Overwatch is filled with lore surrounding all of the characters throughout the game's character interactions, events, and official animated shorts. With Overwatch 2 on the far horizon with plenty more stories to tell, it may be important for fans to be all caught up with the lore.
One of the biggest sources of Overwatch lore outside of the game is the large number of official comics surrounding important story events and characters. These comics aren't just minor side stories either, with many of them revealing important aspects of beloved characters such as their real names and who their loved ones are.
While the Overwatch comics aren't too long a read, with most of the averaging around ten pages, there may be some just not interested in reading them. Here are all the important events of each currently released Overwatch comic.
Issue #1 - Train Hopper
The first Overwatch comic focuses on Jesse McCree, long after the end of the Overwatch organization. It follows him stopping a train robbery conducted by the terrorist organization Talon. While the passengers are thankful for his help, it is revealed that McCree is currently seen as an outlaw by the world and is going to be blamed for the robbery by the media.
An important detail that may seem small at first is that one of the Talon agents that McCree shoots recognizes him, and angerly calls him out. This is due to multiple members of Blackwatch, other than Reaper and Moira, also joining Talon after Blackwatch's disbandment.
Issue #2 - Dragon Slayer
The second issue follows Reinhardt and Brigitte during their travels through Europe. After the two of them find themselves in a town overtaken by a violent gang of scavengers, Reinhardt is forcefully beaten to avoid harm coming to the townspeople. He however prepares his armor and saves the town.
One of the biggest pieces of lore to come from this comic is the introduction of Brigitte as Reinhardt's squire, and that towns affected by the Omnic Crisis are being targeted and exploited by criminals.
Issue #3 - Going Legit
Going Legit follows both Junkrat and Roadhog on their criminal misadventures. The comic itself is focused on the two taking on what they consider to be a "legit job," when a wealthy man from Sydney hires them to destroy a group of Omnics. According to the man, the Omnics are terrorists that have taken over his factory. With both Junkrat and Roadhog's lives ravaged by the Omnic Crisis, the two happily take on a job that lets them destroy any kind of robot.
It is eventually revealed that the two were tricked and the entire job was going to let the wealthy man commit insurance fraud. In response, Junkrat kills the man that hired him with an explosion.
Issue #4 - A Better World
The next comic follows Symmetra on one of her jobs with the Vishkar Corporation. In it, Vishkar wishes to begin work in Rio De Janeiro for Omnic Crisis relief, but another company known as Calado has a better relationship with the city. In order to get in better favor, Symmetra is instructed to infiltrate Calado in order to find incriminating information on the group.
Although Symmetra successfully managed to get inside, she was unable to find anything to use against Calado. In response, an explosion was set off by higher members of Vishkar to destroy the Calado building, taking many lives with it. Symmetra is horrified and tries to help as many civilians caught by it as she can. She, however, still remains loyal to Vishkar due to her viewing the company as saving her own life.
The events shown in this comic show how the Vishkar Corporation took over Rio De Janeiro, and would eventually exploit the people of the city. This also leads into Lucio's backstory, who was from Rio De Janeiro and would eventually lead the force in driving Vishkar out of the city. It also shows the first seeds of doubt in Symmetra's resolve when it comes to the Vishkar Corporation.
Issue #5 - Mission Statement
Mission Statement is about Pharah during one of her missions as a member of Helix. Pharah and her team are sent in to take out attackers toward the Anubis Facility in Egypt. During this mission, one of Pharah's Omnic allies is hacked and forcefully made to self destruct. In a show of character, Pharah makes it her priority to save one of her team members instead of finishing the main mission.
A piece of lore is revealed when Pharah states that she got her eye tattoo in honor of her mother Ana. At this point in the lore, Pharah is not aware that Ana is still alive.
Issue #6 - Destroyer
Torbjorn's comic follows him taking down a large Omnic that is ravaging the country of Kurjikstan. It reveals that he was one of the original designers behind the robot, with one of his old friends being the one controlling it and making it attack the innocent. This knowledge, however, allows Torbjorn to easily infiltrate the Omnic body and stop everything from the inside.
Lore-wise, Torbjorn being responsible for Omnic designs is a pretty important detail, especially with how his strained relationship with them is. This relationship is brought up again in a later comic.
Issue #7 - Legacy
Unlike the majority of the previous comics, Legacy takes place while Overwatch was still active. This comic follows Ana during the mission that caused her to lose her eye and fake her own death.
The mission at first is a normal one, until Ana realizes that there is another sniper on the field. She manages to shoot the helmet off the sniper, revealing their identity to be Amelie Lacroix, better known as Widowmaker. Ana is shocked at this reveal, as she knew Amelie as the kidnapped wife of her dead comrade and friend. This shock however causes her to hesitate, allowing Amelie to shoot back.
Issue #8 - Old Soldiers
The next issue follows up well to the previous one with the original trio in Overwatch reunited in battle. This time however, Gabriel is trying to kill Jack and Ana under his new identity of Reaper.
