By Laramie Martinez

It’s timely that Dungeons and Dragons: Frost Giant’s Fury comes out this week as I am just beginning a new campaign with a new party. I’ve been stealing ideas from Jim Zub’s comics for years now and I look forward to another series that I can mine fantasy shenanigans to use on my players. After reading the first issue, I expect this series to be no different from his previous comics. It’s got humor, drama, and, of course, monsters.

Our party members start off in a different position than they have at the start of previous adventures. They’re cold, wounded, and starving out in the wilderness of the mountain region known as the wall. Zub is already laying the groundwork for some interesting drama later in the arc. Most notably with the character Misc who after suffering a narrow defeat at the hands of his last enemy has become the polar opposite of his usual bold optimistic self. I like seeing a little bit of character depth thrown into a genre where plot is often the main focus. It isn’t overpowering, this comic isn’t going to make the transition to a character driven story anytime soon, but it is balanced approach to good storytelling.

The art in this issue is done by Netho Diaz and is a bit of a change from the last series. He goes for a more realistic approach to the characters, something that feels closer to a swords and sandals epic than the brooding atmospheric style we saw in the last series. Sometimes this realistic character design becomes a too busy for me and I get distracted from the larger picture. There is also a fair deal of “posing” in this issue, usually when the characters are just sitting or standing around. In these instances, the characters appear as though they have been modeled after photographs rather than real life. Of course, all that being said, there are a lot of things I liked as well. The fight scenes are done well and he nails the humorous slapstick aspect of this comic. Some of his best faces are the ones drawn with a funny or ridiculous expression.

A good start for what I hope to be another great series. A few fumbles by a new artist getting their feet wet in a new series, but, as I’ve said with many a comic before this, it isn’t enough to ruin the whole issue for me. Good writing and solid art make for a fun read for any fantasy fan.

Score: 4/5

Dungeons and Dragons: Frost Giant's Fury #1
Writer: Jim Zub
Artist: Netho Diaz
Colorist: Thiago Ribeiro
Publisher: IDW Publishing