REVIEW: Dungeons & Dragons: Evil at Baldur's Gate #5

There are only so many ways to write an epic fantasy comic, but when it comes to a sequential adaption of Dungeons & Dragons, there should only be one. D&D isn“t just a fantasy setting, as books like the Drizzt series have seen it. First and foremost it“s a game. More specifically, it“s a way to socialize for people who may be too insecure in their own skin to go the direct route. For others, it“s an occasional break from the day-to-day where players spend an hour or two messing around with friends.

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: EVIL AT BALDUR“S GATE #5 goes beyond its role as a high fantasy comic to capture all of the personalities and play styles of the average D&D game and showcase how they might actually play out in the Forgotten Realms. It“s almost meta, or exactly meta, though not so much that writer Jim Zub is patting himself on the back over how clever he is. Instead, he just writes the featured party– thieves looking to rob the party readers have gotten to know over the last few issues– like your homies who love tabletop gaming, but don“t get heavy into the roleplaying aspect. Casual language, bickering— the dialogue is way more RPG than fantasy, and that“s what makes it charming.

Zub does stick a sorcerer character in he issue who talks in a way that fits the world around him, and almost immediately one of the characters calls him out for sounding so corny. Beyond being a treat for fans of role-playing games, it“s a treat for people who are just sick of how seriously high fantasy stories take themselves. These are stories that were first created at the start of the 20th century, and are still as dry as anything you“d read from the start of the 20th century. Maybe that last part isn“t fair, but it isn“t completely false either.

While this may have not been intentional, artist Franceso Mortarino“s depiction of the thieves kind of makes them look like your average tabletop gamers. At least they look like some folks I“ve gamed with in the past. The aforementioned super in-character sorcerer looks like he“d do a killer job GMing a World of Darkness campaign. That may also just be what sorcerers look like.

Jordi Escuin“s colors are probably the only weak part of this book. At their best they don“t pop, and at there“s the occasional choice of hue that seems out-of-place when looking at the panel overall. A particular panel that stuck out was a rooftop shot of the city where the ocean, boats and buildings didn“t seem like they were under the same light source. Nothing about Escuin“s colors are horrible though, and they don“t make the book unreadable.

Overall, this issue is worth the price of admission if only for the clever nod to those more off-the-rails RPG groups that are, let’s face it, the most fun groups to be in. It’s also a good issue to read even if you haven’t been following the story to this point, as it’s mostly self-contained and tells a full story within the confines of its 20-some-odd pages. Definitely a must-read for RPG fans, and it might make a nice pick-up if you’re the kind of person who likes a little fun in their fantasy.

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

(W) Jim Zub (A/CA) Francesco Mortarino