The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 98: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons #4, March 1989

(A note: while writing this, the Grand Comics Database is down, so this is a lower quality picture, and lacks a link to the statistics page. I'll fix this once the GCD is back up.)

The epic conclusion to the first storyline, which has actually been an origin story for a couple of the characters. What I noted about Duursema's art the other day has ceased to be a problem. There were no moments in this issue in which I felt like I was looking at statues rather than golems, if you'll pardon the referential humour. Even the dialogue has ceased to spell out (I did it again) every movement and action, so, overall, this was a really satisfying read. I notice from the cover date that I was 15, almost, when this comic came out, and I still for the life of me can't understand why I would have given this series up when I did (as I did 3 issues from now). It really seems to sum up just about everything I was interested in at the time. (This was, of course, one year before I discovered sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll.)

I am a little concerned about the series moving forward, as the writing chores are relinquished by Fleisher and handed to Dan Mishkin (whose name appears on this cover, but who is not the scripter of this issue). As with Duursema, I've relatively little work by Mishkin that's not fantasy or sci-fi, two very under-represented genres in my collection and, let's be honest, in North American comics in general. But perhaps that means the he'll have a good grasp of how a fantasy story based on a table-top role-playing game should read.

(I have to note, again, what good shape this comic is in. I must have read it maybe once and then never touched it again. It doesn't even have those little tiny creases along the spine that would earn it a "Very Fine" rating.)

As far as moving forward with this series, I'm enjoying it immensely. The whole run only lasted 36 issues, though, as I've noted, I stopped well short of that number. I only have 3 issues of the next story arc, but I think this is the first series I've come across in this project that I'd like to finish collecting. So before galloping with Timoth into "The Spirit of Myrrth" (a lighter-hearted story, as you might glean from the title) part one, I'll have to find part four first. I do so like a challenge.

See you tomorrow with.....I have no idea.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 97: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons #3, February 1989

The thing that really struck me about this particular issue of the series is that it's in such good condition. Considering that it's been a part of my collection since the late eighties, it's worn its time in the boxes well. This is either a function of how well I take care of my comics, or how little I've actually read this series since it was published. Let's be honest and err on the side of the latter.

I've similar criticisms of this issue as I've had so far of the whole series. I get why Cybriana might have to cry "Magic Missile!" when casting the spell of the same name, but I never imagined that the verbal casting components of a magical spell involved simply shouting the name of the spell. I think I'm more a fan of the idea of making up linguistic-looking pictograms that represent the spell, rather than this name-dropping. I wonder if it'll peter out a bit as the series matures, though Fleisher leaves as writer after this arc, which unfortunately means that a new writer will have to familiarize him- or herself with the characters and the world.

I'm on the fence so far with regard to Jan Duursema's artwork. Sometimes it's quite lovely, other times remarkably awkward. Interestingly, I've got him doing very little superhero work in my collection, the only other major presences being the DC sorcery title Arion, and the Star Wars Episode II adaptation. I'm not sure what it is. His facial close-ups are sometimes really lovely (mostly with Cybriana), and then sometimes really heavy-handed. What occurs to me is that it's not simply a writer who needs to get used to working with characters, but artists too. In television shows it's often obvious in a first season that the writers are still trying to sort out characters and motivations, no more or less so that the actors are attempting the same thing. In comics, the artist is all of the actors, and as such must figure out mannerisms, important visual features, and even something so simple as size differentiations not only for the character he or she plays, as with an actor, but with all the characters. Duursema is the regular artist on the whole run of this title, so hopefully the art will become more consistent as he familiarizes himself with the characters and the world within which they live.

This issue's most interesting feature is the back story we receive about Imgig Zu (the bad guy), and his interactions with Selune, goddess of the Moon. There's a couple of action scenes that are a bit bland compared to the battles in the last couple of issues, but I think this is the issue where we get a real understanding of what's going on. Cybriana fills in for us her odd backstory (she has a twin, a Drow, who was actually an evil growth on her body that appeared when she was born and was cast out by mages and is now working with Imgig Zu....I think), and is promptly kidnapped (again). Fleisher seems to be also developing future stories for subsequent writers with the introduction of Connor and a small child who don't seem to have much to do with the quest of our focal adventurers. I know they start to play a larger role in the next arc, but can't quite remember what it is.

