Boards›Story, Art, & Sound

[Spoilers!] Zed Issue Nr 1. Discussion

Lady Faceless·11/20/2019, 4:54:11 PM·26 votes·20,767 views
https://universe.leagueoflegends.com/en_US/comic/zed/issue-1/0/

Intro

Similiar to The Iceborn’s Ashe: Warmother [1 | 2 | 3 | 4] and LordRedStone Nr. 1' Lux [ 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 ] threads, this will be a series of threads which I will discuss use to discuss the comic. I will share my thoughts to the overall story, art style, characters and world building. And as you can expect, this will contain spoiler, so don’t read this before you haven’t read the issue! Serious, the comic is by far better than my summary.

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/646754441323872267/Unbenannt2.png

Story https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/646787563708874793/Zed.png

After a brief introduction about the Ionian War and a map which shows the location the story plays, the comic starts. Zed, looking at a statue of Master Kusho, his former master, thinks about Kusho and Shen. In his monologue he admits how much he admired Kusho and that he was the person who killed Kusho. Interesting enough, Zed seems to address the reader directly in his thoughts. “Why? What makes you think you have the right to know why?”

Zed and six more members of the Order of shadow, including Kayn and a new character named Jovn Tau, are supposed to meet with Master Althon, Kusho’s nephew which refuses further militarization of the region. Although, meeting is probably not the right word, they did come with purpose of killing Althon.

Althon arrives, he attacks Zed and Zed kills him. In this fight we get some interesting information about Zed’s name - it is not his name given by birth. He used to be called Govos and later was renamed by Kusho to Usan.

Meanwhile, Shen investigates why the spirits of the Olgathee forest are furious. Akali arrives, mentioned that Zed is not far away from here and urges him to go and get his revenge. As expect, Shen declines her offer but Akali has set her mind – she will go after Zed no matter if Shen joins her cause or not. Switching back to Zed, he and Kayn are discussing the current finances of their order outside a tavern until they get interrupted by a woman which has a message for Zed. She says a rich man wants to meet him in a place, she gives Zed a scalpel which used to belong to him in his time in the Kinkou Order and leaves.

The scalpel brings back memories for Zed – he recalls how Shen and he first time found a village slaughtered by the Golden Demon. In the aftermath of this event, Kusho and Zed tried to save as many villagers as they could. Zed, with his heart full of guilt for not being able to save every person and have to leave people to die, was comfort by Kusho. He did well, Kusho said, and then the time would come for Kusho to step down, he would pick Zed as the new Eye of Twilight. He gives Zed the Name Ulan, which is the Ionian world for the strength of compassion. Back in the present, Zed and his men follow the invention. But as Zed already suspected, this would be a trap. In ruins of the village, his acolytes only find two corpses arranged by Khada Jhin. In the last shot we can see Jhin waiting patiently for his guest to arrive.

Art Style

The art style looks similar to the Lux comic while it doesn’t suffer from the same problems – weird faces and the difficulty to follow the movements. The action looks fluid and is easy to follow as reader. I also enjoyed the use of bright colors, especially for Ionia which is so colorful. However, I noticed that most of the Order of the Shadow members are often drawn with muted colors and look really pale, almost sickly. I wonder if it is only to guide the eye to Zed (which is brighter than the rest) or if it has some more meaning behind it.

Characters

Zed

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/646795843344662534/EJ0HqfwWoAEoElY.png

While I still don’t like how Zed looks, I love his character so far in the comic. I’m surprised in which direction he currently is guide to since all other canon material we have makes him incredible aggressive and harsh (maybe aside the Jhin color story). But Odin also said something similar to me a while ago.

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.

On interesting thing is to see how much he admired his former master Kusho. Odin is right, he is hiding his stoic sadness with raw aggression. So, let’s talk about Zed’s former name. Overall, it seems that Zed used to be a boy of a peasant from a northern provience which was picked up by Kusho. His old name, Grovos, seem to be more like a common name. More interesting to see is how important names seem to be in Ionia. You name has to reflect your personality. Then Kusho renamed Zed to Ulan, it was a honor. The strength of compassion. I wonder – how much is left of this compassionate boy?

