The Assassin's Creed series has thrown us into many bygone eras. Discover in Brahman India as the Maharajahs try to survive while the United Kingdom imposes its colonial rule.
Brahman, a dive into an action story
Screenwriters Brenden Fletcher and Karl Kerschl offer in Assassin's Creed Brahman a historical and contemporary thriller. In an abandoned factory, a man tied up on a chair and wearing a virtual reality mask grimaces in pain. The rest of the complete story in one volume returns to the past to explain this strange situation. Indeed, we discover that in a digital world, he lives in thenineteenth century and advances to a palace to steal a diamond, the Kor-i-Nor. This gemstone becomes the MacGuffin to reveal the feelings of the characters and the torments of a country.
Indeed, Brahman also introduces us to a princess, granddaughter of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. We are in an adventure story: a thief and several assistants search with the help of a treasure map for a cursed jewel in a palace with hidden rooms. This is only the beginning of a chase because two groups are competing: the Assassins and the Templars. There is also a love story. This scheme is unstoppable in comics but also corresponds to video games. Arbaaz Mir is also a key character in Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India and the novel Assassin's Creed Chronicles: Underworld.
A historical narrative
By Assassin's Creed Brahman, the publisher Black River offers a journey into Indian mythology from the first page. The reader then discovers the soft hues of cartoonists Karl Kerschl and Cameron Stewart. Together, they create magnificent action scenes by their dynamism and the elegance of the gestures. We are well in the spirit of the game even if the drawing is very different and sought after. Indeed, cartoonists separate the layout between the present and the past. In the current period, the structure is rigid around a few boxes while the reader finds full pages without boxes for the past as if one were in the dream. The opposition also goes through color. The present is very gray while colors explode in the past. The past is more joyful because it is vibrant with adventures in the face of the more everyday contemporary.
Assassin's Creed Brahman is also a trip to India and a history lesson. In the first pages of Assassin's Creed Brahman, English officials negotiate with a local prince to gain acceptance for their rule. Bonuses separate the imaginary from the historical reality. The early Maharaja Ranjit Singh is the founder of the Sikh Empire.
The main characters are Indians. This choice may be a detail for some but it is very rare in comics. We play squash. The faces are taken from Bollywood actors and Indian expressions dot the dialogues. A woman denounces the racism of Western advertising because the photographer whitens the skin of the actress. The theme is related to Hinduism. The virtual reality headset scans DNA and allows you to go back centuries by transcribing past lives. This revelation turns the lives of lovers upside down and becomes the heart of the subject. Can a man of poor condition be loved by a powerful woman?
Assassin's Creed Brahman is the best adaptation to date of the video game saga in comics. The very fast narrative is the most gripping by the rapid alternation between the present and the past. The book offers a fresh face on India and it is the best drawn title.
Find on our website the chronicles of the first and second volume of Assassin's Creed Valhalla.
