suspense at the beginning, although it telegraphs its plot twist a bit, and the Order of Assassins come of as complete chumps by the time all is said and done, which is possibly not the desired impression to make on someone new to the franchise.

Still, it provides a decent setup for Assassin's Creed: The Chain, which will continue the story.

This was the Deluxe Edition, so it contains an extra ten-page epilogue, which really felt like an important part of the story, so it was good to have it here. There is also some "making-of" material, some notes on the relevant historical details, and a selection from the Assassin's Creed Encyclopedia. This last bit had some good background, but also spent a lot of time summarizing the story I had just read.

Rating: 6/10

Motor Crush #1

One of my purchases over the summer. I got this books from New England Comics in Quincy MA.

Title: Motor Crush
Issue: 1
Date: December, 2016
Publisher: Image Comics
Creators: Brenden Fletcher, Cameron Stewart, Babs Tarr
Letterer: Aditya Bidikar
Editor: Jeanine Schaefer
Cover: Cameron Stewart

In a futuristic world, motorbike racer Domino Swift walks a dangerous line between the world of the high stakes big money World Grand Prix circuit and the shady world of anything-goes "Cannonball" street racing. Up for grabs in the illegal races is Crush, the illegal accelerant that fuels the street-race mayhem, and is the rather open secret of success in the WGP races.

When a member of her team turns up dead and her stash of Crush turns up missing, Domino trades in the danger of racing for the danger of dealing with criminal elements willing to kill anyone who interferes in their business.

This was fast-paced fun with a main character who is flawed but sympathetic, and a solid supporting cast. The worldbuilding was straightforward, but detailed, and Crush itself presents an interesting enigma (especially after unexpected the final scene!).

The artwork was good, and handled the challenging racing sequences very well. Great facial expressions on the characters too.

Excellent start.

Rating: 8/10

Batgirl #40

The last of a three-issue run of Batgirl that I bought last summer at Double Midnight Comics in Manchester NH. My review of the previous issue is here.

Title: Batgirl
Issue: 40
Date: May, 2015
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher
Artist: Babs Tarr, Cameron Stewart
Colorist: Maris Wicks
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Chris Conroy, Dave Wielgosz
Cover: Cameron Stewart

Defeating Batgirl, murdering citizens of Gotham, and unleashing weapons of mass destruction? Turns out, there's an app for that.

Barbara confronts an out-of-control AI that's imprinted with her own brain patterns, and it's decided that Gotham isn't big enough for the two of them. It's also planning on stopping crime that has yet to happen through some strategic mass murder.

This was a solid conclusion, perhaps a bit too neatly wrapped up, but still loads of fun. Barbara employs some classic Star Trek tactics against her digital likeness, and gets a hand from Canary to deal with a fleet of ill-intentioned drones.

Good fun that wraps up a bunch of loose ends, and nicely transitions into a new chapter of Batgirl's story.

Rating: 7/10

Batgirl #39

I have a small run of three Batgirl issues that I picked up last summer at Double Midnight Comics in Manchester NH (they happened to have some signed issues in stock!). I reviewed the first of them (#38) here.

Title: Batgirl
Issue: 39
Date: April, 2015
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher
Artist: Babs Tarr, Cameron Stewart
Colorist: Maris Wicks
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Chris Conroy, Dave Wielgosz
Cover: Cameron Stewart

Batgirl discovers that a social media mob can escalate quickly, in this case turning into a good old-fashioned literal mob with torches and pitchforks (well, clubs and rolling pins anyway).

And as the world seems to be turning against her, Barbara begins to suspect that there is more going on with her internet presence than meets the eye. She's going to need help, and she's alienated the one friend best equipped to help her.

This was loaded with plot twists, some good action, a few high-five moments, and the continued really strong and diverse supporting cast. There turned out to be a lot more going on than I picked up on in the previous issue, and it all worked really well.

Looking forward to #40!

Rating: 7.5/10

Batgirl #38

I'd been hearing a lot about the new-look Batgirl, and Double Midnight Comics & Games in Manchester NH happened to have a couple of signed issues in stock.

Title: Batgirl
Issue: 38
Date: March, 2015
Publisher: DC Comics
Writer: Cameron Stewart, Brenden Fletcher
Artist: Babs Tarr, Cameron Stewart
Colorist: Maris Wicks
Letterer: Jared K. Fletcher
Editor: Chris Conroy, Dave Wielgosz
Cover: Cameron Stewart

Batgirl has become a neighborhood social media celebrity, and Barbara Gordon is enjoying her moment in the spotlight, even if it's put her friendship with Dinah in jeopardy. And then there's her budding relationship with a young cop who has no use for Batgirl's brand of vigilante justice.

When she goes after a street-racing reality TV star, the lines begin to blur between her brand of social media attention-seeking and his, and social media has a way of being very fickle.

As mentioned, this was my first chance to read the new version of Batgirl. Like a lot of people, I like the new costume, and I enjoyed the down-to-earth low-key style of story.

Boyfriend Liam is a bit longwinded in what is a pretty standard run-through of the pro-law anti-vigilante argument, but there are also some hints that there is more to Liam than meets the eye.

The action was good, and I liked the new supporting cast. Lots of minor characters with good potential.

I'm glad I picked up three issues of this, so I'll get to follow the story a bit.

Rating: 6.5/10

 

Fight Club: Free Comic Book Day 2015

My third review from my FCBD stack this year is another of the official Free Comic Book Day releases, this time from Dark Horse Comics.

Title: Free Comic Book Day 2015
Date: May, 2015
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics
Writer:Chuck Palahniuk, Eric Powell, David Lapham
Artist: Cameron Stewart, Eric Powell, Mike Huddleston
Colorist: Dave Stewart, Dan Jackson
Letterer: Nate Piekos of Blambot, Clem Robins
Cover: David Mack (front cover), Eric Powell (back cover)
Editor: Scott Allie, Sierra Hahn, Shantel LaRocque

Three stories here, headlined by Chuck Palahniuk's official sequel to Fight Club. The Fight Club story jumps right into where the novel left off. The writing is sharp, but there wasn't a lot of new material here, probably intentionally because this was aimed at a general audience, not all of whom would be familiar with the original book or the movie. It definitely kept the flavor of the original, but it really only teased the new directions that the sequel would be taking.

The Goon, on the other hand, was a complete short story, and a very amusing one at that. A bit of monologue by the Goon about vampires during the climactic scene is priceless. Definitely the best read out of the three stories here, and it stands up very well on its own.

The third story was from Guillermo Del Toro's The Strain. This is a prequel to the main storyline, and it's set in the 1960s. It involves a man with a rare book to sell, treacherous intentions, and predictable results. It is well told, but nothing all that original.

Rating: 6.5/10