Dark Horse continues its partnership with Wizards of the Coast with the launch of Dungeons & Dragons, a new ongoing series written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly, with art by Ibraim Roberson, Arabson Oliveira and Dan Brown, and letters by Haley-Rose Lyon.
Dark Horse has published miniseries based on the popular roleplaying game since they picked up the license, including Dungeons & Dragons: Total Party Killers, which debuted this past Wednesday (the first issue was great, if you haven’t read it yet). But this will be the first ongoing comic series based on D&D since the early days of IDW’s comics.
“This book is the very definition of a passion project for us,” said Kelly. “We’ve been roleplaying together for as long as we’ve been a writing team, which is only slightly less than we’ve been friends. Playing D&D is how we started to fuse our individual storytelling instincts into the incredible blade of our partnership; if a table wants to tell imaginative, emotional stories, then it needs to work off of a core of collaboration, creativity and trust. It’s one of the reasons that we think D&D is one of the greatest games ever made. Yes, the mechanics and game design are tip-top – yes, its magic system is incredible and we will be using it to its ABSOLUTE FULLEST – but MOST IMPORTANTLY…D&D is a game that can never be ‘won,’ but which can make you a better person through playing. Of course, player catharsis only comes from character pain…and sadly for our characters, we’re about to end the world.”
This new series will be set in the popular locale of the Forgotten Realms and will feature the longtime D&D wizard Mordenkainen — who was one of D&D creator Gary Gygax’s player characters before he was integrated into the lore behind the game. If you’ve ever played a magic user, you know his name has been associated with various spells in the game. The comic will have the wizard, now stripped of his powers, facing a draconic apocalypse that requires him to call for help from many fan-favorite adventurers from the game. Volo and Tasha are mentioned, and could we hope for an appearance by Drizzt? Or some of the Baldur’s Gate crew? One can always hope …
“Dungeons & Dragons is a distillation of everything we love about story – a collision of arcane prophesy, ever-growing characters and wild spectacle, wrapped in a mystery that reaches to the very beginnings of D&D itself,” said Lanzing. “Ibraim, Esad and our entire artistic team are laboring to push this story as hard as we possibly can – this is the new ongoing, flagship D&D story and every issue, we’re going to fulfill that promise. This is the fantasy comic we’ve been desperate to bring into the world – not another deconstruction, but a timeless tale made with everything modern comics has to offer. Whether you’re new to the Forgotten Realms or a level 20 paladin looking for the next ground shaking fantasy epic, Dungeons & Dragons is for you.”
Each issue will carry exclusive backmatter — essays from RPG personalities or D&D campaign assets not available anywhere else. Issue #1’s backmatter essay comes from Erika Ishii, the voice actor and Dimension 20 live-play talent.
The first issue will have covers by Esad Ribić, D&D 5e key artist Tyler Jacobson, Antonio José Manzanedo, Karen Darboe, Mateus Manhanini and Eric Canete.
Dungeons & Dragons #1 debuts Nov. 4.
Update: Oh, hey, did someone mention Baldur’s Gate? Yeah, that was me. Dark Horse released this teaser today as well: