The Art Of Assassin's Creed III (Titan Books Hardcover Coffee Table Book)/Assassin's Creed Graphic Novels: 1. Desmond, 2. Aquilus, 3. Accipiter (Titan
Books Hardcover Mature Comic Books)
Books: A-/B-
Assassin's Creed is a highly successful video game
that debuted in 2007 from Ubisoft and has been building into a potentially huge
franchise beyond its origins including a feature film that may land Michael
Fassbinder in the lead and other off-shoots on the way. We have received some nice, high quality, hardcover
books tied into the various worlds including a new coffee table book on the
newest video game.
Assassin's Creed III (actually part five of the
overall franchise) is a breathtaking adventure set in the American Colonial Revolution.
Along with the complex plot, quests,
skills and missions, it features a beautiful vista of nature, people, and
towns. As the main character sneaks ups
on its target(s), the game allows a number of different ways and skills to
execute the hunt or kill, including hand to hand or musket, creating a
fictional and adventurous world of what the colonial America used to be.
This large, heavy volume is a beautifully drawn art book
and is a must-collect for all Assassin's
Creed fans featuring beautiful paintings, drawings, and design for the
game. The world featured ranges from the
large and wild frontier, to the complex cities, alley ways and rooftops in the
world of Assassin's Creed. It also features character designs and
inspiration for their costuming to match period clothing, as well as various
allies, common people, NPCs and the tools of the trade.
That makes for an ambitious, serious companion to the
latest level ands era of the franchise, but while that is about the CG world,
the three new graphic novel comic books jump eras and form a
brief-but-interesting trilogy that is all in hand-drawn art by Djillali Defali
(art) and Alexis Sentenac (color). These
are English translations of works made in and debuting in French from 2009 all
written by Eric Corbeyran that lays out this section of worlds and characters
well. I liked how this was smart and too
the point. Though I (the second author
of this review) am not a fantasy genre fan, I can see the potential appeal here
and if this is a sign of where a feature film is going, I am now much more
interested to see what the makers do.
Colors can be a little muted, but not ridiculously
so. The quality of the paper and binding
is top rate, so they are meant to last, much the way Titan Books and Ubisoft
hope the franchise will be.
If you are a fan and have not seen these four volumes or
new at this and want to learn about how this world functions and works, these
publications are as good as any place to start.
- Ricky Chiang
& Nicholas Sheffo
