It’s no secret that most of the editors on staff here are big Assassin’s Creed fans. We try our best to stay objective and neutral but Assassin’s Creed is always the series where I struggle to not devolve into a drooling fanboy. Even when we’re talking about AC3 which I easily see as the weakest game in the series I still mostly come away with fond memories playing it.
And so that’s why I was particularly interested when Assassin’s Creed graphic novels started to be released. Normally we stick to video games on this site but every now and then we make an exception, especially with this series which can so easily be connected to our primary sphere of interests.
Hawk is actually the fourth graphic novel set in the Assassin’s Creed universe. The previous books are collected into one volume known as the “Ankh of Isis Trilogy” and if you’re going to dive into the AC graphic novels it’s definitely recommended that you go back and catch up.
Hawk centers on modern day Assassin, Jonathan Hawk and his team who are researching a Piece of Eden taking the form of an artifact known as the Scepter of Aset. To that end Hawk enters the Animus to view the memories of his Egypt-based ancestor, Numa Al’Khamsin, or as he’s more commonly known, El Cakr.
El Cakr participates in the standard assassin’s fare, leaping from buildings to impale enemies, growing upset at the sight of Templar symbols, and interrogating folks in a somewhat forceful fashion. While the time spent with El Cakr is relatively fast paced the overall book is actually fairly light on action, focusing instead on exposition and place setting. My understanding is that this book will begin a second trilogy ending in the sixth installment. And so as with a lot of first episodes in a series it’s hard to say just how well a lot of this setup will work out when the other two entries are released.
In my opinion Hawk ultimately stumbles in the same places that the game series does. The modern day storyline just isn’t terribly interesting and unfortunately this chapter spends a lot of time there. I know a lot of people are fans of the modern day story and those people will probably find something to like here but personally I’m hoping there’s still time for the more interesting historical pieces to rise to the forefront. Thankfully the next book in the series looks to be a little more focused on El Cakr.
If you’re a big fan of the series this series could very well be worth checking out to hold you over until the next AC game comes your way. If you haven’t enjoyed Assassin’s Creed up until this point I’m not sure that there’s anything here that will change your mind.
