‘Assassin’s Creed Origins #2’ Review
Written by Anthony Del Col | Art by PJ Kaiowa | Published by Titan Comics
The historical angle has always been what has given Assassin’s Creed its unique ‘thing’, the clever weaving of historical fact with Assassin’s Creed fiction. Real people interacting with Creed created characters. Previous games in the relatively recent past have been pretty straightforward, with a reasonable amount of documentary evidence to base things on. When I saw the Origins game was going to be based back in ancient Egypt, I thought that both interesting and a bit of a reach. Would that work? Could it? This isn’t Assassins/Templar history, this is pre-Assassin/Templar history. Well, the game worked fine, so could the comic?
This book is a sequel of sorts to the events of the game. Aya and Bayek have avenged the death of their son, but opened another can of worms with the discovery of the Order of the Ancients, a group who plan to gain control of Egypt and then the world (cue maniacal villain laughter). Seems a suspiciously Templar-like thing to do, right? So, Aya and Bayek have decided to build a Brotherhood to oppose the Order, called the Hidden Ones, which a policy of assassinating those who attempt to control people’s freedoms. Seems a suspiciously Assassin-like thing to do, right? Aya has settled in Rome, where Julius Caesar, as a member of that Order, has unsettled all with his increasingly dictatorial ways. Senators Brutus and Cassius have joined Aya’s side. Caesar is assassinated, but it seems as though that may work in the Order’s favour after all.
Aya realises she has made a terrible error, as Caesar’s assassination has allowed Mark Anthony to whip up public outrage. Aya and Mark Anthony have previous, and as the mob violence spreads Aya threatens Anthony with assassination. He knows she can’t do it, as that would tip Rome completely over the edge. He’s playing a game, using the mob for his own purposes, or ‘the good of Rome’ as any consummate politician would say. Bring him Brutus, he offers, and the violence will go away. Well, the violence reaches them and Aya has to flee, fighting off Roman soldiers along the way. She narrowly escapes, and is pulled to safety by Cassius and Brutus, now in hiding. Brutus has had enough, and is off to Crete. Aya though, racked with guilt, elects to stay and fight to restore stability to Rome.
Not a bad issue, though overall felt a little light on actual content. It essentially dealt with the aftermath of Caesar’s death, but little more. The action sequences however, of which there were quite a few, were superbly scripted and drawn, choreographed so well it felt like a game sequence. Del Col again writes a great Aya, showing her as idealistic but flawed in judgement, a fierce warrior but technically still a limited one. This issue had the feel of the pieces being moved to the areas of the board they need to be to really move the story along. So script wise I felt it was ok, decent but a little light. Visually, though, great to look at and laid out superbly well. I’m still not sure this is an essential addition to the Origins world, but I am interested enough to stay on the ride for now.
Another issue fans will enjoy, others I’m not so sure about. If you are not invested in this world, there was little here in this issue to change that. You can’t argue with the product on the page though, it looks and reads nicely enough. And who doesn’t like some Roman scandal?
***½ 3.5/5
