The Assasin’s Creed series may be taking a year off on gaming consoles, but the comic books from Titan Comics are still going strong. Written and illustrated by Fred Van Lente and Dennis Calero respectively – the creative team behind the X-Men: Noir comics –  Assassin’s Creed: Templars #1 takes a look at the Templar Order in 1927 Shanghai. Issue one of the new  series does everything you would expect an introductory story to do, but it also does some intriguing things to pique your interest for issue two.

Templars

Cover art by Marc Laming.

The Templar Order have been characterized as the longtime foe of the Assassin Order, but here in Assassin’s Creed: Templars #1 we’re given a different, more sympathetic view of the organization. Issue one opens up with a frightening assassination of a money-grubbing slimeball outside the illuminating Cafe de Paris in London, England. The majestic nighttime lighting serves the scenery well, but the haunting warm colors embodying the victim as he flees for his life has its own sick appeal.

We’re introduced to Black Cross, a mysterious Templar agent described as the “boogie man” for adults. His presence is certainly terrifying and the splash pages used to reveal him is equally intimidating. Past the opener, the main meat of the story involves Darrius – a college student and son of the man just murdered by Black Cross. A complete opposite of his father, Darrius is given a dangerous and secretive mission from the Templar Order that has him travel to Shanghai, China. Darrius’s tale isn’t as exciting as Black Cross’, but it does its job of setting everything up for the reader.

What remains entertaining throughout is the noir-ish art style that shimmers with sophistication and style, even if background figures are hard to make out sometimes.

Assassin’s Creed: Templars #1 is now available at retail.