By John Rogers (writer), Andrea Di Vito (artist), Aburtou and Graphikslava (colors), Chris Mowry (letters)
The Story: A party of adventurers comes together—as all good adventuring parties do—in the local tavern. The party is wrongly arrested, and all the proper tropes for the opening of a good campaign are touched on.
What’s Good: I was more than a little dubious about this series after the ok-but-not-great issue #0. Issue #1 has gone a long way towards alleviating a lot of my fears. We have at least a token sort of ‘assembling the party’ scene, along with a solid and interesting (if not terribly original) quest hook. The absences of these basic and important elements were noticeable in #0, and their presence here elevates both the basic storytelling and the D&D connection.
One thing this comic does do very well is capture the feeling of an actual D&D campaign, while simultaneously giving both the characters and the world they inhabit their own, independent sense of authenticity. This is what I had in mind when I first heard “D&D comic from IDW.”
What’s Not So Good: On the more unfortunate front, I’m afraid that some of the very things that make this book work will end up holding it back as the series progresses. The generic nature of the characters, and cookie-cutter plot setup work for now, since the very standard features makes it all the easier to imagine it being created and shared around any gaming table anywhere in the world. This is going to wear thin quite quickly though, as anyone who’s ever listened to a D&D campaign summary of an event they weren’t involved in will tell you. A comic like Skullkickers sidesteps this problem by not being tied to a specific property; they’re free to tweak, change and develop their settings, plots and characters as they see fit. Rogers and company are far more limited here, and I fear that the D&D license will end up being more burden than boon.
Conclusion: A decent, if generic, beginning to an adventure tale. It has no earmarks of greatness, at least none are visible yet, but it’s a light, fun romp for those who have fond memories of holding their breath as a set of polyhedral dice decide a character’s fate.
Grade: C+
-SoldierHawk
Grade
Conclusion