Charlotte has to call on all she has learned from her ancestor Tom Stoddard to save her cell from decimation at the hands of Abstergo. In doing so, she learns more about herself, and more about the Brotherhood than she expected, and is forced to decide where her loyalties lie!
So here we are, the final issue of this first Assassin’s Creed arc. Del Col and McCreery have so far delivered a very good addition to the Assassin’s Creed universe in lead character Charlotte de la Cruz, though perhaps pushing her back a little bit too much in the shadows at times, and her ancestor Tom Stoddard, probably the real ‘star’ so far of this arc. It has been entertaining stuff, but like a game of football no point having a great build up without any actual pay off at the end. So does this issue deliver?
Now the action has shifted from following ancestor Tom’s exploits through the Animus into the present, we finally get to see Charlotte take centre stage. Is she ready to take on the mantle of an Assassin field agent and rescue her friends? Well, she’s certainly eager and skilled, though obviously will do only what makes her comfortable. A potential witness to her break-in is not killed by her but tied up, very un-Assassin like, but her naivety still leads to his death anyway. The big fight of the issue takes place between traitor Joseph and Xavier and Galina, the latter two having gone to ‘rescue’ Joseph. Joseph kills Xavier and badly injures Galina, though Charlotte intervenes at just the right moment.
This is the point where a good issue becomes an excellent one. Assassin’s Creed #5 could have gone out with a bang, plenty of action and fighting and we would have all been more than satisfied. Del Col and McCreery aren’t having that though, and in a few panels add a whole new level of characterisation to apparent two-dimensional traitor/ villain Joseph. Joseph tells Charlotte a few home truths, that he turned against the Assassins because they betrayed him, allowing someone he loved to die as love is a ‘weakness’, and that all they do is use people like him and her. Charlotte is not a valued Assassin trainee, but an asset with an ability to be exploited. Joseph promises to show her what really is going on but Charlotte, though secretly realising he is at least partly telling the truth, opts to rescue Galina instead.
The theme of this issue is trust. We ,the reader, thought we had a grasp on the good guys and the bad guys, allowing for a little shade of grey here or there. This issue turned that on its head. If Joseph was such a traitor, why did he complete his original mission and not give the Templar’s what they wanted? Charlotte had trust in her new colleagues, only to find she had been lied to all along. The Templar’s trusted Joseph, and he killed them. Trust is a dirty word in this world, and Charlotte has learnt that the hard way. Overall, this issue was a very good one, though with the caveat that nothing has been resolved, which we tend to like with limited series, just that the playing field has been widened, allegiances challenged, characters changed. Although not resolved, we do feel that Charlotte has been on a journey, and has an exciting path ahead of her, a decidedly very dangerous one at that.
As good as the writing was, and it was top notch, Neil Edwards art was superb. His layouts were like the storyboards for a film, pictures in perfect synergy with words, perfect pacing. There was always a feeling of motion, of movement, adding to the general sense of excitement, of non-stop action. Most definitely the perfect artist for this book.
The next arc has a lot to build on, but also a lot to live up to. This arc has been a great read, and I’ll be back to see how Charlotte moves on from here.
A live-action film, Assassin's Creed, set in the same universe as the video games and other media, was released on December 21, 2016. Development for the film began in October 2011, when Sony Pictures entered final negotiations with Ubisoft Motion Pictures to make the film. In July 2012, Michael Fassbender was announced to star in the film, as well as co-produce the film. His role was revealed in August 2015 as Callum Lynch, whose ancestor Aguilar, is an Assassin from 15th-century Spain. In October 2012, Ubisoft revealed the film would no longer be produced by Sony Pictures, instead co-produced with New Regency and distributed by 20th Century Fox.
In November 2016, it was announced that Ubisoft and Netflix started talks regarding how to develop an Assassin's Creed series. In July 2017, Adi Shankar revealed he would be creating the series, which would be in the anime format. The series, which will feature an original story from Shankar, will share the same universe as the other media of the franchise.
A live-action series, an animated series, and an anime series were announced in October 2020 for Netflix. The live-action series will be produced by Ubisoft Film & Television for the streaming service, with Jason Altman and Danielle Kreinik as executive producers and Jeb Stuart as the writer.
Netflix's Assassin's Creed TV Show Gets Surprising Update, Along With A New Game Announcement
The planned Assassin's Creed series from Netflix gets an update we were not expecting.
The Assassin’s Creed franchise of video games has been incredibly successful since its debut in 2007. Its genre bending combination of historical epic and science fiction would seem to be made for a TV or movie adaptation, but the one time the concept hit the big screen it fell flat. Now, it sounds like maybe the previously announced series for Netflix isn’t faring much better, as it’s still in “early” development despite being announced two years ago.
It was the fall of 2020 when it was first reported that video game developer Ubisoft and Netflix were partnering on a new live-action series based in the Assassin’s Creed universe. A year after that, we were told that Vikings: Valhalla scribe Jeb Stuart was being brought on as showrunner. You’d think that after all that, the show would be further along. However, as part of a showcase on the Assassin’s Creed franchise over the weekend, series producer Marc-Alexis Côté said the show, while clearly still happening, hasn’t moved much. He explained…
"Well, it's still early in development. But I can confirm that we are co-developing the Netflix series with Ubisoft Film & Television, Netflix, obviously, and an insanely talented show runner, Jeb Stuart. It's gonna be an epic, genre-bending, live-action adaptation of our video game series."
It’s great that the show is still in development at all, but it is more than a little strange that the show is still apparently so early that there’s really nothing that can be said about what it even is. Clearly, this process has been a slow one. It seems likely that when the show was announced, the deal had just been signed, and things may not have moved forward at all until the showrunner was hired last year.
Assassin's Creed follows a centuries old battle between Assassins and the Knights Templar. The games are primarily set in a historical time period, like the Italian Renaissance or the American Revolution, but the events being experienced are actually those of a modern day character, experiencing the genetic memory of an ancestor via advanced technology.
Moving slowly isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The last time Assassin’s Creed was adapted for the screen, it didn’t work out all that well, so taking their time to make sure that this new project is going to work isn’t the worst idea in the world. Even star Michael Fassbender admitted the film just wasn't entertaining. What else is there to even say after that?
While one might read the lack of movement as a potential lack of interest, indicating the show could end up in development hell forever, as so many shows and movies have, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Alongside the news that the Netflix series is still moving forward comes the news that Netflix and Ubisoft are working together on three different mobile games, one of which is also based on Assassin’s Creed, so both sides of this partnership due appear to be committed to each other, making it look like this show will eventually happen.
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