Watch Dogs Legion (volume 1), from video game to comic strip

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While Watch Dogs Legion was released in October on PS4 and XBOX, Ubisoft and Glénat offer its adaptation in comic book but is this series in two volumes up to the dark universe of the game?

Watch Dogs to wake up the people

London as seen by Watchdogs: Legion

In the world of Watch Dogs Legion, the population of London is perpetually under surveillance by drones but also by private militias. All of this is done in the name of order and security, yet organized crime thrives in poor neighbourhoods. Most English people are amorphous but a resistance movement composed of genius hackers and armed militants, DedSec, wants to wake them up. This dystopian science fiction tale takes place in a dark but very near future: a regular pub looks like those you can see in London but the pints are served by a robotic tray. We also discover the organization of English gangs not so far from the series Peaky Blinders. The private Albion militia is very violent with refugees or the press, but much softer with gangs. This corruption even goes back to an MP who works for their leader Mary Kelley. Conversely, for the authorities, independent journalism is not a support for democracy but a terrorist group. Through the graphic notebook at the end of the volume, the reader even has access to Gabriel Germain's research to make this future exist. This draftsman has a very raw style but which has more and more difficulty holding at the end of the volume.
Two friends organize a clandestine party, refugees disappear every night at Kennington Oval Camp, A former militiawoman is looking for work… So many characters living in the four corners of the London megalopolis who will eventually cross paths and make the choice of a common cause.

A multicultural Legion

Screenwriter Sylvain Runberg composes a modern choral narrative. The reader first meets two young people who are building a project. DJ Spiral invented psychicwave, a music that speaks as much to bodies eager for a change of scenery as to minds demanding more freedom. Kris is a very ambitious beginner show entrepreneur with questionable methods. In Watchdogs: Legion, his every move is spied on by a disturbing shadow. Louise Hartford, an African-Australian, graduated in environmental economics while volunteering in the refugee camp. We quickly realize that all this is just a cover. She has actually been a reporter for Worldwide Free Press since her father's death, as he followed rumors about vaccines online. To find out where the missing refugees have gone, she seeks the help of Jess a developer who knows the camp very well. During a food distribution, the two women meet two refugees: Oscar the hedonist and Niki the libertarian. Everything is interrupted by the attack of the Kelley clan because the association gives basic necessities that they want to sell on the black market. Finally, on the other side of town, Widowmaker is a black woman and an elite soldier emerging from a severe depression. After a long set-up to introduce each protagonist, everyone finds themselves at the free party. The underworld, partygoers and activists meet in one place but everything explodes. When the Kelley clan pulls out their weapons, beware of passers-by. Fleeing, these isolated individuals eventually form a group and join a political resistance organization. A pub in the future
Watch Dogs Legion extends the fun of the game by immersing the reader in the same cyberpunk and dystopian universe of the blockbuster. Screenwriter Sylvain Runberg and cartoonist Gabriel Germain take up the codes of anticipation, action and political commitment in this two-volume arc. They also extend the universe by creating diverse characters but all motivated by an irrepressible desire to live and improve the world. We can only welcome this desire for progress at a time when the news sometimes offers such a sad face.
If you are looking for a more optimistic vision, we can not recommend enough Legion of Super-Heroes which you can find the chronicle on this link.