Another interesting thing is that Zed actually was considered as Eye for the Twilight. While I personally always thought Zed was trained for something, I always thought he could maybe have been the Fist of Shadow – the aggressive force of the Kinkou Order. Not the neutral force. Not the leading force of the Kinkou. I really didn’t expect that. Furthermore, we also know that Zed has (or had) some healing abilities. While he also can use the scalpel and needle, he also uses magic to heal a villager. I wonder if he is still able to do so. Shen

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/646788161262977025/Zed2.png

We haven’t got much insight about him yet. He was doing his duty and we can assume he doesn’t go after Zed for revenge but after Akali to keep her safe. Also, his unmasked face looks great, I love it. Also it seems that Shen, at some point was in love and betrothed to a woman named Yevnai.

Kayn

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/468671979269128194/646788604743647244/Zed3.png

First of all, finally some canon interaction between Kayn and Zed! Back then I heard that Kayn was supposed to be Zed right hand, I didn’t really believe in it. For that ingame Kayn seem to be too full of himself. Not only that both talk on the same eyelevel, Kayn is a more critical person then I expected. Seeing him like this actually some a breath of fresh air, which I enjoy. And he is still himself, wanted to fight Althon because he warmed up. Running without armor because who needs that? Truly not Kayn. Also, interesting to see how Kayn’s corruption is not the same as ingame. So far only his left underarm is affected while ingame his complete left arm, shoulder and left eye are corrupted. Also he doesn’t have braided hair nor his iconic blue streak. I wonder why he started to braid his hair. Probably Rhaast urged him to do?

Akali

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/646788839381401600/Zed4.png “Here is a horse, you come with me NOW!” Akali acts like her voiceover. I’m surprise to see that she really thinks she can take six men out to challenge Zed. Shen probably feels like he has to make sure she doesn’t kill herself. Nice to see she still cares about Shen. But she really is not respectful person.

Jovn Tau

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/468671979269128194/646789251849256970/Zed5.png

We don’t know much about him yet. Seems like more brawls than brain so far, likes to drink and thinks the world owns everything because he fought in the war. In Zed’s monologue he also calls most of follows “boys” which seems a fitting description of Jovn so far. So, how many issues do we give him before he gets killed of?

Jhin

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/646789463254499363/Zed6.png Aside from the last shot, we haven’t see Jhin yet only his action. Personally, I don’t really believe the “his art is so beautiful and terrifying at the same time” because the pieces we saw so far were not impress at all. Also, does he always turn humans into “flowers”? In the Jhin color story, a villager also saw flower. So far I actually expect more variability and more horror from him. I’m not impressed so far. Let see if I can be proven wrong.

World Building

A lot of new words so far we have to get used to it (I miss the glossary from the Ashe Comic.) More Shadow Magic in action. We learned about the importance of names in Ionia and Zed’s former names. We know that the Order of Shadow is intervened with the Navori Brotherhood (we know it before but still). We learned that the Order of Shadow has some rich patrons which support them financially. Zed was supposed to become the Eye of Twilight, Shen was engaged. Some new information to think about.

The serie just has begun and already hits hard into the feeling. Can’t wait to see how much world building and story progress we get in the next 5 issues! Now, I still have some question left.

