Riot Games has partnered with Marvel Comics to produce an official League of Legends graphic novel.
The first issue of Ashe: Warmonger released online December 19, with physical copies to be made available for purchase in May of 2019. The series is written by Odin Austin Shafer and illustrated by Nina Vakueva
The story depicts the lore behind Ashe, one of League of Legends’ champion original champions and a frequent mascot for the game.
The first issue focuses on Ashe’s relationship with her mother, the leader of their tribe. Ashe’s mother struggles to balance her responsibilities with her greater ambitions, leading to a fall from grace. The story looks to take previously established lore and build upon it in greater detail. The Ashe depicted in the first issue is one new to the League of Legends fanbase, and the continuation of the series will continue to better flesh out the character.
League of Legends has subtle lore intrinsic to its experience, but it’s easy to ignore for players more interested in the competition. For those interested, the storylines built outside of the game have always been a major draw.
Riot has produced animated videos and even music videos that have helped clue the fans in to the greater world of Runeterra. Varus: As We Fall, a recent League of Legends music video, surpassed 24 million views on YouTube. The video was released as part of a lore overhaul for the champion, and the video detailed his new storyline. Similar videos reached similar view-counts, with all of them extremely high in quality.
These productions give the League of Legends community a way to engage with the world they so love in a different way. Ashe: Warmonger is both an articulate expansion of the League of Legends universe and proof that Riot wishes to extend itself into more and more platforms beyond their video game foundation.
