The media today continues to mix in a great cultural partouze, a comic book becomes a film while a video game metamorphoses into comics like The Division. But does the original spirit remain through all these changes?
The Division, from screen to paper 
Coming from video games, Tom Clancy's The Division becomes a comic book in the complete story Extremis Malis released by Black River. This video game work was, from its origins, a hybrid work. Indeed, the initial idea comes from the American novelist Tom Clancy.
In order to ensure fidelity to the original material, the American publisher called on Swedish screenwriter Christofer Emgard, who is also the author of the history of video games. The fan finds in these three episodes the postapocalyptic universe of the game and the description of the fall of the first world power.
Very cleverly, these pages are also a perfect introduction to this violent and political post-pandemic world. A biological weapon having devastated New York, chaos reigns in the United States. As in DMZ, Manhattan has become a civil war zone. Militias have seized power locally, breaking the unity of the country. There is always a fear of having a traitor in its ranks. The colony fights against the Last Man Battalion. The Division then denounces the dangers of the extreme right by showing a group wanting to return to the founding fathers even to wear the uniform of the insurgents.
The central state no longer controls the entire territory in the face of the rise of opposing paramilitary groups, but it retains scattered settlements in cities or villages. Only the agents of the Division are able to save the United States and ensure everyone's safety. Savagery takes precedence over civilization.The life before no longer exists. Dunne is a doctor turned warlord. But the hero is torn between these two aspects (healing and killing) and does not support the death of his comrades…
From revenge to conspiracy 
The tone is set from the beginning. During the failed attack on a paramilitary center, agent Caleb Dunne of The Division loses a partner. This trauma marks the beginning of an investigation to find this militiawoman. He has only his pseudonym Mantis. The hero crosses Philadelphia, Fort Meade and Washington D.C.to satisfy his quest for revenge and teams up with agents Heather Ward and Brian Johnson. In accordance with the genre, the hero makes stops and discovers destabilizing personalities and places. Their research reveals that The Division is severely compromised by a conspiracy. We then move from an action narrative to espionage.
The comic finds the old codes of the war film. These are not vast pitched battles but guerrilla warfare. Two soldiers are ambushed while discussing their past. Camaraderie is formed on the ground. We bond very quickly after the test of fire.But these relations are fragile because the war lurks in the next room.
As in the game, The Division runs through different combat zones. We struggle in the center of the cities, in the suburbs and in the countryside. Soldiers resist an assault and then infiltrate an enemy base. The warrior atmosphere is also posed by technical terms – ISaC, JtF – from video games more than military reality. There are even technical screens on the page. If the fan is satisfied with this integration, the neophyte may be lost. Soldiers rely a lot on their technology. Dunn no longer had that crutch when he left the band. There is no more gasoline and therefore no vehicle. After a cover by John Paul Leon, Argentine cartoonist Christofer Emgard ensures all the episodes in a realistic style that serves the action well.
If The Division is primarily an action series about a man in search of revenge, it is also a political comic. Armed militias prevailed, but the central state tried to regain control. This comic is therefore a perfect introduction to the post-apocalyptic universe of The Division pending the adaptation by Netflix with Jake Gyllenhaal and Jessica Chastain.
Check out more comic adaptations of games with Far Cry and Assasin's Creed Valhalla.
