Sombra and Zarya face off in the next Overwatch online comic

After Masquerade, the latest Talon specific comic dropped, we expected a quiet period from the lore department at Overwatch. We were wrong, but we’ve never been more delighted. At San Diego Comic Con, the team showed a preview of our next comic, starring Zarya, an unfortunate omnic, some unknown enemies and a very familiar skull.

The Zarya comic was teased at the Building Worlds with Blizzard panel by Robert Simpson, and we should have more information regarding it “soon”.

Here’s a quick lore recap to sum up why, exactly, this reveal is so exciting.

First of all, Zarya and Sombra have history. Infiltration tells the story of Sombra intentionally botching a Talon operation to blackmail Katya Volskaya, the most powerful woman in an omnic-devastated Russia... who happens to be working with omnics in order to get the tech needed to defend her home. Sombra tells Volskaya she won’t drop this little tidbit of information as long as the two women can be friends. Volskaya agrees, Sombra dips out, and Volskaya immediately calls in Zarya as a plan B.

This comic is likely going to cover Zarya’s attempts to hunt down Sombra. Even more interesting is the revelation from Masquerade that Talon knows about Sombra’s extracurricular activities and largely doesn’t care. “I don’t mind a little ambition in my people.” says Doomfist.

Add in the fact that Sombra’s hacker hideout, Castillo, suggests she’s working with the Los Muertos gang (or at least friendly with them), and things get interesting. Sombra is an agent of Talon, but she has a long enough leash that she’s effectively free to pursue her own goals... which can include Zarya.

Speaking of everyone’s favorite gravity based tank, the fact that she’s shielding an omnic is definitely interesting. Zarya has no kind words for any omnic, so it remains to be seen why she’s protecting this one in particular.

There’s no release date for this comic yet, but we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for the next round of Russian cat and hacker mouse.