I'm back!

Well, after a lengthy time away from the fun and exciting future world called The Internet, I'm back. Glad to see that all the porn is still here.

I've resisted writing reviews of comics to this point for several reasons, not the least of which has been my inability to write on a regular basis. However, now that the shop is back up and running with access to the world wide web, I figure now is as good a time as any to start. Since new comics won't be out till Wednesday and Saturday night seems a bit late to review the comics from this week, my initial foray into comics review will consist of a trade that came out a week or so ago.



World of Warcraft Book One Hardcover
W: Walt Simonson
A: Ludo Lullabi
I: Sandra Hope
Publisher: Wildstorm/DC Comics

Disclosure time. I've found myself becoming quite the WoW whore. I enjoy playing the game quite a bit. I've collected all the action figures thus far and I really enjoy playing the card game. (That is, when I get a chance to play.) But the one thing I find myself most attracted to is the extended mythology that the game has. It has a rich history that rivals that of any major franchise. (I'm looking at you Star Wars) In spite of that, I have avoided reading the comics based on World of Warcraft. Why? Quite simply, the art.

I'm not a big fan of the cartoony, manga style made popular by Joe Madureira. Obviously WoW artist Ludo Lullabi is. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery then Joe Mad must be blushing with the praise that is being heaped his way by Monsieur Lullabi.

When the issues contained in this volume were originally published, they each had two covers. One with art by Blizzard Entertainment art director Samwise Didier, whose style is also reminiscent of the Joe Mad style and the other from Wildstorm's Editorial Director Jim Lee, whose art is so completely the opposite of the Madureira style. It's his style that I wish was being aped here. For me, a sense of realism would have made this a much more enjoyable book. Instead, the art is such a distraction that I am never able to immerse myself in the story being told. To be fair, it isn't all Ludo's fault. The script by Walt Simonson is fun in a summer action movie kinda way but when it's all said and done, I kept wishing for more,... I don't know, substance? LotR-like?

Don't get me wrong, I think this is a fun book, for both Warcraft fans and non Warcraft fans alike. In fact, if you've ever enjoyed a sword and sorcery movie or Conan in any form, you're gonna enjoy this book. But keep in mind that the story really does seem like something I would have made up when I was a kid.

"Ok, Sean, you be the really powerful magic guy but you can't use all your magic powers yet 'cause something bad happened to you in the past and you gotta go on a quest to fix things. And Suzanne, you be the super cool fighter girl!

"But I don't want to be a fighter girl. I want to be a magic person too!"

"Ok, fine. You can be a cool fighter that can use magic and I'll be the King! But I don't remember I'm the king 'cause I got am-sneeze-ya."

"What's that?"

"It's when you can't remember 'nothin cause you sneezed so hard that it made your head hurt too bad"

"Ooohhhhh. I hate when that happens."

"I want to be a bear."

"You can't be a bear Sean! We're not playin' Zoo. We're playin' wizards and sword fighters!"

"Then I don't wanna play."

"Ok, fine. Then you can be a magic guy that can turn into a bear. And we'll all be captured by a bad monster guy and we gotta escape so's I can get back to my kingdom because there's a fake guy there pretending to be me! And you guys gotta help me because we're gonna fight pirates and mermaids and big trolls and..."

"I wanna have antlers like a deer"

"But, but you just said you want's ta be a bear!! Bears don't have horns!"

"Oh, I want to be an elf. Their pretty."

"Fine Susanne! You can be a cool magic, fighter elf girl!"

"Oh! Oh! Oh! I wanna be an elf to!"

"Sean! You can't be a elf! You're a, a, a bear guy!!! And bears don't have antlers! And elfs don't got no antlers and , and..."

"I'm gonna be a elf with antlers who can turn into a bear."

"Oh, that's cool Sean!"

"Thanks Susanne"

"Arghhhhh! That isn't how your suppose to play you guys!"

"How do you know? You got's am-sneeze-ya! You don't even remember nothin!"

Sorry. Went on a little bit of a tangent there, didn't I? :)

Anyway, Simonson's script is ok but the team of characters he has assembled is a bit bland. A human, a night elf and a blood elf. Out of 10 races that are playable in the game, he choose to use the 3 least visually appealing or, in other words, the 3 most human looking. I would have liked to have seen a more diverse mix of main characters. Instead of the blood elf I would have liked to see a Tauren or Undead charcter. Or even gone outside of the playable characters and made one of them an Ogre or a Naga.

This may not be a fair criticism, since the World of Warcraft has tons of pre-established history. This may be a case of Blizzard dictating which story they wanted told. I'm not sure. In any case, it's a pretty standard story. Amnesiac warrior is captured by slavers, he befriends the other captives, escapes and then turns out to be the king. Certainly not bad, but not great either. I hate to harp on the art but I really do feel that with more appealing art, the story would have been elevated a bit. (On a side note, the art team for the past two issues of the monthly, which take place right after this collection, has been by a different art team and, in my opinion, better.)

So, why should you pick up the hardbound edition of World of Warcraft? Well, at $19.99, it is cheaper that buying the seven issues collected here by a whopping $.94! Yeah, I know. Big deal. It also contains the zero issue that was, to my knowledge, only available when you bought the WoW action figures and even then it was just a mini comic. This is the first time it's been printed in a standard comic size, so that pretty cool. I also like the the overall design on the hardcover. The dust jacket has a matte finish which gives the Samwise art on the cover a nice pastel look. The book itself has a faux leather look with gold embossing. (Is that even a real word?) To round it all out, there are some character sketches on the inside pages as well as a forward from the VP of Creative Development at Blizzard. All in all, a pretty decent package for the price.

If you've thought about picking up the World of Warcraft monthly or if you're just looking for a fun, light read to finish out the summer with, then World of Warcraft Book One Hardcover is the book to get.