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A quick recap about the upcoming Zed comic – what we know and what the can expect

Lady Faceless·10/20/2019, 2:34:05 PM·14 votes·20,114 views

So, maybe you already have seen the cover of the upcoming Zed comic in the 10th Anniversary stream.

https://imgur.com/a/AVXbzUc

With the comic on the horizon, I thought it would be a good idea to make a post about all the things we already know about the comic.

The author of the journals

For the people who don’t know the author of the Zed comic is, it is Odin Schafer, better known as WAAARGHbobo. He also wrote Warmother and is one of the most active Riot narrative folk on the SA&S Boards.

There are two other series, in early production. Hopefully the second series will launch roughly when Ashe: Warmother ends. John O'brian is writing the second series. I wrote the third. We won't be back in the Freljord till after then... but hopefully if this series does well we will be able to return after that.

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Anyway, let’s begin to analysis the cover and what it means.

The characters of the comic

So the look on the cover shows us Zed (surprise), Jhin’s mask, which we can assume is the assassin Zed is after, Akali, Shen, a new person which name is Jovn Tau and probably Kayn which can’t really see here since the cover is cut off. The cover also fits with the information we got from Odin as well.

[…] The Zed comic is, not surprisingly, hyper-focused on Zed. But I will say Zed, Kayn, Akali, Shen, Jovn Tau, and Jhin are all on the cover... […]

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Okay let’s talk about the elephant in the room – Zed’s face reveal. While I’m not against it per se, revealing it on the cover feels incredible anticlimax for me. Not considering I’m really not happy with his face itself, especially his white hair. It looks like something I would expect from a fan artist and not from an official Riot work because the design itself feels to uninspired to be Zed for me. Also, he is missing his shadow magic tattoos which is a shame because already saw his tattoos in the shown concept arts from the /Dev video earlier this year.

https://imgur.com/a/7MG3fuA

The length of the comic

The “1 of 6” means we get 6 issues instead of 5 like the Lux comic. Odin mentioned this a while ago while writing the script. One more issue means one issue more content and I doubt anyone will complain about it.

[…] Zed is spinning up production soon... and I'm not allowed to say much about him. I can say he has 6 scripts done, and first script is locked (I.e. ready for the artist). […]

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The (main focus of the) story

I just add a few comments which made Odin about the comic.

[…]

  1. yeah obviously. Lux is next. Then maybe the Zed thing I wrote. (I'm not sure if that is going forward at this point) I can't speak for the Lux comic, but the Zed lets the reader take a deep dive into who he is-- but also what Ionia is like. […]

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It does contain flashback scenes as typical comic readers and most league players don’t actually know who Zed is, why he fights, or even why he and Shen have beef. (The boards users’ knowledge level is much higher than the average joes—actually most league players knowledge of lore comes only from VO) Like the Lux comic, the Zed comic starts in the recent past, but will begin advancing the timeline around its midpoint. But even in this recent past, for the people that already know Zed, Shen, and Jhin’s lores there’s a lot of new stuff you will discover.

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[…] The Zed comic is, not surprisingly, hyper-focused on Zed. But I will say Zed, Kayn, Akali, Shen, Jovn Tau, and Jhin are all on the cover... And it’s coming soon. I will say there’s a couple of big misdirections in that old Jhin story. I’m not gonna say what —but that story is gonna go down... and not in the way you might think. […]

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Release date

The release date is in November since it got postponed because of the 10th Anniversary.

“I think it was gonna be this month but with the massive amount of stuff for the ten year anniversary. It was pushed to Nov.” -said man

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Edit:

I was told the 10th anniversary book would effect our publish date. Not the anniversary itself. (I clarified that in a post after the first.). I wasn’t clear enough on my first post. Brevity is sometimes the enemy of clarity. My bad.

Odin's answer in this theard

Consider the former releases always have been on the second Wednesday of every month, we would expect the comic to drop on the 13th November. However, since at this day both Realms of Runeterra and the physical edition of the Lux comic will come out and the comic is not available to preorder on Marvel Comics online nor Comixology yet, we can assume it will drop a month later on the 11th December.

Anyway, that’s everything I think should be said to the upcoming comic. Are y’all as excited as I’m for the release?

29 Comments

RiotWAAARGHbobo10/22/2019, 5:35:02 PM10 votes

Nice work Lady Faceless!

Two very minor corrections. (+1 one fun fact)

Zed does have shadow tattoos. You just haven’t seen them yet. My big reveal: you will eventually get to see Zed’s (omitted) And yes he is quite handsome but scarred. (Lol)

I was told the 10th anniversary book would effect our publish date. Not the anniversary itself. (I clarified that in a post after the first.). I wasn’t clear enough on my first post. Brevity is sometimes the enemy of clarity. My bad.

Fun Fact) We actually did a bunch of explorations for Zed’s (and Shen’s) face. Trying to find out: how anime, how villainous, tragic and handsome Zed should be. And actually weren’t really aware of, or inspired by the fan art. (And Kinda still not aware of it)

Going back 5 years now, i pitched a very different version of this story (pre Jhin). And in that pitch, I had described Zed as “haunted, his youthful beauty, once overwhelming, has faded like a parchment too long in the sun.”

The white hair came out of trying to find a way to show Zed as both haunted and exceptional. And more importantly, to place him in a clear iconic lineup (Black for Kayn, Red for Shen, White for Zed). This is less a choice for the comic medium, but a strategic choice for other media going forward. (None is planned btw).

