Assassin's Creed: Templars 2

Assassin's Creed: Templars 2 is the second issue of the Titan comic book series Assassin's Creed: Templars. The comic, written by Fred Van Lente with art by Dennis Calero was released on 27 April 2016.

Publisher's summary

In the bustling streets of Shanghai, Darius Gift has come unstuck, his head turned by a pretty girl and a stunning smile. His tenuous position as a newly initiated member of the Templar Order is under threat, until he is rescued by the mysterious figure that is Black Cross...

Plot summary

1927: Having rescued Darius, the Black Cross discovers that the men were actually French police. After exchanging pleasantries, the Black Cross promises to retrieve the absent package for Darius as he was ordered to offer aid directly by the Nine.

The local Templar rite meet to discuss the struggles of holding Shanghai amidst gangsters and warlords. Word has reached them of the Black Cross's arrival, and that they are instructed to assist him in any way. One Templar, Joffre, hails a taxi upon leaving the meeting, only to be lead to a quiet location to discover that the "driver" is the Black Cross himself. They discuss the Hop Wo Society, the name found upon one of the French police. Joffre points out that they are communists, and that the address is an amusement palace. The Black Cross infiltrates the building where one remaining Frenchman is under duress - and seemingly is part of an ambush trap.

Meanwhile, Darius amuses himself with drink. Walking past a theatre he spots the same woman, Roo, in a movie poster. She's an actress!

Supplementary material

The City, the Sea, and the Shanghai Bund...

Today, Shanghai Is not just China's largest city but also the world's. It has a population of 24 million people and is the country's financial and economic hub, as well as being the world's busiest container shipping port. And it's the port that has made the city—sat on the Huangpu River—a manmade tributary of the Yangtze River, a source of international intrigue, power struggles, and hostility.

Shanghai was one of a number of ports opened up to foreigners after the signing of the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. The treaty was struck between China and Britain and it was agreed that land would be given over to the British in the city so they could more closely control their interests.

Naturally, the new arrivals chose to be situated where they could keep the keenest eye on those interests—the banks lining the Huangpu River. And with them they brought their own aesthetics and styles. Westernised buildings began to appear along a section of the riverfront known as The Bund. The British were joined by the United States in 1844 and a concession was granted to the French in 1848. In 1868, the foreign powers consolidated their hold into the Shanghai International Settlement, and a legal and bureaucratic headache of epic proportions was born for all involved.

The running of the Settlement fell to the largely British-controlled Shanghai Municipal Council (SMC). As western influence made itself felt, the SMC took over virtually all aspects of daily life within the settlement, despite the fact that It was not actually a foreign colony—it was still, on paper, controlled by the Chinese government, and should have been operated along the lines of an embassy or foreign consulate.

However, it was very much a self-contained entity. The SMC acquired local companies to provide power and utilities; it had its own police force and legal system; it even controlled the transport network, its trams and rickshaws. Drivers of the latter were said to need three licenses to ply their trade—one for the Chinese areas of the city, one for the Settlement, and another for the French Concession! Such rigorously maintained bureaucracy naturally led to friction with the local Chinese and the British found themselves at the receiving end of a serious international incident when members of the Shanghai Municipal Police opened fire on Chinese protestors on May 30th, 1925.

The Municipal Police was largely recruited from locals, but foreigners, once again largely British and Commonwealth officers, filled the higher ranks; there was also a large contingent of Japanese. Within the Settlement, Japanese-controlled cotton mills had become the focus of sometimes-violent demonstrations. After a Japanese foreman shot one of the demonstrators, rioting, mass protests and strikes followed.

The situation was exacerbated by the arrest of a number of Chinese students within the Settlement. Crowds gathered outside the police station where they were being held. Naturally, reports of what followed are at best confused, with the policemen in the Station claiming that the crowd had turned violent and were attempting to force their way into the station, hoping to release the imprisoned students. In the melee, the officer in charge apparently opened fire on the protestors, triggering a volley from his men. As many as nine people in the crowd were killed and many others gravely injured.

The incident instigated a wave of rioting and strikes that left hundreds dead and seriously threatened foreign, and in particular British, interests in the Settlement. However, while Britain did not find itself directly culpable for the shootings, the threat to the Settlement's economic wellbeing, as well as pressure from its foreign partners, was enough to institute major change to the way the Settlement was run.

Despite the sometimes-volatile nature of the Settlement, it maintained a reputation for luxury and wealth. The Roaring Twenties were not lost on the foreigners living in Shanghai and the Settlement brimmed with nightclubs and dancehalls that swung to the raucous sound of jazz.

The Bund itself housed a number of luxury hotels, banks, and offices, built in a plethora of styles—Gothic, Renaissance, Neo-Classical, and, of course, Art Deco. Amongst the most famous is the Shanghai Club Building, built in 1864 to house a men's club for members of the then British Concession. The original was torn down and replaced in 1910 by a Baroque Revival structure six stories high that remained one of Shanghai's most exclusive venues during the 1920s. Another, the Palace Hotel, was the vision of Sir Victor Sassoon. Construction began in 1927, and the building, which survived the Japanese invasion of 1937, remains a jewel on the Bund, and one of Shanghai's most popular attractions.

Cover gallery

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  Variant cover by Dennis Calero
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  Variant cover by Verity Glass