Assassin's Creed: Origins: Special Edition

Assassin's Creed: Origins #1-4

by Anthony Del Col, P.J. Kaiowa (Illustrator), Neil Edwards (Illustrator)

In Ancient Egypt, a sinister cabal is attempting to steal the throne and seize power. From the depths of Alexandria, a secret brotherhood of assassins, known as the 'Hidden Ones,' work from the shadows to try and stop them.

Now, in Rome, the assassins' leader, Aya, has set her sights on a new target—the power-hungry emperor, Julius Caesar…

Based on Ubisoft's bestselling videogame, this thrilling adventure, by Anthony Del Col (Kill Shakespeare) and PJ Kaiowa (Pacific Rim), chronicles the very beginning of the Assassin Brotherhood.

Collects Assassin's Creed: Origins issues 1–4 with special behind-the-scenes extras from the comic, an interview with the creative team, and concept art from the game.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Historical Fiction, Fantasy, Media Tie In, Video Games, Fiction

129 pages, Kindle Edition

Published November 25, 2020

About the author

Anthony is a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer/producer of podcasts and comics. His stories include KILL SHAKESPEARE, ASSASSIN'S CREED, the controversial graphic novel THE DEATH OF NANCY DREW, and the award-winning Insider comic I ESCAPED A CHINESE INTERNMENT CAMP, a first-person exploration of one Muslim Uyghur woman’s imprisonment by the Chinese government (2022 Pulitzer Award for Illustrated Reporting and Commentary).

His 2020 audio drama ASSASSIN’S CREED: GOLD, starring Oscar-nominee Riz Ahmed, was Audible’s top-rated release of the year. HIs first project with Audible, the found-footage thriller UNHEARD: THE STORY OF ANNA WINSLOW, hit #1 on Audible and broke download records.

Other projects include the Ringo Awards-nominated graphic novel SON OF HITLER (“few war stories are this much fun” - NPR); LUKE CAGE: EVERYMAN (Marvel), three seasons of Wondery’s hit podcast AGAINST THE ODDS, over 50 episodes of the Army Matters podcast and a series of acclaimed and award-winning comics for Insider that explore subjects such as anti-Muslim policies in India, filtration camps in Ukraine and migrant workers in Qatar.

A proud Canadian, he lives in Brooklyn with his lovely - and patient - wife Lisa, son Dashiell and daughter Siena.

Reviews

[Achilles Lanis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a continuation of Assassin's Creed Origins following Aya after the events of the game.

We follow Aya as she plans the death of Caesar and Cleopatra as she prepares for war with Rome.

The art in here was great but overall it was a bit short and nothing major happened so it's not a must-read but it was okay.

Also this lacks any present day storyline so it is not needed in any way if you've read Assassin's Creed: Uprising Volume 3 and want some continuation.

Recommended only to those who played AC: Origins and want to see more Aya action.

[Dimitris Papastergiou · Rating 3 out of 5]

Set in 30BC with some flashbacks from the game's epilogue from 44BC

This one has to do with Aya and only her, so, no Bayek to see or what happened to him other than what you already know from the game, not reading this before finishing the game goes without saying since it's set 8 years after the Curse of the Pharaohs.

We go back and forth with Aya, from the day she assassinated Caesar along with the senators, with what happened to them, until now (30BC) where she's being hidden and Cleopatra is being threatened and Egypt is being invaded by Octavian. A fun read with great artwork that focuses on mostly on Aya.

[Mehsi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ik dacht ik lees gewoon alvast dit deel... maar ik ga zo ook maar het volgende deel lezen want WOW, wat was dit spannend en goed geschreven. En de art was ook best tof. Een verhaal over een moordenares/assassin, over Rome en Egypte, over Caesar, over slaven en ranken, en meer. Ik vloog er gewoon in een keer hop door. Heerlijk als dat gebeurt!

[ellie · Rating 4 out of 5]

one of the best AC comics, i absolutely adored Cleopatra and Amunet in this

[James Batchelor · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining and a great expansion of the game - only complaint is it’s too brief and a little shallow

[Storm · Rating 5 out of 5]

EEE! Origins is still my favorite game in the series, and I love revisiting Bayek and Aya. Interesting to see what Aya gets up to after the game in Rome.

[Fantasy Svet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Klasickou prednosťou asasínskej série je historická fikcia. Kto by predsa nemal rád stretnutia s veľkými osobnosťami? Či už vám pomáhajú, alebo stoja proti vám, sú historicky presné ako len medze tvorby zábavného materiálu dovolia. Teda, aspoň tak presné, ako to písomné pramene umožňujú. Komiks tento fakt vzal vážne, a tak sa fikcia prelína s históriou veľmi prirodzene a bez úskalí. A keď už je reč o možných úskaliach, komiksu sa podarilo nielen slušne podať konkrétny príbeh, ale zároveň ostalo verné hernej predlohe, čo poteší nejedného fajnšmekra. Nedá sa nehodnotiť komiks a nepristaviť sa pri jeho výtvarnej stránke. Omámi a úplne si vás omotá okolo svojho fiktívneho prsta práve svojou farebnosťou. Tá si povedala, že ak je už raz príbeh verný predlohe a histórie, bude sa s ním snúbiť ruka v ruke. A tak sa vaše oči pokochajú nielen starovekým Rímom prostredníctvom textu, ale aj obrazu. Výtvarná stránka je na vysokej úrovni. Kresby sú naozaj dynamické, dekapitácia nepriateľa zo mňa dostala proste len „wow“.

