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

The Legend of Drizzt Book I: Homeland

Borrowed from a friend here in Shanghai, who recently brought the first four of these graphic novels here from the US.

Title: The Legend of Drizzt
Issue: Book I: Homeland
Date: 2005
Publisher: Devils Due Publishing
Writer: R.A. Salvatore, Andrew Dabb
Penciler: Tim Seeley
Inker: Andrew Pepoy, Marco Galli, Derek Fridolfs, Dennis Crisostomo, Serge LaPointe
Colorist: Blond
Letterer: Steve Seeley
Editor: Mark Powers

Adapting the first novel in R.A. Salvatore's Dark Elf Trilogy. Set in the Forgotten Realms (D&D campaign setting) underdark city of Menzoberranzan, the story is essentially the origin of Drizzt Do'Urden. In the original prose novels, the drow elf Drizzt was introduced in the Icewind Dale Trilogy, and was then given his own story, starting with Homeland. In this graphic novel series, the stories will appear in chronological order, with the Icewind Dale adaptations to follow the Dark Elf trilogy.

This volume gives the story of Drizzt's birth and childhood through his days at the infamous Melee-Magthere combat academy where he trained to become one of Menzoberranzan's greatest warriors, even as he began to have his doubts about the brutal nature of drow society.

The original Homeland is a richly-detailed novel, and a lot had to be cut in order for this to flow smoothly in the graphic novel medium. Script writer Andrew Dabb did a remarkable job, especially with the complex web (see what I did there?) of political intrigue that binds the drow noble houses. While not all of the descriptive worldbuilding could be included, the art team led by Tim Seeley manage to capture much of the mood of Menzoberranzan in the visuals.

The drow society as presented in these stories has always felt like it could have used more nuance, but the conflicting motivations of the characters are handled well. The story felt complex, but not to the point where it was hard to follow. Drizzt himself comes off as a bit less broody than the prose version due to the limitations of space, and the emphasis on actions over words helps move the story along.

The Dark Elf Trilogy were not really favorites of mine as I look back on them, but this edition got me sufficiently nostalgic and never overstayed its welcome.

Rating: 7/10