Questions

  1. Is Althon actually human? He looks more like Thanos to me than a human being…
  2. Who are the patrons which Kayn mention? Can we assume that Zed and his acolytes do mission regularly for money and influence? Kayn’s comment does suggest such a thing.
  3. What does Yanlei mean? A pejorative world for follower?
  4. So, Shen was engaged to someone named Yevnai. Did Shen married her? Also, why in the hell would a possible Eye of Twilight marry someone? The Eye is supposed to be neutral, being a husband and father is far from being neutral.
  5. “We are not thieves.” Said Zed, while both the Xayah Color Story and Wild Magic does indicate, yes, they are stealing magic and life essence. How can he say such a thing if they are stealing the magic and bound souls to their weapon?
  6. Will the ever know which meaning the name Shen and Zed have? We can assume these have some meaning.
  7. Speaking off names with meaning – how often do people name someone like this? We know the word Syndra means destruction, giving into the darkest desires. I always thought the world got that nuance after Syndra was forced in her slumber, now it seems like she actually could have been named destruction by her parents.
  8. The amulet which Kusho gave to Zed, what does it mean?
  9. So is Zed now a mage or not? He probably used healing magic in that one picture, does it mean to command Shadow Magic, do you need to have a connection to the magic?
  10. So there in the hell is Kayn’s blue streak in his hair? Why does ingame Kayn braids his hair? Serious, it seems weird that he misses his blue streak…

The upcoming Issue

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/468671979269128194/646791807426101277/EJ0awEZXkAAzTM1.jpg

(Will be released on the 18th December) Anyway, thanks for reading my thread! If you want to discuss the comic, feel free to leave a comment!

63 Comments

4 Step Cadence11/20/2019, 5:30:19 PM12 votes

Jhin ain't fucked up so far. Normal arm, no unmasking. I like it.

A point on his art, though, they probably went with the... Tamest option, that they could think of. Idk what level of blood and gore was present in the other comics, but they are, unfortunately, probably trying to keep it as "safe" for viewers of a T+ age group as they possibly can. That, unfortunately, involves nerfing Jhin's art to make it more... Suitable, for a wider audience.

We have other examples of Jhin's art, though. His scrapped color story, his teaser "Mind of the Virtuoso", and Awaken. He does far more than just flowers, and we know that for a fact.

Flowers are likely his go-to thing when interacting with Zed and Shen because he probably knows that's the first thing they ever saw. He's purposefully tormenting them over and over again by constantly reminding them of that day.

Johnny El Rojo11/20/2019, 4:57:30 PM10 votes

I'm still not totally convinced about the art style, and how it presents Zed outfit. But otherwise, the premise and story I like it well enough.

RiotWAAARGHbobo11/21/2019, 11:05:43 PM8 votes

Questions

  1. Is Althon actually human? He looks more like Thanos to me than a human being…
  2. Who are the patrons which Kayn mention? Can we assume that Zed and his acolytes do mission regularly for money and influence? Kayn’s comment does suggest such a thing.
  3. What does Yanlei mean? A pejorative world for follower?
  4. So, Shen was engaged to someone named Yevnai. Did Shen married her? Also, why in the hell would a possible Eye of Twilight marry someone? The Eye is supposed to be neutral, being a husband and father is far from being neutral.
  5. “We are not thieves.” Said Zed, while both the Xayah Color Story and Wild Magic does indicate, yes, they are stealing magic and life essence. How can he say such a thing if they are stealing the magic and bound souls to their weapon?
  6. Will the ever know which meaning the name Shen and Zed have? We can assume these have some meaning.
  7. Speaking off names with meaning – how often do people name someone like this? We know the word Syndra means destruction, giving into the darkest desires. I always thought the world got that nuance after Syndra was forced in her slumber, now it seems like she actually could have been named destruction by her parents.
  8. The amulet which Kusho gave to Zed, what does it mean?
  9. So is Zed now a mage or not? He probably used healing magic in that one picture, does it mean to command Shadow Magic, do you need to have a connection to the magic?
  10. So there in the hell is Kayn’s blue streak in his hair? Why does ingame Kayn braids his hair? Serious, it seems weird that he misses his blue streak…

  1. Yeah we have some rather odd fashions Ionia, especially for people who are wealthy. (Check out the WB art on universe!)

  2. Hmmmm indeed!

  3. Yanléi is the actual name of Zed’s order. It means “The Tears” as in the Shadow’s Tears. Also known as "The Tear's of the Shadow."
    The shadow’s tears are a magical ichor which gives Zed and his followers the ability to use shadow magic— (when tattooed or ingested) We will be learning more about this.

