Review — ‘Stranger Things And Dungeons & Dragons: The Rise Of Hellfire’ #1

Welcome to the table,

The first season of Stranger Things rocked my world with its nostalgia bomb of Dungeons & Dragons references, strange otherworldly terrors, and kids on bikes. I lost some steam with it as the second and third seasons came along, but Season 4 pulled me back in with the introduction of Eddie Munson (Joseph Quinn).

I know, he is a “fan favorite,” and there is some weird wire in my brain that says “You need to dislike this character because we can’t follow the herd” or some such nonsense, but I’m a fan. I’ve come to terms with that. A lot of it has to do with the fact that I was that guy growing up and there is something weirdly charming about recognizing parts of yourself in a character on a mainstream show, warts and all.

I was coming from an environment that did not allow for much self-expression, so I was not nearly as brash, but I sure as heck sat behind the screen and ran the games for my collection of wonderfully weird friends. When I found out Dark Horse Comics was bringing us Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons: The Rise of Hellfire, a prequel comic series to Stranger Things Season 4 featuring Eddie and his table, I was stoked. Now that I have the book in hand, I am not disappointed with what they have cooked up.

Jody Houser and Eric Campbell script this fun little adventure, with Diego Galindo doing the lines and Diana Sousa laying down solid color work. The story kicks off in Hawkins, Indiana in 1985. It introduces us to Eddie’s table of misfits who honestly look like they have been pulled from the nostalgic catalog of my youth. I was not even born when the story beats start to roll out, but I swear there is something so deeply rooted in my soul about this time in our cultural history.

The story finds Eddie on his third go-round trying to graduate, a fear that was always deeply rooted in me by anxiety dreams. I mean, I graduated with a high GPA, and I still panic even now in the middle of the night that I need to go back to high school for one missed thing or another. Eddie is trying his best to graduate and also struggling with how he is going to end his Dungeons & Dragons campaign but the pressure of it is weighing on him.

The book does a cool time skip back and forth between 1985 and 1978 showing a younger Eddie with shorter hair and much less self confidence being introduced to a group of like-minded nerds. These kids feel like they were torn from memory and dropped on the page. They’re kids with haircuts that look like Robert Smith‘s, kids in hoodies and AC/DC t-shirts, kids in battle jackets covered in pens, kids with backwards baseball caps, big belt buckles and baggy jeans, and kids in glasses with high top fades and purple plaid shirts. I swear the outfits on these characters were just my closet as a kid … hell … they are my closet now.

The timeline hopping all focuses on Eddie at this pivotal time in his life. We get to see his first “crit” — something that caused me to pause because that moment in the story happens in 1978.

I was not wandering the prime-material plane yet, but it feels like it was too early in the hobby for a crit to be a natural 20. I could be wrong. House rules could totally be something these people are playing with. What do know is, as far as I am aware, the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Monster Manual dropped in 1977, with the Players Handbook hitting in 1978, and the Dungeon Masters Guide hit in 1979. There is a Dragon Magazine article in issue #39 that was published in 1980 about critical hits and misses, as well, but it speaks to the optional rules that came from the Dungeon Masters Guide.

I could just pulling at a string that is not loose in the first place, but something about it took me out of the story. I am not 100% sure that crits, at least by the book crits, were a thing at the table “officially” back in 1978. Silly little thing to hyper fixate on for more than 10min but … here we are, I guess. Nevertheless it is a moment baked into the story that grounds us with Eddie at the table feeling really rad about rolling a 20 on a D20.

The story jumps us back to 1985 and introduces Lucas, Dustin, and Mike getting hassled by a teacher for playing the “Satan Game.”

This interaction pulled me back into it as I remember these kinds of conversations happening often. Eddie shows up, says some words to the teacher convincing them that it’s a math game and the teacher wanders off. We then get a really cool moment where Eddie asks the Stranger Things core kids about their game and the first issue draws to a close.

The nostalgia is wonderful and the conversational ease of the dialog helps the story move along at an even pace. There are moments the art feels a little to photo referenced. With it being based on such a well known IP, I totally get the work has to adhere to all sorts of extra eyes and approvals so that makes total sense and should not put you off of reading it. The color work on this book is spectacular and does a great job of keeping it really locked into the time period. All in all, this is a sold read and if you are a fan of D&D, the 1980s, or Stranger Things you will dig this book.

Until next time, this is not a bad book. It’s much like the show, an easy trip through some really fun nostalgic territory. Hopefully the setup goes to some cool places. I will for sure be back for issue #2.