Review by C.J. Bunce
The Forgotten Realms have never been more fun. Writer Jim Zub has partnered with artists Max Dunbar & John-Paul Bove, Nelson Daniel, Thiago Ribeiro, Milen Parvanov, and Glauber Matos in a huge compilation book, Dungeons & Dragons: Days of Endless Adventure. IDW Publishing and Wizards of the Coast have brought forward the best from the D&D game books and card games, and combined good fantasy storytelling with classic artwork like you’d find in both D&D manuals or J.R.R. Tolkien’s magical worlds, with humor similar to Mike Wieringo’s Tellos. Best yet, it features the Dungeon Mayhem’s Minsc and his trusty partner hamster Boo, meaning lots of bravery (and laughs) await you.
Clocking in at 376 pages–huge for a graphic novel–readers will find three big adventures captured in individual issues previously: Legends of Baldur’s Gate, Shadows of the Vampire, and Frost Giant’s Fury. It’s available in paperback–the only negative–as the great cover by the artist Hydro74 would be a nice match to the series of covers he’s done for the D&D 5th Edition manuals. But even more classic fantasy imagery can be found inside as beautiful variant covers by Sarah Stone, Raymond Swanland, Tyler Jacobson, Tess Fowler, and others mark your path for each chapter.
The interlocking stories offer up a fantasy realm version of the Guardians of the Galaxy, a motley band of adventurers, less graceful than the Fellowship of the Ring, but every bit as swashbuckling. Along with warrior Minsc and miniature giant space hamster Boo are half-elf/thief/poet Krydle, cleric Nerys Kathon, halfling rogue Shandie Freefoot, and Delina, the young moon elf wild magesorcerer who takes center stage more than a few times. Another familiar character to D&D players is Count Strahd, and he and monsters aplenty appear in the second story. And readers will encounter something you don’t always see in D&D… actual dragons (one hot, one cold–as explained in the third story).
Courtesy of IDW Publishing, here is a preview of Dungeons & Dragons: Days of Endless Adventure:
Readers will find character sheets for the main protagonists, plus some concept artwork, along with more than 60 covers included.
Great fantasy storytelling in fine artwork worthy of the D&D characters, Dungeons & Dragons: Days of Endless Adventure is available now. Order it from Elite Comics, your comic book shop, or here at Amazon.
