Assassin’s Creed. Volume 1, Desmond.
Authors: Eric Corbeyran and Djilalli Defaux
Publisher: Titan Books
ISBN-10: 1-7811-6340-5
ISBN-13: 978-1-7811-6340-5
Assassin’s Creed. Volume 2, Aquilus.
Authors: Eric Corbeyran and Djilalli Defaux
Publisher: Titan Books
ISBN-10: 1-7811-6341-3
ISBN-13: 978-1-7811-6341-2
Assassin’s Creed. Volume 3, Accipiter.
Authors: Eric Corbeyran and Djilalli Defaux
Publisher: Titan Books
ISBN-10: 1-7811-6342-1
ISBN-13: 978-1-7811-6342-9
The Art of Assassin’s Creed III
Author: Andy McVittie
Publisher: Titan Books
ISBN-10: 1-7811-6425-8
ISBN-13: 978-1-7811-6425-9
Assassin’s Creed is an extremely popular video game that was created by Ubisoft Montreal in 2007. According to the publisher’s blurb, “Initially launched in 2007, the first four Assassin’s Creed games have sold more than 38 million units worldwide, and the franchise is now established as one of the best-selling series ever. Recognized for having some of the richest, most-engrossing art and storytelling in the industry, Assassin’s Creed transcends video games, branching out into other entertainment experiences including comic books, Facebook games, novels, short films and more.”
These four books have been published in conjunction with Ubisoft’s release of the Assassin’s Creed III video game in October 2012. The Assassin’s Creed cartoon-art trilogy written by Eric Corbeyran and painted by Djilalli Defaux was published in France in 2009. This is its first translation into English. Titan Books has published it in the original French bandes dessinées format of three large (10.9” x 7”) hardcover 48-page albums of rich painted art on glossy paper. The Art of Assassin’s Creed III is an original October 2012 larger (11.8” x 9”) 145-page hardcover book by video game veteran Andy McVittie; a compilation of full-color concept art and finished video-game art, also on glossy paper.
The books are for those already familiar with the video games. The three-album Assassin’s Creed graphic novel begins in the modern laboratories of Abstergo, the powerful corporation controlled by the Templars (the bad guys). The present-day descendants of the medieval Knights Templar are experimenting on the kidnapped Desmond Miles, whom they have discovered is (unknown to him) a descendant of the Assassins (the good guys). “A SECRET WAR. Its origins are rooted in the mystery which surrounds the BIRTH OF HUMANITY. The prize for the winner is COLOSSAL: world domination!” (Desmond, p. 44) Abstergo is trying to learn through Desmond’s ancestral memory the location of an all-powerful artifact lost during the chaotic warfare in Northern Europe between the Romans, the Gauls, and the Alemanni in the third century A.D. The present-day Assassins (especially Lucy Stillman, the romantic interest) help Desmond to escape from Abstergo and, hopefully, recover the artifact for themselves. The three-part time-travel novel features lots of secret-agent-type ambushes and firefights in modern Europe, and regressed-memory visions of Desmond’s Assassin ancestors Aquilus in the later third century A.D., and Altair in the Holy Land during the Third Crusade. The action-packed novel is kept going largely by not telling Desmond anything (“Who are YOU?” “Knowing who I am will not COMFORT you, Mr. Miles. Indeed, the less you know about us, the better.” Ibid., p. 23), and it ends on a cliffhanger. If the story was originally supposed to continue past Tome 3, it didn’t.
The Art of Assassin’s Creed III is a “making of” art book. It contains concept and finished art by twenty of Ubisoft Montreal’s creative staff, plus commentary by Art Director The Chinh Ngo and the individual artists. There is some new art at the beginning to add to Abstergo’s modernistic/futuristic corporate headquarters, but Assassin’s Creed III focuses upon a new ancestor of Desmond Miles: Connor Kenway, a half-British, half-Mohawk Assassin who fights for the Colonists during the American Revolutionary War. To quote from Titan Books’ publicity: “Highlights in the game, and in the book, include new interactive cityscapes, frozen winter landscapes, threats from the natural world, weather systems that affect gameplay, and a wholly new environment for any Assassin so far – all stunningly recreated by the Ubisoft studio.” Whether you are interested in video games or not, this is a gorgeous collection of art of the battlefields, Boston and New York in the 1770s, the uniforms, the weapons, the politicians (some real and some fictional), and the fighting men of the American Revolution.
Disclosure: A free copy of these books was furnished by the publisher for review, but providing a copy did not guarantee a review. This information is provided per the regulations of the Federal Trade Commission.