Chybou krásy sú len výrazy postáv, tie sú menej detailné a s tým nepriamo súvisí aj podobnosť Rimanov. Ako keby ich všetkých jedna mať mala (Mor ho!) :) U rôznych postáv využitých na vyplnenie pozadia scenérie to, samozrejme, veľký problém nie je, ale keď sa vám podstatnú časť knihy pletú dve hlavné postavy v príbehu, predsa len to nie je ideálne.

Viac sa dočítate na našej stránke Fantasy-svet.sk!

[K · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean if you rate it as a story, the story is quite flat. Amunet takes in Caesarion to join the brotherhood. Thats it. Makes me sad we still aren’t getting a sequel, makes me sad we won’t see Bayek again even though the game was about him.

I felt that some panels truly lacked drive, they just weren’t laid out very well. The text as well was just basic, the lettering team did terrible speech bubbles and had no emphasis on any words.

I thought that the art was pretty consistent and lovely, I enjoyed the gallery with the sketches and additional artwork.

[Annemary Noble · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean this was an okay story, except I don't how much of this is historycally accurate.
But the thing that bothered me most is that every male and female character, respectively, looked the same. I literally couldn't tell Brutus from Marcus Aurelius (or any male character) or Cleopatra from literally any other female character. The clothes sometimes, but only sometimes, helped.

[Philip · Rating 2 out of 5]

Assassin's Creed: Origins has its moments, namely focusing on a key piece of vestigial (and, according to this comic, romanticised) background lore from Assassin's Creed II that was bafflingly excluded from the game that shares this comic's name, but they are too few and far between to make this comic a compelling read from start to finish.

[Mark · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good epilogue to the main game. But it is just that: an epilogue, for Aya this time when the Hidden Ones game was Bayek's epilogue. Cool that they finally tied it into Assassin's Creed 2 but I wish they went even further.

[Janet Azucena · Rating 4 out of 5]

En la extensión de la saga de Assasins, se aborda la situación política de la época y un grupo llamado "Los Ocultos" ha decidido actuar para evitar que Roma llegue a exterminar al reino egipcio, principalmente, evitar que los tiranos hagan daño a inocentes

[Avery · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5
Not historical at all in anyway...it was terrible
Could have been gay...so easily...and...instead it was this

[Oneirosophos · Rating 4 out of 5]

A must read and an excellent exodus for Origins' Aya!

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book a prequel of the other ones I have read and gave me some background.

[Alex Bautista Rubio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un gran cómic para complementar un gran juego.

[Jessica · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Katherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story was alright but I was very irked by Cleopatra as a whole. Her characterization and get physical design. How does fabric stick to a boob like that?

[Ale Pvente · Rating 5 out of 5]

Necesito mucho más sobre esta historia, y sobre todo por la trama de Aya, creo que es algo que si estaría bien como secuela de Origins sin tocar mucho la trama de Bayek que para mi está bien acabada.

[Danny Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not really a creed head but this was ok. I enjoyed the Egyptian landscape.

[Anwar Russell · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

[Angela · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yeah Origins.
Great story.
Kemet lives 4ever.

[Melodie Roschman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bloody! Do we really think every woman in the ancient world wore a halter top?

[Ronald Hopkins · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a cute story great information and the art was beautiful.

[Vadym Shestakov · Rating 2 out of 5]

Two stars because I am a huge fan of the franchise. Otherwise, the plot is thin and shallow. The artwork is ok.

[JJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Assassin's Creed: Origins comic is a short but reasonably interesting expansion of the ending of the game of the same name.

I'll be honest: I didn't like the game's story at all. I thought it was rushed and unexplained and clearly not the focus for the developers. In particular, I thought the ending was rushed and tacked on just to force in a big historical moment. This comic almost seems like a direct response to my complaints about the ending, fleshing out Aya's time in Rome plotting with Brutus. We see a little of the lead up to the game's ending, as well as a longer look at the aftermath and the fall of Cleopatra some years later. The series is only four issues long, so doesn't really overstay its welcome. And the art is colorful just like the game. Overall, it's a pretty strong epilogue to the game and helps wrap things up.

However, the writing is not particularly good. It was hard for me to read any of the dialogue in character, and what seemed to be attempts to write emotional scenes fell totally flat. To be far, Origins the game didn't have particularly interesting characters either -- but that's not fixed here. And if you haven't finished the main story in the Assassin's Creed: Origins game, there's really nothing of interest for you here.

I also don't think you get much additional bang for your buck with the "Special Edition". While it's not 100% clear to me what is special edition content and what would have come with the normal edition anyway, you only get a cover gallery, some story boards and sketches, a short interview, and some game concept art. Many of these things come in non "Special Edition" collections all the time, and none of them were particularly interesting (except perhaps to see the mismatch in what the creators thought was a gripping, emotional scene that failed to resonate with me). I bought this collection on sale, so I don't know if it's more expensive normally than the regular TBP, but it's not worth more than an extra $1-2.

[randa d · Rating 2 out of 5]

Missing Someone

Aya is a strong character. However, she did not create The Hidden Ones by herself. Origin stories are incomplete without all contributing people.

I didn't see anything that specifically stated this was a comic book. I was hoping for a novella/light novel (that had some artwork).

[Vitek Novy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pro změnu něco ze hry Assassin's Creed Origins, je to tak zhruba napůl starý Řím a Egypt. Jsou tu známé postavy jako Caesar, Kleopatra, Brutus, Marcus Antonius atd., ale příběh mi přijde takový moc krátký, jistě se to dalo trochu víc rozvést. Kresba mi ovšem připadá skvělá, velice akční.

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

How Aya became Amunet. This book gets stronger as it goes on, and has a particularly strong ending.