D&D comics history part 32 - Cutter (IDW)

   In 2013, along with the reprints of classic DC comics, IDW will only release one original story, set in the Forgotten Realms :

Cutter

   This 5 issues comic will be compiled into HC in november 2013 and in TPB a year later. Single issues will all have an alternate cover (characters' sketch ones for the most).

   It's been written by Robert Anthony and Geno Salvatore, art by David Baldeon, colors by David Garcia Cruz and letters by Neil Uyetake.

   The plot takes place just before Night of the Hunter, 28th book in the Legend of Drizzt story arc. It relates the inheritance of a magical sword from a Drow renegade, Tos'un Armgo, to either one of his half-drow siblings, Teirflin and Doum'weille, who will have to fight for its ownership. Tos'un, who fled Menzoberranzan during the failed siege of Mithril Hall (year 1358 DR) is then living for a century under the stars among the elves of the Moonwood and married with their leader, Sinnafain. In this tragical family drama, the main object of the tale is obviously the sword Khazid'hea, the "Cutter", a sentient and malevolent blade that will be a reccurent element of the Legend of Drizzt saga. First appeared in Starless Night, 8th installment of the series, it was then owned by Dantrag, elder son of Matron Yvonne Baenre and weapon master of the same house. By chance, even it DDP never released the full Starless Night comic, we have some visual of it in the first only published issue. Its design was then pretty different from what we have in Cutter. Here's are the page from DDP's comic and a cover art by D. Baldeon for a comparison :

 

Khazid'hea designed as... scimitar (!) in DDP's Starless Night and longsword in IDW's Cutter

   Through its history, the longsword will have many owners including Drizzt, Catti-brie, Delly Curtie and even orcs before ending in the hands of Tos'un. It is said the sword can cut through flesh, bone, steel, and even rock. And, aside with the telepathic path the sword creates with its owner, it also has the ability to shape-adapt its pommel and hilt to him and has no other purpose but to find its greater wielder, whatever it could cost to actual one. Tho, the blade part of the blood-thirsty sword itself is not supposed to change. (there DDP Starless Night's scimitar design creates a total non-sense as after Drizzt acquired it, he will give it to Catti-brie as he prefers using scimitars... QED heh)

   Taken alone, without any knowledge of Drizzt saga, the story can be misunderstood and somehow incoherent to the reader. But in the whole it makes sense. The art and coloring are pretty decent. We have here very dynamic scenes of battles.

    Here again, IDW proposed us a nice piece. Maybe not the best compared to the rest of their publishing but still, a fine and well drawn side story. The only one thing I could personally regret is that there is no module edition for any of the issues as well as no RPG material at all as bonuses... but well... it is what it is heh.

Also note that this story will be compiled in IDW's Forgotten Realms Omnibus along with Neverwinter Tales and Forgotten Realms.

o_O

   
Bonus : R.A. & Geno Salvatore's interview by Bart Carroll (04/10/2013)

What is the “Cutter” that gives this comic book series its title?

Bob : “Cutter” is the nickname of the sentient long sword, Khazid’hea, which has appeared in several of my older Drizzt novels.

Geno : Khazid’hea first appears in Starless Night, and has changed hands several times through the Drizzt novels. It was last seen in the hands of Tos’un Armgo, a drow renegade.

Can we expect to see any familiar faces (from your novels or from lore) in this series?

Bob : Oh yes, of course! Tos’un, the lead character and his elven wife were both around for the Hunter’s Blades series, and we learned about their two children through the books and short stories, as well. Also, this series will lead us back to many other familiar characters in the novels going forward.

How did this comic book come about? 

Bob : Geno and I had such a good time writing Drizzt: Neverwinter Tales that I wanted to do another one. Given the scope of The Sundering, the great world event that’s shaking the Forgotten Realms, there are many side-stories to tell. For this one, I thought a comic series was the perfect medium.

Geno : The story itself feels like a natural one to tell—Tos’un’s story in the novels was an interesting one, and he was left in an open-ended place. So we decided to explore what has happened to him and his family.

How does the process of writing a comic book differ from a novel?

Bob : You have to be very efficient with language, of course, and make sure that you’re on the exact same page as the artist, who is, in many ways, relating more of the story than you, the writer, are. I’m a visual writer, but with this format, I’m forced to really pare back my usual manner of letting the characters describe the scene before them.

