We no longer count our hours spent on The Division and its sequel, which we have returned up and down and across in cooperation. We love the universe of these games made in Ubisoft, which places the player in a post-apocalyptic context following the appearance of a virus. Towns in quarantine, enemy organizations taking advantage of the chaos to seize power: the agents of the Division have their hands full to maintain order. The book we have in our hands, available since October 27, 2022, is a prequel to The Division 2 which is placed in transition between the first and second game from Ubisoft. Was the immersion there? That’s what we’ll see!
Synopsis : Months after a bio-weapon devastates New York, the Division agents are the last hopes of the United States whose unit is in danger. Following a mission gone horribly wrong, Agent Caleb Dunne’s partner is murdered. Dunne vows to hunt down the woman responsible for this heinous crime, whom he only knows as Mantis. He pursues her to Philadelphia, Fort Meade and finally Washington DC with the help of agents Heather Ward and Brian Johnson. Together, this new group of agents uncover a conspiracy of sprawling dimensions, one more threat to a nation on the verge of collapse…
We really like the books offered by the publisher Black River Comics, and in particular their easy-to-handle format. If “Tom Clancy’s The Division – Extremis Malis” may seem fine and short at first glance, it is not. The work of Christofer Emgard (screenwriter), Fernando Baldo (illustrator), Michael Atiyeh (colorist) and translated by Anaïs Papillon is sufficiently rich to offer an interesting immersion. We find the atmosphere of the game of Ubisoft, with its groups of beleaguered survivors, its organizations that want to profit from the chaos and sell weapons, and its agents that try to restore order to all this. And it is following a mission that goes wrong that we will discover Caleb Dunne, an agent eaten away by revenge who goes to see the country in search of the murderer of his teammate and friend.
A story of revenge that will serve as a pretext for highlighting strong themes linked to terrorism, the sale of arms, and the fragility of an entire nation. Caleb will travel to Philadelphia and then Washington, and meet people who will be crucial for his mission. The cities change, but the stakes remain the same: to survive, and to try to put the country back on its feet. The story follows with interest, and the stakes are perfectly detailed, the story alternating between exposure sequences and other action-oriented sequences! We find the atmosphere of the games, in terms of visuals (scenery, streets, character equipment, presence of ECHO, architecture of the bases) and action, with a few shootouts and a tad of infiltration. The whole thing reads smoothly, and it moves quite well, with dynamic and detailed fights. The characters are also well done, with expressive faces and successful animations.
If you like The Division universe, you will undoubtedly like “Tom Clancy’s The Division – Extremis Malis”. The book published by Black River Comics perfectly captured the atmosphere of the games, and the characters are well written. Behind this revenge story lie far more important themes which, while sometimes touched, remain well treated. Visually successful and dynamic when the action comes to a head, the one-shot by Christofer Emgard, Fernando Baldo and Michael Atiyeh gave us a great time, even if we would have liked it to last a little longer.
elooms