Advance Review: ‘Dungeons & Dragons’ #1 — Possibly The Absolute Perfect ‘D&D’ Comic

Welcome to the table,

I have been playing Dungeons & Dragons all my life. It’s my favorite hobby. It’s the thing that I get most excited about. It’s the landscape where I create as a game designer, hang out with my friends as a Storyteller, and escape into the legacy stories along the Sword Coast, Ravenloft, or in some dark corner of the City of Dis.

I have a home library containing thousands of TTRPG books. I have more miniatures than most small retail shops. I love D&D … I can tell you, as someone who is the target audience of this comic and as someone who works as a professional journalist and game designer in the TTRPG space, that Dungeons & Dragons from Dark Horse Comics is one of the most authentic, lore-filled, entertaining D&D books I’ve ever read.

Yes … ever. Yes … it’s that good. Yes … I’m being so serious right now.

-Spoilers Follow-

Every page of this book feels like a spoiler without being some kind of trope or pop-culture grab at attention. Everything feels harmonious and researched. There is so much lore in these pages, and super solid storytelling that I have read this comic at least 20 times and am still really, really excited every time I turn the page.

I reached out to my friends over at Dark Horse to ask what I could even talk about because so much happens in this book that everything feels like a spoiler when you know what you are looking at.

So with that, I’m going to talk about what I’m allowed to talk about, and then we can circle back once the book is out for a little bit and I can give you more thoughts on things. I have thoughts on every page, and not a single one is bad.

Let’s get into it!

The book is written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, with art from Ibraim Roberson and Arabson Oliveira, colors from Daniel Brown, and letters from Haley Rose-Lyon.

When you open the cover, you are treated to the stats for an Aspect of Bahamut. I actually said out loud in my quiet home library, “Oh no way!” when I saw the stats.

They are solidly built for a CR 30 creature with a solid Platinum Brilliance trait, some good base actions, and Mythic and Legendary actions that make sense for what the creature is.

We are not even to the story yet, and I was already really pleased to see stats you could drop at the table that will function and have some real thought put into them.

The story picks up where the Free Comic Book Day story leaves off. One of the most powerful wizards in the multiverse, Mordenkainen, is blasted by an aspect of the Lawful Dragon God, Bahamut. Having his magic burned from his bones, this leaves him as a mortal man to venture through the world without his extensive arcane skills.

Now, Mordenkainen without magic is a wild concept. The reason being that Bahamut believes, in all his godly wisdom, that Mordenkainen is going to cause some kind of end-time event if he is not stripped of his magic. Even without his spells, Mordenkainen is a resourceful and experienced adventurer. More importantly, he is very well connected, and because of that, he reaches out to the one and only Volo.

Yes! We are on page six; Mordenkainen has his magic blasted away by the god of good dragons, and now we have Volothamp Geddarm showing up and being so perfectly Volo that I grinned like an absolute goofball upon turning the page.

I love Volo. He’s one of those characters that everyone of importance has somehow met. Most of them barely tolerate him. He’s brash, cocky, low-key kinda stupid, but the man has survived some of the most calamitous nonsense while creating guides and irritating heroes throughout the realm. In D&D lore, Volo is “that guy.”

So now we have Mordenkainen and Volo in a party. Mordenkainen, without magic, is worrying to all but the most powerful foes. Mordekainen with all his knowledge and skill, and the walking plot armor that is Volo as a team is already unstoppable. You don’t stop these two. It’s not that you can’t.

Anyone can roll 1s.

It’s that they are so good at doing what they do that even without magic you have one of the wisest, most intelligent people in the multiverse and the textbook example of God’s favorite idiot forming a party at a tavern. I mean, “If this party gets any more members…” I said to myself, “… they are going to be some C-listers or new characters that will help serve as the reader’s POV or something.”

I was so wrong.

I’m so glad I was wrong, but I was so, so wrong.

In the next few pages, Volo irritates someone by just being himself, Mordenkainen dispatches them quickly, and then, on page 10, (I can’t stress enough, I did not see this coming) something happens that had me exclaiming with profanity.

Natasha the Dark!

Tasha!

The Freaking Witch-Queen of Perrenland, Iggwilv, shows up!

I can’t stress this enough … this party is godlike even with Mordenkainen not having his spells. Now we have Iggwilv and Volo just … ready to roll on whatever Mordenkainen is about to wander into because “yeah, let’s go have an adventure.”

For those not versed in D&D, and my editor Brendan, who likes when I do this kind of thing, this is a team that could beat the trinity from the Justice League, the X-Men, and the Avengers after a short rest.

It’s the god of witches, a mage who could maybe only be bested by Elminster himself, and Volo, a writer who somehow survives all sorts of nonsense without losing his blind faith in himself.

At this point in the comic, I could not even fathom that they would add anyone else to the party.

They did.

I can’t tell you who.

It’s bonkers.

When they showed up, I reacted the way I have seen people whose favorite sports team scores the winning goal react. I’m not a sports person…I’m a D&D person.

I love D&D!

What happens next in this issue I can’t tell you about yet. Not yet. So I just need you to trust me when I say this.

I love this comic!

We also get some rad lore on Bahamut at the end, after the comic draws to a close for this issue, and that is also really cool.

This team cooked. The book is so solid. I can’t even begin to guess what happens next, and legit I’m the guy who knows all this stuff.

We already have really cool stories from Dark Horse set in the D&D landscape, like The Fall Backs and Total Party Killers. These stories are a ton of fun and super charming, but they don’t showcase the big names, and I was so fine with that. I did not know I wanted this kind of story, but now that I have it, I want 100 issues or more.

Until next time, I feel like they made a comic specifically for me. I don’t know how to put it into words, but I’m going to try. When you love D&D as much as I do, champion its creators and community, and make it the cornerstone of your professional and personal life, you don’t expect a comic to leave you this excited.

Yet here I am, double-dutch-delighted (yep, that’s a new one for the site!) by the absolute epic-ness of this story so far. I will circle back when I can talk about it all with you, but trust and believe … this one is worth your time.

Dungeons & Dragons #1 will be available at your local comic shop on November 4th.