  4. Hmmmm. Yes...Hmmmm. This feels like an important detail.

  5. They don’t see this as the same thing. But honestly you ( and Xayah!) are right. It is theft of a resource but he doesn’t see it that way.

  6. Actually their names already have meanings in a couple of our earth languages. I didn’t work on these champs— but I assume when they designed them, the team intended the names to reflect the meanings already associated with those words:
    Zed means "Holy Justice" or "God’s Justice." Zed also is a stand in for Zero, 0, or naught. (An interesting contrast IMO) Shen I believe means spirit, holy, or deity.

  7. Most (not all) names have meaning. On Ionian and on earth. Aphelios literally means "furthest from the sun."

  8. Yes… another good question… . (To quote Bug's Bunny "Ain't, I a stinker.")

  9. A lot of characters can do magic in Runeterra. A mage is someone that specializes in just magic.
    Shadow magic will be explored a bit more in the comic.

  10. Basically relates to using the scythe. Will see a bit more on this much later in the series.

WeAreDuo11/20/2019, 6:11:13 PM8 votes

After reading this, I'm really just wondering why the partnership with Marvel was even necessary at all. The art is bland, the panel layouts are weird and it's been like that for all these comics when I'm certain Riot has the resources to put out more quality content than this in-house... I was happy about the partnership at first because league was getting a chance to appeal to a mainstream market but I'd much rather "RIOT COMICS" than "MARVEL COMICS" at this point. I feel so disappointed :/

The Iceborn11/20/2019, 5:13:02 PM7 votes

I really liked the comic and I found it interesting how Zed has mutiple names! Very curious to see what happens in the next comic, should be juicy seeing how Jhin lured Zed into coming to the massacre village, very sentimental to Zed and Jhin knows that... A question I do have tho, what kind of healing did the zed perform on the injured person? Also glad you are continuing this comic- analysis series :D

BoringLittleF11/20/2019, 7:58:27 PM5 votes

So far, I'm enjoying that comic.

  • So, Zed had to personally pick up the pieces left after Jhin's "creativity", including having to cut the little girl's leg off as she screamed and cried. That's a pretty fucking good reason for losing all respect for Kusho who didn't let him cut that masked bitch down as soon as they caught him.

  • Zed is well aware that he leads the gang of dangerous kids, who have been scarred by the war in one way or another. He knows that they don't know better and he is self-conscious about their lifestyle and them not being "normal people". It's a nice touch when the antagonistic character doesn't think himself superior over civilians and has the maturity to admit that he is doing dirty work nobody wants to do because of some stupid spiritualism traditions that didn't save people from a massacre.

  • Kayn looks more lively here. Feels refreshing to see him as something more than edgy mysterious scythe boy. The way he acts and speaks like a teen compared to Zed but looks up to him is endearing. Now, given that Kayn was shown wielding Rhaast on the cover, I wonder if they're going to retcon the way Kayne decided to pick up the demon scythe? Maybe it will have to do something with Jhin. Like Kayn trying to protect his master and kill the fucker first? I think Riot has been establishing him as lonely and poorly socialized for a while, so it wouldn't be a bad thing to indicate that the guy actually cares for someone. UPD: Yes, I kinda missed that he must be wielding Rhaast already because his arm looks weird. But the thing behind his back doesn't look like Rhaast, so I decided it was an ordinary, Darkin-free weapon.

Frankly speaking, it's hard for me to find the Order of Shadows 100% evil. Lots of his members are positioned as bloodthirsty or outright unstable (at least in Legends of Runeterra) and it kinda sad that Nexus and Demacia get some ambiguity but so far nobody has shown why people joined Zed.
Basically, Zed refused to stay idle and watch Ionia burn, so he did what he thought his master and Shen didn't have the guts to do. The people who joined him have lost their loved ones and, it seems, he took in a lot of orphaned kids because it seems that not everyone was protected by a random spirit Irelia. So, Zed probably helped them when nobody did. That means a lot.