This sort of iconic character design choices ensure that if these characters are in some crazy animation fight scene we can clearly and quickly identify each character (in close-up or wide) with only a few frames (1/4 second).

Probably the fan artist had a similar goals (consciously or subconsciously). So probably they deserve kudos for realizing what we struggled with.

I will also say- I instantly loved the designs for Big Boi Shen in this comic. I desperately want an unmasked version of him in our games. And want to see him as beefy as he is in the comic (his physicality is based on Mongolian wrestlers). He’s big. He’s tough. He feels things, intensely, but is trying to hold back and do the right thing.

But I also struggled with Zed’s hair and looks initially. He wasn’t exactly what i had in my head, even though i had kinda described what he is now. (Minus the hair color). Now, I honestly see that our artists (Edgar and concept) were right. As the comic’s goes forward, Zed’s face and it’s stoic sadness begins to sink into your heart and that comments on, and contrasts with, the raw aggression of his helmet and armor.

Anywhoo Thanks for compiling this for yer fellow forum pals

-O

mrmeddyman10/21/2019, 1:39:36 AM5 votes

I feel like this comic is gonna jump around a lot timewise. If its' gonna bring us to current day. Hopefully a bit past this point in the story https://universe.leagueoflegends.com/en_GB/story/jhin-color-story/ as this is ALSO written by Odin and now he can pick up this narrative thread with Zed and Shen working together to find Jhin in the present day.

  1. Zeds Origin, training with Kinkou and his initial rivalry with Shen at the start of his life
  2. The YEARS long Hunt for Jhin, with lots of character development from Kusho, Shen and Zed as Khin is the trial that makes them who they are today
  3. Encountering Shadow Magic, his banishment, raising his shadow disciples and taking the Kinkou monastery back. Again this took Zed YEARS
  4. The Noxian War, Finding and training Kayn, Clashing with Vastaya, Kinkou and pretty much any other Ionian who gets in his way. The War was 15 years long!
  5. The Present Day and a Zed and Shen potential team up to catch Jhin

Compared to Ashe and Lux which were much more contained stories thats' a LOT of ground to cover

4 Step Cadence10/20/2019, 2:54:51 PM4 votes

So there's a chance this could be made available for pre-order/released on my birthday? Oh, joy...

Anyways.

Either they made the white hair and red eyes canon because that's the way the community has always draw unmasked Zed, or that's the way he's looked this whole time and we were right all along/called that shit.

Either way, though, I think its fitting.

Zed has been under a shit ton of stress for a long time, which ages you physically. I wouldn't say its impossible that his hair grayed/whitened over the years because of that, though I don't think it would be that severe.

He's also one of original edgelords of LoL. White hair and red eyes is edgy OC material. Let the man be edgy.

I'm not a fan of that cover. At least, not as it is currently shown.

The other characters are barely on it. Compare that to the covers of the Lux and Ashe comics, where all the characters had somewhat equal space on the cover. The only prominent characters are Jhin(and that's only his mask) and Zed. The rest may as well not even be there.

Also, not a fan of Zed's "flying superhero" pose. It just feels out of character for him to be posed like that.

Jhins Girlfriend10/20/2019, 4:26:57 PM4 votes

Gotta be honest I'm not liking Zed's face at all. I prefer Galaxy Slayer's face, and even then I don't like that face either. He's so generic he just looks like Standard Western Superhero #433

And if Jhin gets a face reveal too I'm gonna fight someone.

TheMan29210/20/2019, 5:48:15 PM3 votes

I just feel the cover is too "loud" you know? like it should fit the master of shadows, not superman. I think it could be designed with Zed emerging from the shadows, with the markings from Jhin's mask faintly in the background.

Troll Slaiyer10/20/2019, 9:07:32 PM3 votes

i expect to see zed

ArezuAfar10/23/2019, 4:50:22 PM2 votes

I am so excited for this comic! Akali, Shen and Zed have always been my favorite characters. I have to say though, I never expected Shen to be a ginger, even though it was mentioned.

White hair on Zed will make him look even older than he is, but I'm sure a lot of thought has been put into their designs. The only problem I can see here is that white hair is very noticeable in a crowd so I bet Zed is going to wear his mask everywhere. I'm also very curious to see who Jovn Tau is. My initial guess was that he is the new fist of shadow. btw, is that purple thing under Akali Kennen? WAAARGHbobo did not mention Kennen when he was talking about the cover. So it's very unlikely.

As someone who loves all of these characters, I hope all of them get enough screen time and development to let us understand their motives and personalities. Also some real interactions between them would be very nice. Champion interactions in game are not really reliable for knowing their relationships and personalities. Akali for example is very hostile towards Shen even though he is her teacher and they parted on good terms.

Jeddy01710/21/2019, 2:39:35 AM2 votes

Have they announced who the next comic series, after Zed, will centered around?

IlyaK198610/20/2019, 2:44:03 PM2 votes

Very excited, especially after the mediocrity that was Lux. Hopefully we see more than the ninja characters as far as Ionia goes. This is a six-issue comic and we might not be back here for a long time. Yasuo's a little saturated on lore, but beyond that, there are some characters central to Ionia beyond the ninjas, and hopefully we get to see them.

Ask Kayn10/23/2019, 5:41:15 AM1 votes

Kayn is there, you can see Rhaast's edge.