‘Assassin’s Creed Last Descendants: Locus #2’ Review
Written by Ian Edginton | Art by Caspar Wijngaard | Published by Titan Comics
As the Assassins Creed universe continues to expand with more and more comic book series, it runs the risk of producing a dud at some stage. So far, all the books have been – at worst – good solid reads, and at best required reading. One thing they should not do is run out of ideas, as all places and times are open to the writers, and this probably adds to the feeling of freshness across all the books. This series began last month, featuring Tommy Greyling, a nineteenth century American Pinkerton agent, who is dragged into a conflict when a dying friend reveals President Grant’s administration is controlled by the Templars. An added wrinkle is that his descendent Sean, using the Animus in the present, is confined to a wheelchair, and is using the Animus to allow him to walk again through his ancestor.
We pick up with Tommy chatting to Mark Twain of all people, on a boat travelling to England, discovering they had a mutual acquaintance in Horace Greeley, the friend of Tommy’s who was murdered. This meeting predates the events of last issue. The chat is pretty helpful, as it helped me understand exactly why Assassins and Templars are forever chasing after ‘Pieces of Eden’. The Pieces are powerful ancient artifacts, but they require a manual to make them work, and also a precursor box to interpret the manual. So there you go.
We shift back to Tommy’s present, where Tommy, Twain (or Samuel Clemens, as he prefers), Inspector Abilene, and Assassins Henry Green and Evie Frye are talking over the attack at the British Museum last issue. Some quick investigation leads them to a local slaughterhouse, where they find a missing British Museum archivist tied up. Unfortunately, it’s all been a trap, set by the female assassin (with a small ‘a’) who Tommy has had run ins with now three times. A big rumble ensues, with Evie and Henry taking out most the gang sent against them. No-one, however, anticipated Tommy being stabbed badly, fatally even. Certainly not his descendant Sean, who ejects out of the Animus abruptly. Yikes.
This series continues to be great fun, moving along at a nice pace, equal parts action and dialogue. Edginton’s dialogue is always strong, as is his developing of characters, and it all comes together nicely. The focus this month was almost exclusively on Tommy in the past, with Sean in the present afforded little more than a cameo, but an important one as we see he is being driven to near exhaustion by not being allowed to rest. The interaction between characters throughout the book felt very organic and natural too.
Caspar Wijngaard’s art is also very good throughout, reminding me a little of some Dark Horse comics type art. With dialogue-heavy scenes he likes a lot of close-ups on faces, playing with the angles to keep it all fresh. He likes several panels to a page as well, to allow him to structure out the story evenly I’m guessing, and it works as that makes the story feel more like a TV show, or a movie.
Well it you don’t plan to come back next issue to see if the main character has indeed died then nothing will make you. Credit to Edginton’s writing that I genuinely don’t know if Tommy will live or die. Can you experience a death through the Animus? Interesting.
Solid book, with great writing and art. Pick this up, it’s fun.
**** 4/5
Assassin’s Creed Last Decendants: Locus #2 is out now from Titan Comics
