Review: Dungeons and Dragons #0

Written by John Rogers with art by Andrea Di Vito and Andrew Dalhouse

Anyone that knows me knows that I love D&D. A lot. A super lot.  I have a crit tattooed on my arm.

So, I wanted to like this comic. A lot.  I need a really good epic fantasy comic and most of them don’t really impress me.  This is one of those comics.  I was excited for this, I really was, but if this issue is indicative of the series as a whole, I may steer clear.  The character are sadly generic to the point of being ripped straight from the PHB and the story line was like I was reading a transcript of someones gaming session.

It feel like the writer was trying desperately to make a comic that went strictly by the core books, rather than using the D&D system as a stepping stone to develop a richer story.  I am sure that there is a story line, but it is not very apparent yet what it is.  The characters seem wooden and cliche to the point that only works in parody comics like Order Of the Stick.  Granted this is just a preview issue and I fully accept the possibility that I was just hoping for too much from one issue, but I dont think so.  I think the characters need to have their, ermm, character, improved quite a bit before I can call any of them likable.  I hope it becomes less “by the book” and more story driven.

Conversely I enjoyed the artwork and found it to be sufficiently D&D while still have an original flair to it.  I actually was able to get more information about the story from the artwork than I was from the dialogue.  The character designs tread that fine line between classic and original, which works just fine for me.

I will give this series the benefit of the doubt, in part because I wonder if the hobgoblins at WOTC had a hand in the result that I saw.  Possibly, but I don’t care for it either way.  I will give it another few issues to be fair, but I think that even someone unfamiliar with the game will still be put off by the dialogue and character development.