Geno : Space is at a premium in a graphic novel. There are only so many pages in an issue. So, in order to tell the full story, you really have to use that space efficiently. There simply isn’t enough space on the page for anything not essential to the story. Of course, I’m not sure that’s really different from novel writing—anything not moving the story forward can and should be cut from a novel, as well—but writing a graphic novel really forces you to consider what is and what is not essential.

You’ve both written comics before, of course—but have you become more comfortable with the medium?

Bob : I certainly am. What’s very intriguing to me is that all I’m really doing is channeling the way I “see” a story a bit differently than when I’m writing it in a novel, and honestly, the comics are starting to seem equally (if not more) natural to me.

Geno : One of the first things I published starting out was a graphic novel short (co-authored with my father), which was featured as part of a graphic novel based on his DemonWars world. Returning to graphic novels for Neverwinter Tales and now for Cutter feels very natural to me. I very much enjoy and feel very comfortable with visual media.

Have you enjoyed working with artist David Baldeon? 

Bob : Oh, absolutely! Every time the next pages show up, I open the e-mail and gasp with awe. David can tell a story as well as anyone, and beautifully.

Geno : David’s work is amazing.

Will this series have a lasting impact on the landscape of Dungeons & Dragons - and the Forgotten Realms specifically?

Bob : Yes, because Cutter is leading us to something bigger and darker. My novel due next March refers to this series directly and importantly.

D&D comics history part 29 - The Legend of Drizzt - Neverwinter Tales (IDW)

   In 2011, along with the publishing of their ongoing series, IDW will start releasing omnibus of the classic D&D comics by DC from the 80's and the main series of DDP, including The Legend of Drizzt. But, when we could have hoped for the missing Menzoberranzan chapter of Starless Night (8th book of the Legend which comics adaptation felt into limbos due to DDP's financial crisis), IDW offered their readers a story of the über-known Drizzt Do'Urden that takes place between "Gauntlgrym" and "Neverwinter", first and second novels of the Neverwinter Trilogy by R.A. Salvatore, respectively 23th and 24th ones in Drizzt's saga.

Released in 5 issues, and available in HC as well as in TPB, it will be published under the title :

The Legend of Drizzt : Neverwinter Tales

 

   This original story has been written by R.A. Salvatore and his son Geno, art by Agustin Padilla, coloring by Leonard O'Grady and lettering by Chris Mowry and Neil Uyetake.

   It's an interesting side-story to the novels, well written and sustained with nice and pleasant graphic. We're following Drizzt and his companion Dahlia hunting for some creature, part dwarf battlerager and part vampire that will turn out to be their former brother in arms, Pwent. This last one had been biten by the vampire Korbin Dor'crae (whose been turned into a ghost by the evil ich Valindra Shadowmantle) during his fight against Drizzt's party. And despite the mental assault Pwent suffers from the ghosty vampire, he is not yet decided to drink innocent blood at all...

   So, yeah, fun tale on many aspects especially for those who read the novels.

   Note that the first issue has been also edited in module version, containing a playable adventure.

Module issue cover and adventure page sample

   In France, Milady released this comic in HC version in 2013, slightly different from the IDW one as it's missing the RPG materials but in the meanting including all the covers of the single issues when IDW's was only showing a few. (As well Milady's HC has been published in the original comic size when IDW's is in a larger format). Translation by Philippe Touboul and lettering by Cédric Lestiennes.

   Also note that this story will be compiled in IDW's Forgotten Realms Omnibus along with Forgotten Realms and Cutter.

O_oV

D&D comics history part 25 - The Worlds of D&D (DDP)

In february 2008, Devil's Due started to release a new line of comics based on D&D license :  The Worlds of Dungeons & Dragons

 

 

The serie will ends the same year with the publishing of the 7th issue due to DDP's bad financial management. 

2 TPB will be released. The first one compiles the first 2 volumes of the serie with the single issue Eye of the Wolf and the second tome, the issues 3 to 5.

Issues 6 & 7 will never been compiled in TPB.

The serie in its whole is a melting pot of short novels based on different D&D settings as Forgotten Realms, Dragonlance, Ravenloft, Eberron or Dark Sun, each story being developped by its own writers and artists.

First story is entitled Dark Mirror and is set in the Forgotten Realms.

