Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft #1 Review: Horror Without the Homework

Fam, I had one rule walking into Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft #1: I ain’t studying for this shit. I’m not cracking open campaign books, researching thirty years of Ravenloft history, memorizing Darklords, Domains of Dread, bloodlines, cursed castles or whatever other madness is hiding in the D&D vault. Nah. I grabbed the comic, looked at that creepy-ass cover and asked the only question that mattered: Can somebody who doesn’t know jack about Ravenloft pick this up and have a good time? Amy Chu said, “I got you.” Because instead of burying us underneath a mountain of D&D homework, she gives us a straight-up gothic monster mystery with enough nasty shit lurking in the shadows to make you wanna keep turning pages.

Our way into this frozen nightmare is monster hunter Ez D’Avenir, and she wastes very little time getting busy. Ravenloft is going sideways, Ez is hunting an undead creature through the frozen hellscape of Lamordia, and Darklord Viktra Mordenheim is somewhere in the mix with her own agenda. Do I know the entire history of everybody involved? Hell no. Did I need to? Hell no! I know Ez is hunting something that probably should’ve stayed dead, this entire damn place feels like God abandoned it sometime around Tuesday, and there’s somebody else moving pieces around the board. Boom. I’m in. Tell me the rest while we’re moving.

THAT is where Chu gets me. She doesn’t stop the damn comic every five minutes so Professor Dungeons can explain Ravenloft lore to the class. Lamordia. Mordenheim. Domains of Dread. Yeah, I know these names mean a whole lot more to the hardcore D&D heads reading this, and I’m sure some of y’all are catching references flying right over my Puerto Rican dome. That’s cool! Catch ’em! Enjoy that extra seasoning. Meanwhile, the rest of us can still follow the damn story without Wikipedia sitting open on the phone. Licensed comics screw this up all the time because they’re so busy winking at the people already inside the clubhouse that they forget somebody new might be standing at the door. Ravenloft #1 actually opens that door.

Then Ariela Kristantina comes through and makes this miserable frozen bastard of a world look GOOD. Not pretty. I said good. There’s a difference. The cold looks like it hurts. The buildings feel like they’ve witnessed some shit and decided they’re taking those secrets to the grave. The monsters look like science, death, black magic and somebody’s worst decisions all got drunk together and woke up sharing the same body. That’s the vibe I want from Ravenloft. Give me some nasty gothic horror. Give me shadows where I don’t trust what’s standing inside them. Give me creatures that make me wonder what kind of sicko designed this thing and then make me compliment the sicko.

Kristantina also keeps Ez from disappearing underneath all that atmosphere, and fam, that matters more than people realize. Gothic horror can turn into a whole lotta fog, dramatic buildings and “oooooh, spooky” real damn quick. Here, I always know where Ez is, what she’s doing and what the danger is around her. The environments have personality without eating the characters alive, and when the creepy shit arrives, it actually feels like it belongs there instead of somebody dropping Monster Design #7 onto the page because the script said, “Insert scary thing here.”

Now, am I completely sold on everything? Nah. This is issue one of four and you can feel the book setting the table for bigger insanity coming down the road. Some of the danger right now is basically Ravenloft saying, “Oh, you just wait, motherfucker,” and I’m waiting. I also wanted more Ez. Not just badass monster-hunter Ez, because she already handles that part, but Ez the person. Who is she when she isn’t tracking undead freaks through frozen nightmare country? What scares her? What pisses her off? What makes this particular hunt matter beyond getting the job done? Give me some more of that meat because if you want me sweating when this woman eventually gets trapped in some horrifying situation, make me care about the woman before you unleash the horrifying situation.

Here’s what matters when I close Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft #1: I wanna read issue two. That’s the job, fam. Amy Chu didn’t make me earn a damn Ravenloft degree before I could enjoy her story, and Ariela Kristantina gave me a world creepy enough that now I actually WANT to know more about all this madness. Hardcore D&D fans are obviously going to walk in carrying more knowledge and catch things newcomers won’t, but the comic doesn’t treat the rest of us like tourists who wandered into the wrong neighborhood.

So can you read Ravenloft #1 without knowing all the lore? Hell yeah. Come in cold. Come in because the cover looks sick. Come in because you dig monster hunters, gothic horror and creepy-ass frozen wastelands where absolutely nobody should be buying real estate. Chu and Kristantina give you enough information to survive without dumping an encyclopedia on your head, and by the end, Ravenloft starts doing the smartest thing any licensed comic can do: instead of demanding that I already love this world, it gives me a reason to come back and learn more about it.

Crusaders Score:
4/5

Writer: Amy Chu.
Artist: Ariela Kristantina.
Colorist: Roman Stevens.
Letterer: Haley Rose-Lyon.
Main cover: Guillem March.
Publisher: Dark Horse Comics.