Showing posts with label 2017. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2017. Show all posts

2019/03/01

D&D comics history part 36 - Frost Giant's Fury (IDW)

   In 2017, IDW issues a new mini-series depicting the adventures of Minsc and his companions after their escape from the Demiplane of Dread at the end of Shadows of the Vampire. This third story of our heroes from Baldur's Gate will be part of WotC's ongoing event : Storm King's Thunder and will be released under the title :

Frost Giant's Fury

2017 TPB cover

   As for the 2 previous series, author Jim Zub is in charge of the writing. This time he associates with artist Netho Diaz. The coloring will be done by Thiago Ribeiro and Milen Parvanov while the inking will be by Glauber Matos and J.B. Neto. And as usual, Neil Uyetake will be in charge of the lettering and collection design.

   We find our heroes caught in a snowstorm, lost somewhere in the middle of the Frozenfar, west-northen region of the Spine of the World. Badly injured after their battle against the master vampire Strahd, they find refuge in a cave. But soon, their shelter is discovered by a group of ogres passing by that they will have to confront. Hopefully for our bunch of broken adventurers, they'll be helped in their fight by a certain Saarvin, a scout dragonborn that will then lead them to the mining city of Fireshear. And from there it becomes obvious Jim Zub once again based his story on the WotC's module issued for the eponymous ongoing event.

 Map of the Frozenfar

Storm King's Thunder adventure module (WotC, 2016)

   Saarvin is a character that appears briefly in the Storm King's Thunder module as a random wilderness encounter proposal (cf pict below). But, even if he has just a few lines describing him there, he will be added as a playable character in the upcoming and still work-in-progress android game : Warriors of Waterdeep by Ludia.

Saarvin - Ranger random encounter, Storm King's Thunder (p.71 - WotC, 2016)

Saarvin first appearance, Frost Giant's Fury #1 (IDW, 2017)

Saarvin in Warriors of Waterdeep - design by Gwen Houzelot (Ludia, 2018)

   After a few time spent in Fireshear healing, resting and equiping themselves with appropriate winter gears, our heroes, back on their feet, have to deal with a frost giants' raid on the city. Minsc and his crew will help defend the town adding their strenght to the Griffons' aerial support lead by Dasharra Keldabar. Krydle, on his side, will play an unexpected asset by releasing a White Dragon, captive of the giants, named Licanthe. This is barely the suggested encounter found in the module's description of the city (cf pict below)...

Firesheard description & suggested encounter - Storm King's Thunder (p.83-84 - WotC, 2016)

   The raiding giants' leader is a certain Lord Gryttmort who's heading to a peak named Cold Crag  willing to reach Licanthe's secret lair in order to seize a Dragon Orb. This artifact would allow him to get control on dragons and then to get the power to overthrow Storvald and take his place as a Jarl (and conquer the rest of the North from there...). To have Licanthe obey him and extort the hidden lair's location, he took the dragon's eggs in hostage. This is an interesting scenario Jim Zub constructed here as he mixed up different elements of the module. (cf extracts below). If Jarl Storvald is in the center of the module's plot elements that inspired the comic's narrative, he's replaced here by Gryttmort but however still being evocated once.

White dragon's eggs plot elements, SKT module p.11

Orb of dragonkind plot element, SKT module p.12

   As well, Gryttmort's headquarters (where our bunch of adventurers will finally end to achieve their goal - saving the North and all...) are a pretty unique floating iceberg fortress that is described in the module as being Svardborg (cf upper map of the Frozenfar) :

Gryttmort's Fortress

Svardborg map - Storm King's Thunder (p.160 - WotC, 2016)

   Jim Zub definitely excels in his put-a-module-in-a-shaker-and-get-a-story processing. He really has an eye to select the plot elements that will set his narrative up and the talent to bring credibility to his characters via the wide range of emotions they go through. Netho Diaz did an amazing work here, his style fitting perfectly the narration with the use of ruggish lines emphasing the decrepitude of our heroes and the hostile environment they are facing.
 
   And bonus (!) : we're granted at the end of each issue (as well as in the TPB) with our five heroes' chara-sheets. These are meant to be used by roleplayers (cf disclaimer at the bottom of each) and are freely available in pdf on Wizards' website. Here's Nerys' one for an insight :


No doubt... within the D&D comics world, IDW rules and we can only hope it will last for long !

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