Written by famous R.A. Salvatore,  its art is done by Rafael Kayanan.
(adapted by Nick Schley ; colors by Lovern Kindzierski ; letters by Payton Gauldin / Ninja Lettering ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)

It s been published in 2 parts in the issues 1 & 2.

It s a short story of the ûber-famous drow Drizzt Do'Urden involved in the rescue of kidnapped villagers while he s on his way to Lady Alustriel's. He will then hunt a goblin named Nojheim who fled the fight. Later, he ll discover that the goblin is in fact the slave of Rico, the big guy of the village...

 

Everything in this short is just amazing. The plot, the narrating, the art, all fits perfectly Drizzt's world.

The original story was released in the 1993 anthology Realms of Valor, edited by James Lowder.

The style is dark and sharp as is the story. Artist R. Kayanan, helped by L. Kindzierski for the coloring created a masterpiece here.

In the second story entitled The Legacy and based on Dragonlance setting, published as well in 2 parts in the first 2 issues, we re following Palin Majere, son of Caramon and nephew of the greatest mage Raistlin.

The story is based on a part of the novel The Second Generation by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickmann. The events depicted take place years after the War of the Lance and start the era known as the Fifth Age.

It relates the adventure of Palin at the Palanthas' Tower of High Sorcery where he will travel through the magical portal that leads to the domain of Thakisis, the evil goddess, where his uncle, the archmage Raistlin, is held prisoner...

Besides the good narrating, I am not a great fan of the art by Javier Aranda mixed with the coloring by Chris Summers... Imo, the colors are far too bright and the chara design is a bit childish considering the story.
(adapted by Neil Kleid ; letters by Payton Gauldin / Ninja Lettering ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)

The third story is entitled Elminster at the Magefair and has been released in 2 parts in issues 3 & 4.

Written by Ed Greenwood and adapted by Jeff Grubb, this adventure of the most famous archmage of the Forgotten Realms has been put on paper by Juanfran Moyano for the lining and Malti Verma for the coloring.
(letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)

Somehow closed to the spirit of the TSR Limited Editions, we have here a funny adventure of Elminster and his "bodyguard" Storm Silverhand at the magefair (kind of wizardry convention).

As "Dark Mirror", it was originally compiled in the anthology Realms of Valor.

The art is pretty decent and the narrating is just hilarious, as one could expect considering the main character...

4th story is based on Ravenloft setting.

Released in issue 3, it s entitled The Rigor of the Game.

This very short story (only 20 pages... sadly !) is a real masterpiece for a bunch of reasons. It is the first comic adaptation based on Ravenloft setting.

Ravenloft, also known as the Demiplane of Dread, is not a common D&D world.

It exists in parallel with the other worlds and has no definitive frontiers. The border of the world in engulfed in a mystical mist. This mist can appear in any other D&D world to draw any evil character into the demiplane.

Ravenloft is divided into Domains that are ruled by Darklords, who were powerful damned characters in other worlds and who are now imprisoned within, where they suffer their torments for eternity. Most famous Darklords are the vampire Strahd von Zarovich, the lich Azalin and the death knight Lord Soth.

In this story, we re following a certain Arkwright (Oliver), a gambler with an extraordinary luck who will have to play dice against the doomed Lord soth...

Lord Soth, known as the Knight of the Black Rose, great villain of the Dragonlance setting was once Lord Loren Soth of Dargaard Keep. Doomed to undead curse by his last wife he murdered for a presumed infidelity while he should have been saving Krynn from the Cataclysm, he was taken by the mist of Ravenloft during the events of the Blue Lady's War as he was fighting with his servant Caradoc who betrayed him. Once in the Demiplane of Dread, after a stay in the Domain of Barovia ruled by Strahd, he got granted his own domain, Sithicus, the land of spectres.

The plot here takes place in an inn named the Iron Warden.

 

It is adapted from the story of the same name published in the novel anthology The Tales of Ravenloft. It has been written and adapted by James Lowder himself who has written most of the novels featuring Soth.

The artist is the great Tim Seeley and Lizzy John is in charge of the coloring.
(letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)

The visual render is spectacular, perfectly fitting the dark gothic atmosphere of the setting.

A Stone's Throw Away, 5th story of this anthology, released in 2 parts in issues 4 & 5, depicts the incidents involving the kender Tasslehoff Burrfoot as he got in his possession (heh...) a magical ring and confronted the Magus, a poweful necromancer.

