Assassin’s Creed: Subject 4
The last “Assassin’s Creed” graphic novel I read, “The Fall,” rose above the usual licensed videogame comic tie-in standard and managed to be a great read that offered new insight into its source material. I was planning on picking up its sequel, “The Chain,” before hopefully finding it at Comic-Con, yet that didn’t turn out quite as I planned. That’s because “The Chain” was only being sold through Ubisoft’s website for $20, which is steep for a softcover 96-page graphic novel. I had enjoyed “The Fall” enough that I was about to bite the bullet… until I saw that Ubisoft was going to charge me an extra $10 for shipping and handling. That killed any desire I had to get the story from its source.
Flash forward to this year’s Comic-Con and all of my rummaging through the bargain bins had yet to turn up a copy of “The Chain.” Wondering just how I could get my hands on it, I tried searching for it on Amazon, only to see that it was even more prohibitively expensive. Then I tried a general internet search for a better deal and turned up something interesting on Wikipedia of all places. As the site informed me, both “The Fall” and “The Chain” were collected into a single edition titled “Subject 4” and it was available on Amazon through a secondary seller for a reasonable price. So even though it meant having to re-buy something I already owned, I placed the order after I got back from the con.
As for the end result? While this is clearly the version to buy if you don’t have either, “The Chain” isn’t as satisfying as its predecessor. Picking up a year after Daniel Cross’ betrayal of the Assassins, we’re reintroduced to him as he’s coming out of year’s immersion in the animus. Thanks to his efforts, the Templars now have the upper hand and the demise of their nemesis appears imminent. He’s regarded as a hero amongst his peers even if the consequences of his actions in the real world are still fresh in his mind and the “bleeding effect” keeps playing havoc with his perception of reality.
Daniel’s acclimation to life as a Templar could’ve been fascinating story thread to explore. Regrettably, it’s mainly glossed over as we’re given a few scenes to show how he copes with returning to reality before jumping ahead a few months to see that he’s now responsible for training new inductees. “The Fall” left off with the character as a broken man, retreating into the animus because he couldn’t cope with what he had done to the people who he once fought alongside with as a comrade-in-arms. How does the ultimate sleeper agent, someone whose life had been altered to make him blend in perfectly with his quarry, cope with coming back in from the cold? We’re just left to assume that he found a way to manage.
That’s only half the story, as the rest takes place in Daniel’s memories as he remembers/experiences his assassin ancestor Nikolai Orelov’s time in America. As it turns out, the Assassins weren’t about to let the man who had a vision of the shape of things to come retire without a fight. Though he is living a peaceful life with his wife, daughter and baby son, that peace is soon shattered in a way that sees him left to raise his son, Kenya, by himself in the woods. Their solace only lasts for so long as Nikolai’s old friends come calling and Kenya is forced to grow up sooner than he had anticipated.
Nikolai and Kenya’s story is the stronger of the two being told here mainly because it’s more complete. The particulars of the boy’s harsh coming-of-age aren’t exactly new, but the stakes behind it are clear and their scenes well-orchestrated. There’s also a thread about when is the right time to kill that runs through this story that reaches a tragic climax at its end. The final scenes aren’t heartbreaking, yet they hit their mark better than Daniel’s do.
All of this is courtesy of Karl Kerschl and Cameron Stewart who once again provide the story and art for this project. Once again, they provide clean, expressive art that eschews the real-world grittiness of the games. Some may have hoped for stylistic consistency between the two mediums, but it’s so easy to get drawn in by their work here that I didn’t mind.
That said, there’s another issue with Dainel’s story and that stems from my time with “Assassin’s Creed III.” It was a genuine surprise to see him turn up in the present-day sequences to bedevil Desmond, though I imagine that anyone not familiar with “The Fall” likely went, “Who the hell is this guy?” The game didn’t do a great job of filling in his backstory beyond the fact that he betrayed the order, so when he started freaking out during a confrontation with Desmond and started speaking in Russian… Well, I’d sure love to know what people who hadn’t read the graphic novel thought of that particular moment.
However, “The Chain” doesn’t offer additional insight to flesh out Daniel’s role in that game. We do get a great moment towards the end when he gets his hands on some information that will be very familiar to those who remember the end of the sci-fi freakout that was the ending of “Assassin’s Creed II.” After I had finished reading “The Chain,” I was left with the feeling that Daniel’s story wasn’t complete. That the story of his exploits in “ACIII” needed to be touched upon so we could see how he dealt with his multiple failures and subsequent psychotic break. The same goes for Kenya’s story, as we know he goes on to be Daniel’s father and the story of just how the character as a boy came to be in Abstergo’s clutches remains untold here.
I’d be willing to invest in another graphic novel that told those stories, yet Ubisoft is going in another direction with their “Assassin’s Creed” comics. The next one will be about an assassin in 18th Century India titled “Brahman” and the series mythos is open enough at this point that I can imagine another worthwhile story being told in that setting. As for the saga of Daniel Cross, if you already own “The Fall” then you’re better off sticking with that and letting your imagination fill in the gaps between it and “ACIII.” If you haven’t read that story, then Amazon tells me that “Subject 4” is currently the most affordable way to experience it. Just think of “The Chain” as a lengthy DVD-style extra and you’ll be fine.