During the fight in Egypt, Ana supports Jack with healing and even manages to take Gabriel's Reaper mask off. While his face is never shown, Ana's reaction shows that whatever he is hiding is truly horrifying. Gabriel eventually retreats allowing Ana and Jack to reunite properly.
Issue #9 - Junkenstein
While mostly existing as a way to celebrate the Halloween event, the Junkenstein comic also provides a few details about the main game's lore. The comic follows Reinhardt telling the story of Junkenstein to his fellow Overwatch members on a Halloween night, back when the organization was active. His story parodies the story of Frankenstein with the addition of a witch making a magical deal with the mad scientist to help his creations come to life. Junkenstein then used his creations to attack the castle of the king that spurned him and his work.
The comic ends with a pre-Reaper Gabriel Reyes barging in with his costume, scaring Reinhardt. His costume is met with a lot of praise, providing fans with a rare moment of Overwatch's characters having a happy time within a flashback.
Issue #10 - Reflections
One of the most well-known Overwatch comics is Reflections. The story follows Tracer trying to buy a present for her girlfriend on Christmas Eve, but constantly losing time from helping people. After all of the shops close however, Tracer is rewarded for her deeds with a little girl giving her a present. This present is then opened by Tracer's girlfriend Emily, who thanks her girlfriend with a kiss.
The comic goes on to show various other characters from Overwatch and what they're doing on the holiday. The panels range from happy times with loved ones to somber times all alone. Tracer and Emily finish the comic off by visiting Winston for a Christmas dinner all together.
Issue #11 - Binary
The next comic follows Bastion after the events of his animated short. It begins with him frightening civilians with his appearance, causing the local town to go into high alert. While the town is prepared to go in guns blazing, Torbjorn takes on the job to put Bastion down.
While preparing to fight Bastion, it is revealed that Torbjorn is also responsible for designing the Bastion Omnic units as well. After observing Bastion however, Torbjorn realizes that he isn't hostile. The representatives of the town still want Bastion destroyed however, causing Torbjorn to restrain them before they can do any harm. Torbjorn then takes Bastion under his wing, although he still acts grumpy about it.
Issue #12 - Uprising
Uprising is a comic meant as a prelude to the Overwatch Uprising event, before it was renamed to the Archives event. The comic follows the actions of the Overwatch team before Tracer, Mercy, Reinhardt, and Torbjorn go to save London.
The majority of lore involving this is already within the Uprising game mode, but the comic does reveal that Tracer's catchphrase initially came from Torbjorn.
Issue #13 - Masquerade
Masquerade was released to go along with the addition of Doomfist to the game. It follows Doomfish, Reaper, Widowmaker, and Sombra after his breakout from prison as they get information on who sold out Doomfist. They eventually find out who in Talon was responsible and Doomfist kills him.
At the comic's end, a council with the higher members of Talon is shown. This council makes Moira's first appearance with her as a cameo with one of the leaders of the Vishkar corporation also revealed as being involved.
Issue #14 - Wasted Land
Wasted Land is about Roadhog and his life in the Australian outback before meeting Junkrat. It mostly allows readers to see what Roadhog's inner thoughts on his situation are, with hatred toward what his home had become.
Roadhog eventually meets Junkrat in a bar where he is being threatened. After beating the ones after Junkrat, he is hired by the explosive user as a bodyguard.
Issue #15 - Searching
The next comic takes place directly after the Infiltration animated short, where Zarya is tasked with finding and stopping Sombra. Her robot racism is challenged after she is forced to work with an Omnic hacker in order to track her. She manages to get over this racism to a point where the two are able to find Sombra and her real name of Olivia Colomar.
Sombra reveals that there is some kind of world conspiracy that she is researching, but doesn't give any hard details. She manages to escape from Zarya, and Zarya saves the life of her Omnic partner for the mission.
Issue #16 - Retribution
The last numbered Overwatch comic is another comic connected to an in-game event. This one is about the Retribution mode for the Overwatch Archives event, where the members of Blackwatch need to escape Venice.
Being a prequel to the event, the comic shows the terrorist attack by Talon that led to Blackwatch needing to target Antonio of Talon. Widowmaker's dead husband is also shown among the character alive and well.
London Calling
London Calling is an ongoing Overwatch comic series surrounding Tracer before, during, and after the Alive animated short. It focuses on her friendship with an Omnic that is part of a resistance force in London.
While Tracer is happy with her friendship, there are many Omnics that do not trust humans, especially ones from Overwatch. Tensions increase further after the assassination of Mondatta, with Tracer being seen failing to save him. This leads to not just Tracer having her relationships affected, but also increased violence in London due to Omnic protesters being abused by the police in the aftermath.
Currently four out of the five issues of London Calling are released, with all of them being free to read online among the other Overwatch comics. After all of the issues are released for this sub-story, readers can purchase a physical trade copy of this comic for home reading. This story is the longest of all the Overwatch comics with its multiple issues and cliff hanger endings.
Overwatch is available now on PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.