Overwatch: New Blood

Overwatch: New Blood #1-5

by Ray Fawkes, Irene Koh (Illustrator), Mariel Rodriguez (Illustrator)

Years after Overwatch has been disbanded, the world finds itself beset by injustice and vulnerable to self-interested powers in this all-new story.

With chaos and devastation rife around the world, Cole Cassidy receives the call to rejoin Overwatch . . . but memories of its fall still haunt him. After an unexpected reunion with an old friend, Cassidy considers that maybe Overwatch needs more than the old crew to give it new life.

An untold Overwatch story written by Ray Fawkes ( Detective Comics, Constantine) and illustrated by Irene Koh (The Legend of Turf Wars). This original graphic novel unveils how popular heroes were recruited to Overwatch in this ambitious expansion of the Overwatch universe!

Collects New Blood #1–#5.

Genres: Comics, Fiction

128 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 11, 2023

About the author

Ray Fawkes is the critically-acclaimed author of the comics and graphic novels Underwinter, Intersect, One Soul, The People Inside, The Spectral Engine, Possessions, and Junction True, as well as Batman: Eternal, Constantine, Justice League Dark, and Gotham by Midnight (DC), Wolverines (Marvel), Black Hammer '45 (Dark Horse), Jackpot! (AfterShock) and more. He is an Eisner, Harvey, and Shuster award nominee and a YALSA award winner.

Ray has been making comics for over 20 years, starting with and continuing the tradition of DIY fiction as well as working for many major comics publishers in the U.S. and Canada.

Reviews

[Online Eccentric Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

More reviews (and no fluff) on the blog http://surrealtalvi.wordpress.com/

For the six or so years since OW has been out, lore has always played a backseat - never moving forward and limited to new character releases to give their bare bones backstories. This lack was especially glaring when compared to robust lore shooters such as Valorant or Apex Legends. Finally, the OW universe is unthawing and being allowed to advance. It's only a few steps here but it is at least motion. This collects the individual issues and includes some panel background sketcheswith all the covers. We did get very shortened versions of these stories before but it is fleshed out here a bit more.

Story: Cole Cassidy (formerly McCree) is coerced by Ana to recruit new members so Overwatch can be reformed. The new Overwatch will have to face a double front: Omnic revolutionaries on one side and Talon forces on the other. Can Cassidy convince these new heroes to abandon the defenses of their countries and join a reformed Overwatch?

The lore when OW started was that it had been forcefully disbanded in the past but Winston had just issued a recall - that OW was needed again in the face of the mass (and rapidly increasing) chaos amassing in the world. That's pretty much where we were left for all these years of OW1. With OW2, we now are exploring the characters that were recalled as well as the characters who will be joining OW for the first time. In this volume, the heroes are D.Va, Baptiste, Zarya, Pharah.

All four recruits are heavily invested in protecting their countries but recognize (or are convinced by Cassidy) that they can do more if they take on a bigger picture by joining OW. Fans of the cinematics of these characters will enjoy seeing more of the side characters (such as D.Va's meka companions) as well as more backstory and history (e.g., Ana's and Pharah's mother-daughter relationship). But at heart, each hero is highly invested in protecting their respective countries from the various threats (e.g., Zarya's Russia from Omnics and Pharah dealing with Talon) and so leaving that is a hard decision. This nicely fleshes out these recruits and their personalities while providing a bit more of their immediate backstory.

There are some frustrations with the volume. For one, the artists give nearly no easter eggs or tantalizing hints in the background visuals as to future lore. E.g., in a locker at Helix, Pharah has photos that provide no extra information or even tongue in cheek references to game play (e.g., they could have put Mercy and Pharah alone in one as a nod to pharmacy). There was one flashback that had OW soldiers who we have seen before in cinematics but as I recall, died before the history of OW1 began so that felt like a waste as well). The plot is painfully straightforward and really could have used more actual lore rather than just Cassidy's mission and a few pathos scenes as the recruits ponder their current life.

The illustration work is fine. The characters, for the most part, look like their game counterparts. The backgrounds are extremely simple and feel more like a quick job rather than a robust comic. There's not a lot of detail there in any of the panels; so while the job of telling the recruiting gets done, it certain is not nuanced and we never get a feel of the futuristic sci fi setting. That's a shame since OW the game is beautiful and cinematic and robust. But the story is told easily and it is not difficult to follow the action.

In all, this is a mixed blessing. The story starts to crawl forward again but we are once again lacking hints or views of a tantalizing future. There's nothing to really want to know more about here other than the eternal question of how Cassidy lost the arm (which no one seems to comment on). Even Baptiste's connection to Mercy is not really discussed and is just a side thought in one panel. It's a shame that we are always given answers but never really posed questions that would intrigue and keep us invested in the lore. Certainly, though the art and plot here are serviceable, they do the lore few favors. But at least we see the lore finally inching forward. Reviewed from an advance reader copy provided by the publisher.

[Isaias McAllus · Rating 4 out of 5]

Buen dibujo en bastantes momentos. Las portadas se salen.

En cuanto a la historia bastante entretenida contando la reunión de los nuevos miembros de Overwatch (que no habíamos visto en cortometrajes previos)

Es una lástima que vayamos a tener un PvE contando la historia en lugar de tener el que prometieron originalmente para el OW 2.

Aquí Blizzard creó un universo de ciencia ficción súper chulo para darnos un juego PvP mediocre y un PvE insuficiente.