The Story, originally written for Dragon Magazine #85 (1984), set in Dragonlance, is from Roger E. Moore and adapted by Stan!.

Artist is Javier Aranda, assisted by Andrew Elder for the coloring.
(letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)

As anything involving a kender, and especially Tas, the narrating is hilarious as it becomes more and more Murphy-ish. It reminds me of the lost TSR Limited Edition "The Unity of Ring" as for the plot as for the humor.

About the art, I have to say that if I have been disappointed by J. Aranda on his previous D&D work, this time it s pretty ok. The only remark is about the coloring here. Apparently A. Elder opted for a dominance of red or blue, and imo, it s a bit "too-much"...

But well, in its whole it s a very nice and entertaining work we have here.

6th story, based on Eberron setting and entitled The Weight of Water, went out in issue 5. Written by Ed Bolme, adapted by Chad Rebmann. Art by Eric J. and colors by Rob Ruffolo. (letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)

This is a strange story of a conflict between 2 armies, one from Karrnath (in red), and the other from Aundair (in blue).

The troups of Karrnath, following the orders of some female necromancer, are attacking caravans under the protection of Aundair. A monk from Aundair named Teron is sent with the army to discover why the caravans are disappearing and to solve the problem.

In the end, it s more a fairy tale with some moral of the story. The whole looks like a chess game.

The story first went out in the Eberron anthology The Tales of the Last War, released in 2006.

The art is decent but the style reminds me of late 90's comics.

It s the second time Eberron is adapted into comic but the plot could have been set anywhere else imo...

Note also that this is the last Worlds of D&D story compiled in TPB.

In Raistlin and the Knight of Solamnia, 7th story that appears in issue 6, we re back in Dragonlance.

The artist Javier Aranda and colorist Alejandro Torres give us some decent work on this adaptation by Paul D. Storrie of a novel from writers Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickmann. (letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)

The original novel was released in the anthology Tales of Dragonlance II, vol. 3 The War of the Lance.

The plot takes place just after Raistlin successfully passed his test to become a mage. Seeking for a job, Raistlin and his brother Caramon are spending a moment in some inn when they got accosted by a Kender named Earwig Lockpicker who claims to be friend of Tasslehoff... Then a knight of Solmania and his family enters the inn...

This will lead the companions and the knight to some haunted ruins they have to uncurse to earn some gold...

Following the principle of having a short story that focus on a specific aspect of the D&D setting (here, the mistrust between Knights and Mages) this story do the job, no more no less. Just another short novel fairly adapted.

The 8th story is far more interesting as it is set in Dark Sun.

Entitled Hunt's End, it s the first comic adaptation ever in this setting.

Adapted by Andrew Dabb, this story, written by Rudy Thauberger, is drawn by Chris Steininger and colored by Joseph Baker.
(letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)

To my knowledge, R. Thauberger originally wrote it for Dragon Magazine 220 (august 95).

Dark Sun is a setting born in 1991 featuring a post-apocalyptic world name Athas.

Long ago it was a luxuriant planet that has been stripped of its natural richness by the excessive use of the power known as defiling magic. Now, it s mostly a desertic world with oasis here and there and some major cities ruled by the Sorcerer-Kings.

The rarity of metal is so that most of weapons are made of wood, bones or obsidian. Most of the races developped psionist abilities to be able to survive in this deadly environment. Athas also counts unique playable races as the Thri-Kreen (mantis men) or Aarakocra (bird men).

Here, we re following a halfling outcast named Tanok and his two thri-kreen companions K'rt & Rr'k hunting down a caravan of Templars of the Sorcerer-King of Draj, city-state in the northeastern area of the Tyr Region. (Draj is an Aztec-inspired state btw)

Colorist Joseph Baker did a great job here, rendering the impression of dryness by using a nice panel of yellows and browns.

Steininger's "jagged" style fits nicely the raw brutality of the story.

Note that in 2011, IDW Publishing will release a 5 comics story based on Dark Sun.

9th story, The Great Hunt, that went out in nov. 08 in the7th and last issue of The Worlds of D&D is based on the Forgotten Realms setting.

