The Overwatch Anthology is a collection of short stories that originally appeared as separate short comics. The stories provide background information for the cast of characters associated with the Overwatch video game. Since the game is a science fiction game with fast-paced action, most of the stories have plenty of excitement. The stories have different writers and artists, so no two are exactly alike, but the separate entries are quality in both artistic style and strength of story.

The mood of each story varies depending on the characters involved, with some being light-hearted and fun, some being gritty action, and some being unexpectedly deep for comics based on a video game. For example, the topics of terrorism and political insurrection are explored using a science-fiction setting that makes these weighty topics interesting to the book’s teen audience, while keeping the discussions from being too mature for young readers.

The characters presented in this book are as varied and colorful as the stories in which they appear. The villains are unashamedly evil, but these dark characters are countered by truly heroic individuals who are willing to put their own lives on the line to protect other people, even people they do not know. All the characters are interesting, but one stands out in particular because she is on the autism spectrum but is a character who uses her unique mental perspective as an advantage rather than a disability. This strong character is one who young people who are struggling with autism in particular, and other diagnoses in general, should find inspiring.

Overall, this book is a fun read for fans of graphic novels, a good pick for those who like contemporary science fiction, and an absolute must-read for Overwatch players and fans.

Content Analysis:

Profanity/Language:  3 religious exclamations, 7 mild obscenities; 1 derogatory name.

Violence/Gore:  A character trips and knocks himself out; a few verbal threats; characters threaten others with guns a few times; a man walks away from another man’s body, and the implication is that he killed the man;report or town being raided by bandits; a fight with guns and melee weapons with no serious injury; characters find a man who was injured in a gunfight; a few reports of murder; characters tell ghost stories about a monster, and the story is illustrated in a comic style; a few reports of property damage and killings (including civilians) during military action in a city; a fist-fight; characters dodge gunfire a few times; characters spar to practice combat;a building is bombed with casualties, including a child badly burned; a gunfight in which people are badly wounded, with a little blood illustrated; bombs blow up parts of buildings a few times; robots are destroyed with explosives, guns, and blunt objects a few times; a self-aware robot destroys itself; characters shoot and kill others a few times with minimal details; a character is hanged to death off a building; a few fights in which robots are destroyed and people are injured and killed; fight between military vehicles and troops and a robot in which part of a city is destroyed; a battle scene in which several people are badly wounded or shot and killed; a character is wounded in the face, and blood is shown.

Sex/Nudity:  A character wears a cleavage-revealing outfit; two women kiss (the same illustration is used in two separate frames); characters hug a few times. 

Mature Subject Matter:

Insurance fraud; corporate espionage; discussion of whether a sniper’s job is ethical; bounty hunting; hostage-taking; terrorism; death (of friends).

Alcohol / Drug Use:

An adult smokes a cigar; adults drink alcohol.