Ebonmaw Dragon11/20/2019, 5:59:57 PM4 votes

Wait wait wait...

Im crazy or...

Zed is...

... From Freljord?

Im not saying that just because he has white hair and pale skin... im saying that because:

https://i.imgur.com/CdJxCBj.png

When Shen says "Like we were some northern peasants" he then says "-- sorry, no offense", implying that Zed is from the north... and usually, the north means Freljord.

xXDeathbeatXx11/20/2019, 6:27:59 PM3 votes

Im actually so freaking excited for this comic.

CaptainAntiHeroz11/20/2019, 5:07:29 PM3 votes

When you've been saying Zed's misunderstood for years Internal giggles

Jeddy01711/20/2019, 6:52:22 PM3 votes

Well, the artstyle is a little weak for me. But overall, I like it. Always great to see champs portrayed in new lights.

AbiwonKenabi11/20/2019, 9:23:01 PM3 votes

The art style looks similar to the Lux comic while it doesn’t suffer from the same problems – weird faces and the difficulty to follow the movements. The action looks fluid and is easy to follow as reader.

See I actually have the opposite opinion, I think Lux looked way better. I prefer League's typical art style, but the Lux comic looked good, even if it had some weird expressions sometimes (mainly on Sylas in particular, for whatever reason). Zed comic looks ugly, way too much like a Silver age comic and not in a nostalgic homage way. There's even a point where Master Althon is talking a crap ton in two panels, yet those panels clearly show action that lasts like one second. Such a Silver age thing to do.

Personally, I don’t really believe the “his art is so beautiful and terrifying at the same time” because the pieces we saw so far were not impress at all.

We didn't really get to see Jhin's victims, they were obscured. I honestly think that's for the best because it leaves it up to the imagination rather than to try and actually illustrate something that is both beautiful and horrifying. Anything they tried to make would have to be PG13, so wouldn't be anywhere near as horrific as its meant to be.

Also, does he always turn humans into “flowers”? In the Jhin color story, a villager also saw flower. So far I actually expect more variability and more horror from him. I’m not impressed so far. Let see if I can be proven wrong.

I'm not really sure how you can judge Jhin's presentation seeing as he was barely in the comic at all. It was all setup. The reason Jhin's work is so awful is because his victim's FACES look like the flowers. Just try to imagine, what does one have to do to a human face to make it look like a flower? These people are mangled. Its also kind of Jhin's thing, and serial killers typically have a specific "calling card" of sorts. Jhin does every killing really artsy and likes an audience.

Also, in-game, anyone Jhin kills does one of his trap explosions, which are flowers, so its kind of nice nod to his gameplay (or the passive is a nice nod to the canon story, not sure which came first).

I overall enjoyed the story as well. I was happy when I realized Kayn would probably be in this, and he is great so far, so I am particularly happy about that. Not really trying to be overly critical of your opinions. These few things you mentioned just bothered me.

Power Cosmic11/20/2019, 9:49:17 PM3 votes

Zed looks ridiculous without his mask. I thought he was a stone cold ninja assassin killer?

Forhonor32111/21/2019, 2:50:01 AM3 votes

Storywise, I like it so far. It's interesting to learn more about the event that Zed and Shen witnessed in their backstory and also get a glimpse of what he is like so far in terms of being a leader and his philosophy. Shen and Akali will be interesting to see as the story progresses, especially Akali just so we might know more about her relationship with Zed and the Order of Shadows a bit better (she's still a bitch though). The confrontation of Shen and Zed will be interesting as well and can't wait to see that. And Jhin. OH FUCK I can't wait to see what happens during the fight( presuming there's a fight) in the next issue!

