With the launch of the latest installment of World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth soon, Blizzard Entertainment will also be revealing a new 8-paged comic on the 23rd May. The comic will be uploaded on the World of Warcraft official site. Titled “Reunion”, we follow Jaina Proudmoore on her way returning to the ruins of Theramore, the Alliance Port city which she once called home. A home she once dwelt until it was destroyed by the Horde.

Below’s a preview of the comic strips:

If you want to know more than the comic strips, check out the interview with Blizzard Entertainment’s Andrew Robinson, the writer for “Reunion” and Christie Golden, the author for World of Warcraft novels including Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War AND the upcoming Battle for Azeroth tie-in novel Before the Storm.

The following interview below will be a discussion on what Jaina is seeking among the ruins and the role of “Reunion” plays in setting the stage for the conflict to come:

What were the team’s goals when you set out to create “Reunion” and the other comics in this mini-series?

Andrew Robinson: One of the things we’re always hoping to accomplish with comics or other fiction is to help create the web that makes our universes feel more real. We delve into characters and hopefully increase the audience’s emotional connection to them, so when they play our games and they interact with those characters, it means more to them.

We hope “Reunion” will do this for Jaina, like the Harbingers series of shorts we did before Legion, where you learn something new about Gul’dan or Illidan. You either feel, “I knew he was evil, but not quite how evil!” or “I thought he was the worst villain ever, but he’s the secret hero of the story!” Or take Khadgar—we see him as an incontrovertible good guy, but we learned in Harbingers that he was actually tempted to take that power . . . and had he done so, he would have doomed the world.

Ideally, we’re increasing the audience’s emotional connection to the game through these characters, and you get to know them a little more as individuals.

How much of that comes from discussions with the game teams?

Christie Golden: We meet with the game teams regularly, and we frequently have discussions about what they’re working on, and how certain stories might be better suited to being told in a particular medium. We always want the people who play the game to be able to get everything they need there, but there’s often so much material to work with that you really can’t squeeze every detail of the story in any one medium—that’s where comics and novels can come in. And that’s something we hash out in the room together.

Andrew: We’ll pitch ideas back and forth and build on those. But we always start with the game team. They tell us what they’re hoping to further explore, and from that, we’ll come up with ideas. “So you want to focus on this character? Why don’t we tell a story about this. Why don’t we help you lead into something you’re going to do in-game?” Or, like we discussed previously, “You think you know this character? Here’s something that’ll make you look at them in a new way.”

The last time most World of Warcraft players saw Jaina, she was leaving Dalaran after the Kirin Tor decided to let the Horde back in to aid in the fight against the Burning Legion. Where is Jaina at the beginning of “Reunion”?

Andrew: In the comic, she explains a little bit of where she’s been and what she did, but some of that is explored through other means. When she left the Kirin Tor, the only person she cared to say goodbye to was Kalecgos—but she wasn’t about to just sit in a corner and pout! And once the demons were defeated, she realized it’s time to get back to business. She understands that the world is changing and realizes that it’s time to reengage.

A lot of people in the Alliance have reason to despise the Horde, but Jaina’s hatred seems to run deeper than most. What led her to feel this way?

Andrew: Jaina has always been a proponent of peace. She’s always turned the other cheek, and she’s always offered the olive branch. And time and time again, she’s gotten nothing but punishment for it. They’ve betrayed her every time. So she’s sort of done with it.

Christie: Jaina goes on a real journey throughout the overarching story of Battle for Azeroth, and “Reunion” is one of the kickoffs for that journey. You’re going to see her story told in a variety of mediums.

Andrew: And they’ll all inform each other.

Christie: Exactly. We can’t give too much away, but I think people are going to be in for a real treat when they see how Jaina develops throughout the whole thing. So, don’t make a judgment until the full tale is told!

Does Reunion explore what ultimately leads Jaina to Kul Tiras in Battle for Azeroth?

Andrew: In a way, I suppose it does. In the comic, she has a series of memories that haunt her. One of the most traumatic of these memories is the death of her father at the hands of the Horde, and Jaina feels some guilt over that. I would argue that’s the largest driving force—that she has to go back to where it all began and see if there’s anything there to show her what to do next.