We'll get there eventually, I guess. See you tomorrow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 96: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons #2, January 1989

The epic quest trucks right along, new plot threads are introduced. There's definitely a campaign quality to this series, in that each issue is a minor adventure that contributes to the larger story being told. The characters are not fleshed out quite as much as one might hope. We get a bit more of Vajra Valmeyjar's (the Fighter) back story, and Agrivar's character is fleshed out somewhat. Eyesbright continues to be interesting and a study in contradictions, being a vicious fighter and very soft-hearted adventurer. This leaves Onyx, the dwarf, and Cybriana, the elven mage, as very one-dimensional characters thus far. I know, in the hazy mists of my memory, that Onyx receives a bit more development in the next story arc, but I can't put a finger on Cybriana's character yet. I don't know, nor can I remember, what her arc is like.

One of the things I really appreciated about these comics at the time was that the back matter of each consisted of stats for characters, monsters, and magic items one could use in the game. This one, for example, has Vajra's stats (7th level Fighter), the stats for the Greater Basilisk, one of the beasts the heroes face in the issue, and stats for The Lockstone, a magic item that is also encountered in the issue. While this certainly demonstrates an acknowledgment of the most likely audience for the series, one wonders what people who read this comic and were completely unfamiliar with the game might have thought about the arcane formulas and statistics in the back pages. This, of course, assumes that anyone reading this comic was not a gamer. Unlikely, I think.

Moving on with our quest tomorrow, more adventures from the Forgotten Realms. There's a lovely nostalgic quality to these comics for me. I hold that time of intense gaming very close to my heart, and am still best friends with all of the members of our gaming group. It gave us a chance to be heroes, something we were categorically told we could not be in the beastial pit of high school.

See you tomorrow.

The 40 Years of Comics Project - Day 95: Advanced Dungeons & Dragons #1, December 1988

I remember buying this comic when it came out. I was well into my AD&D phase, playing 3 or 4 times a week with my best friends, weaving epic adventures and pathetic (in the best sense of the term) soap operas. So when this series was released, I was very excited. I collected it only for about 8 months or so, then let it go, and thinking back to the time, this might have been because I let all my comics lapse for about 6 years over the course of high school and then just after. The final issues I collected of this series seem to coincide with the last issues of Animal Man that I collected at the time, which is what I use to gauge when this lapse occurred.

Going back to the series now, I can certainly see the flaws. It seems to me a failing of this kind of adaptation comic that they feel they need to spell out (that pun will work soooo much better in a second) all the direct references to their source material that happen over the course of the story. Monsters are referred to by their proper names always, as are spells (see?), which occasionally makes the dialogue of the characters sound like it's being read from the Player's Handbook or the Monster Manual. Which, if we consider the characters in the comic as avatars of people playing a game of AD&D, makes sense. But if we're considering them as characters in a story set in the world of the Forgotten Realms, the manual-speak sounds a bit stilted.

That said, it's a pretty good story so far. Interesting characters, and a nice range of classes (for those familiar with the game). So far, in the first issue, Agrivar, the disgraced Paladin, is the most well-developed of the characters, the rest falling into stereotypes associated with their varied classes/races (i.e., the grumpy dwarf rogue, the tough-as-nails human fighter, the willowy elf mage). The centaur character (Timoth Eyesbright) is also interesting, in that his class is not immediately apparent, and as character race Centaurs were not allowed in first edition AD&D.

The series is divided up into discrete 4-issue arcs, so there's plenty of time to develop both characters and story, and, really, an adventure in-game always ends up taking much longer than it should because of the waffling associated with RPGers.

Writer Michael Fleisher is an interesting dude. In the 70s he wrote three volumes of The Encyclopedia of Comic Book Heroes, one each on Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman. Though they're old, and horrendously out of date, I've used them in critical works to figure out first appearances of particular facets of a character's mythology. They're really handy for anyone who wants comprehensive coverage of the first 30 or so years of each of those character's histories. I'm not sure how easy they are to find nowadays, but they were reprinted a few years back, which is when I got them, so they may still be kicking around the dusty corners of your local store.

Anyway, a bit more AD&D tomorrow. See you then.