Artwise, though, I really, REALLY don't like. Not necessarily hate because I kind of get an old-style Watchmen feel of it but it doesn't really fit the comic IMO. Not to mention so many oddly drawn faces (mostly Kayn...like good fucking god). I feel like a cleaner style or maybe more artistic approach, like actually having the comic feel more like artwork you'd see in Ionia, would of helped. There's also the discussion on the level of blood/violence here as the death of Althon was pretty tame (purple blood? really?), the destroyed village was as barebones basic to me in terms of showing horrors and bloody surgery and of course the corpses left by Jhin are just unseen or viewed from an extremely far distance make the comic feel a little too family friendly to me. That might just be because I'm use to more violent games/comics/media and expect a higher standard to wanting to view these things, but I digress.

Overall, I thought it was enjoyable but lacking and kind of meh in a lot of areas. Hopefully the good will get better and the bad will get fixed as we move along.

Ask Kayn11/20/2019, 6:43:53 PM2 votes

[{quoted}](name=Lady Faceless,realm=EUW,application-id=6kFXY1kR,discussion-id=yjig4POz,comment-id=,timestamp=2019-11-20T16:54:11.108+0000)

Kayn

First of all, finally some canon interaction between Kayn and Zed! Back then I heard that Kayn was supposed to be Zed right hand, I didn’t really believe in it. For that ingame Kayn seem to be too full of himself. Not only that both talk on the same eyelevel, Kayn is a more critical person then I expected. Seeing him like this actually some a breath of fresh air, which I enjoy. And he is still himself, wanted to fight Althon because he warmed up. Running without armor because who needs that? Truly not Kayn. Also, interesting to see how Kayn’s corruption is not the same as ingame. So far only his left underarm is affected while ingame his complete left arm, shoulder and left eye are corrupted. Also he doesn’t have braided hair nor his iconic blue streak. I wonder why he started to braid his hair. Probably Rhaast urged him to do?

Yes, absolutely. I was surprised to see the marked difference between his in-game personality and what the comic reveals.

Though this is perhaps (just like in the Odyssey short story), made to reflect the changes in the character. Just like his physical design (less corruption, no blue streak, both human eyes, etc), it is meant to show the 'before' and 'after'. We can also notice the lack of Rhaast's voice. He's quiet, sleeping, hidden in the cloth, he -isn't really there yet-.

We can easily infer this comic is set in a previous timeframe to the 'present Kayn'.

Then, we have his speech, which surprised me the most; filled with contractions, makes him feel 'younger'.

I really liked his strategical concern for money, always searching how to 'get funds' for the Order's campaign. He's truly Zed's Right Hand.

I'm eager to see the next issue, Jhin as a disruptive element will affect the characters and feed us more details on their personality.

PD: I so want to see the relationship between Kayn and Jovn!

Terozu11/20/2019, 5:34:55 PM2 votes

Did Shen not make the connection between the spirit he fought and Jhin? Twisted flowers?

Camille Ferrøs11/20/2019, 8:42:52 PM2 votes

They better not reveal Jhin's face entire life, identity, and past. What makes Jhin Jhin is that we don't know anything about him except surface-level info. I think it will completely ruin him if they start explaining everything about him. Also is it me or is he missing his giant shoulder thingy?

IlyaK198611/20/2019, 10:36:46 PM1 votes

Comic was decent, only a little action, and the order's motives aren't exactly clear. If we're getting a Zed vs. Jhin confrontation next issue, I really do wonder how it is that Jhin actually survives. Zed took out Althon in a couple of moves, and that guy was a master martial artist (as are Shen and Zed). How's some lanky dude with a limp able to survive a head-on confrontation with Zed? I do wish Riot was more willing to actually kill off champions in the lore who aren't already dead (Hec, Kalista, Thresh, Sion, etc.). God knows Jhin and Sylas have it coming, among others.

Also, so much for the order of shadows being these spooky badass martial artists--they seem more like a bunch of poorly-socialized teenagers led around by a guy with a non-negligible case of mental trauma. Granted, they can be both.

Jaspers11/20/2019, 6:16:22 PM1 votes

Not what I expected, I mean Shen and Akali's part was but Jhin in Ionia? I thought his current guise was what he was wearing to infiltrate Piltover?

Any who, nice read. I like Zed. More reserved and respectful than I expected.