Christie: So many of these stories focus on family. “Reunion” concerns itself with Jaina’s family, and family is a key element in Before the Storm. We have . . . other families . . . as well, but don’t want to spoil anything. [Laughs.]

Family is a theme, and it makes sense, because what is Azeroth but this big, quibbling family? The Horde and the Alliance—we’re all here, we’re all sharing this world, we are kind of like a family.

Andrew: A family who has the most awkward Thanksgivings.

At the end of the excerpt, Jaina vows never to allow her desire for peace to be exploited as a weakness. . . .

Andrew: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice. . . .

Christie: It’s always good to be wise, isn’t it? Never to let your emotions push you headlong toward any given conclusion—always be aware of what other power plays are going on.

Can you talk about the challenges of fitting this sort of story, with so much history behind it, into an eight-page comic?

Andrew: There are definitely challenges—particularly with stuff like location shifts. It’s a challenge to convey all the information. So we really have to ask ourselves, what do you really need? One of the things I’ve learned is strip it down to its essentials. You get down to the naked emotion, as best you can, while conveying the information that must be conveyed.

Does the knowledge that other mediums will touch on this story and this character make it easier to keep things lean?

Christie: It very much depends on the story we want to tell. For instance, we wouldn’t want to tell Before the Storm’s story in an 8-page comic. Reunion is more of a slice of something that still has a beginning, middle, and end. Especially with an ongoing character like Jaina, it has to convey a specific moment, this perfect little slice of change and conflict. That lends itself to a briefer medium.

Andrew: Certain lengths lend themselves to certain stories. If you have a page, that’s long enough to tell, say, a joke. Eight pages is a sliver of time, enough to put a character you care about in a crucible—to put them in a situation where their world view is challenged, and make them come to a decision. And either their world view is changed and they’re forced to take a new direction, or they realize their original assertion was true.

People have always thought of Jaina as a very strong character, and one of the things that made her strong was her desire for peace, her compassion, her empathy. And when she looks back at what she perceived, and what we always perceived, as a strength and decides instead that it was her fatal flaw—that’s an interesting contradiction. I dig those sort of personal conflicts. Whether this is how she feels from now on—well, that’s something you’ll have to find out.

Battle for Azeroth – Standard, Digital Deluxe, and Collector’s Editions

The standard edition of World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth will have both physical and digital versions that are available at SRP $49.99 (MYR 193.26/ SGD 65.68) while the Digital Deluxe Edition is at SRP $69.99 (MYR 270.65/ SGD 91.95). The Digital Deluxe Edition contains an arsenal of in-game bonuses for a variety of Blizzard games which includes Seabraid Stallion (Alliance) mount, Gilded Ravasaur (Horde) mount, and Tottle the Baby Tortollan pet for World of Warcraft; an “Azeroth is Burning” card back for Hearthstone; Primal Flamesaber mount in Heroes of the Storm; Horde and Alliance sprays for StarCraft II; and a collection of faction-themed extras for Overwatch.

A Collector’s Edition is also available at SRP $99.99 (MYR 386.66/ SGD 131.36) which includes in-game items from the Digital Deluxe Edition and an array of loot to fuel player’s faction pride as seen below:

• Horde & Alliance Double-Sided Mark of Allegiance: Declare your allegiance with this hefty two-sided emblem (stand included). Place it on your desk or shelf and proclaim your chosen faction to the world.
• Hardcover Double-Sided Book: Elegy & A Good War: This limited-edition hardback collects two new World of Warcraft novellas depicting the Burning of Teldrassil from the points of view of the Alliance and the Horde. Each story includes original artwork exclusive to this edition.^†† Written by Christie Golden and Robert Brooks.
• Battle for Azeroth Digital Soundtrack: Each Collector’s Edition contains a key to download the stirring orchestral pieces from the expansion’s soundtrack—the perfect mood music for laying siege to your enemies.

World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth Collector’s Edition is available for pre-order now. The supplies are limited so those who are interested will need to check with their local retailer for pre-order details and availability. Players who have already pre-purchased a digital edition of the expansion can upgrade to the Collector’s Edition at launch where Blizzard will credit their account Blizzard Balance in the amount of their original purchase if they redeem their collector’s Edition key before 31st December 2018.

For more information about World of Warcraft: Battle for Azeroth, visit the expansion’s official website.