It s been written and adapted by the well-known Elaine Cunningham. The art is by Jose Aviles and coloring by Kenneth Loh. (letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)

It s another story about a hunt... this time orcs, followers of Malar the Beastlord, hunting elves of Tethyr's forest during the War of Reclamation. But against all odds, the orcs have to fight a powerful enemy, the moon elf and crime lord Elaith Craulnober who s escorting the half-elf princess Arilyn Moonblade. These two will cause difficulties to the hunters...

Elaine Cunningham originally wrote this short for issue 246 of Dragon magazine (1998).

It s a nice story, with rare speach bubbles. The style and coloring are pretty ok.

There is no much to say as it s just a "slice of life" in the end...

10th and last story is entitled Definitions of Honor.

Written and adapted by Richard A. Knaak, it has been drawn by Pat Quinn and colored by Joseph Baker. (letters by Crank! & Bernie Lee ; edits by James Lowder & Mike O'Sullivan)

Set in Dragonlance, we re following a young solamnic knight named Torbin seeking for some glory. Arriving at Dragon's Point, a little village of fishers, he s asked to get rid of a minotaur who s terrorizing the inhabitants.

But the minotaur turns out to be not that evil threat he was described as...

The story is taken from the anthology "Kender, Gully Dwarves, and Gnomes" that went out in 1987 and that compiles 10 short stories.

The art is pretty decent. The colors are a bit drab, almost pastel and offer the reader a strange but not unpleasant atmosphere.

In 10 short stories, DDP gives us a nice insight of the different D&D settings.

The parallel with TSR Limited Editions is obvious.

Imo, the redundant feeling that comes out in all these stories is the sense of the absurd in different situations. I tend to think this was the base of reflexion of DDP staff when they had to choose what to adapt.

This anthology is a success. If some of the stories are just so-so, the quality of work in the whole worth it.

°_°

D&D comics history part 22 - The Legend of Drizzt (DDP)

In 2005, DDP (Devil's Due Publishing), who just acquired the D&D license, started publishing comics based on Forgotten Realms settings : The legend of Drizzt.

Book I - VII (TPB) + Book VIII first issue covers

Based on the famous novels written by the even more famous R.A.Salvatore, the comics cover entirely the 2 first trilogies (Homeland, Exile, Sojourn / The Crystal Shard, Streams of Silver, The Halfling's Gem) and partially the third one (Legacy, Starless Night) depicting the adventures of the drow hero Drizzt Do'Urden.

Due to some extremely bad financial management, DDP has been known for not paying (in time or even at all...) the authors, accumulating a debt of thousands of bucks to the creators. The publisher being unable to fix the situation, WOTC (Hasbro) decided to cancel the agreement they had with DDP in 2008.

As a result, the story ended in the mainstream, after the first issue of book VIII (issue n°22) has been released.

This is a very sad money story (pleonasm ? :P) as DDP's D&D licensed comics are just amazing. Instead of creating new stories based on D&D universe, the authors decided to adapt the most famous D&D novels ever published. As well, they will start in 2006 the adaptation of the excellent Dragonlance Chronicles.
In addition, the artists chosen are more than great.

Andrew Dabb will be in charge of the whole serie's script.
Major artist is Tim Seeley who will work on books 1,2,3,6 and 7 (in collaboration with Rob Atkins on this last volume). Books 4 and 5 will be drawn by Val Semeiks and first issue of book 8 by Juanfran Moyano.

Book II Chapter III             Book IV Chapter I             Book VI Chapter II

The whole serie is really inspired by Tim Seeley's style, which is just excellent and perfectly fitting the settings. The drows and other creatures are beautiful imo - we re far from the 90's novels covers art - the inking too is just perfect.

Plus, a bunch of artists worked on the comics covers. And DDP were releasing 2 different covers for the same issue. (I didn t get all the single comics, unwilling to give away piles of bucks... prefering to buy the TPB versions - the A & B covers arts of each issue being included in the end pages)

Each book (or TPB tho) is a compilation of 3 issues (then called chapters).
Hardcover omnibus (assembling 3 books in 1 - so 9 issues) also exist.

Notice also that this D&D comics serie is the first one ever translated into french ! (that had to be said :P). The french publisher is Milady, which is also in charge of re-editing the Forgotten Realms and Dragonlance novels (with new translations and integral text, which was not the case with the previous releases)

This serie is a must-to-have for any Drizzt or Forgotten Realms addict...
And even for those who would have no idea about who is Drizzt or even what is D&D... if you like fantasy & comics, you ll like it.