I'm not one for sword-and-sorcery, ancient quest adventure type of stories. I felt Dungeons & Dragons back in junior high, and the genre hasn't appealed to me since. Needless to say, my slight disinterest in this Forgotten Realms comic book was not the fault of the creators but simply attributable to my own personal preferences. Nevertheless, I have to give a tip of the hat to the writers of this warrior adventure. It's clear that this is based on established continuity from books or other media, but I had no problem delving into this world and the circumstances of the hero's efforts to find a new home and a new way of life. The art is clean and clear, just as accessible as the script.
A race of dark elves known as the Drow is known for its fierce warriors, battle prowess and cruelty beyond imagination, but a young warrior named Drizzt decides that a life as a despot and chaos is not for him. Leaving the life he'd known below the surface of the earth behind, he ventures out into the sun. He adapts to his new environment, just as he hopes to adapt to a new social structure, should he find one. Humans fear him, but his efforts to befriend them are thwarted by prejudice, monsters and a plot to frame him for murder.
I think the most important component of the art is Seeley's portrayal of Drizzt's youth. We're told he's 40 or so, but he's still young for someone from his race. This is a story, after all, about youthful idealism, and the hero's portrayal by the artists conveys his youth and a reflective quality as well. The art is a little inconsistent here and there but it never gets confusing. The Gnolls are deliciously fierce and menacing in their design, though their masters look a little too much like them during a transformation scene. The colors are vibrant and certainly bring out the magic in this fantasy world. The depiction of the protagonist's skin color is not always consistent, though; I see that the colorist is trying to mimic how different sources of light shine against his skin, but the effort falls short.
The plot's greatest liability is that several key developments are painfully predictable and some of the characters he encounters are rather cliched. Perhaps the writers are trying to make the story too accessible, bringing the plotting down to a simpler level.
What makes the story work is that it's easy to relate to this character who wants to experience something other than a one-track way of life back home. It's a twist on the country-boy-visits-the-big-city story, just in reverse. The character's pacifism and curiosity make him instantly likeable, but despite seeing that softer side, we also see that he knows not to abandon all he's learned. 6/10
Note: This comic book was not among this week's new releases.
