Into the Longbox: Dungeons & Dragons by Jim Zub
I don't remember exactly how I stumbled onto Humble Bundle; it probably came up in one of the forums or newsgroups I read. However it happened, I arrived just in time to purchase their Dungeons & Dragons digital comic book bundle. The bundle included the complete runs of the Advanced Dungeons &Dragons and Forgotten Realms books that DC Comics published in the 80s and 90s. It hadn't really been on my radar at the time; I was mostly into superhero books. At the moment, though, I was craving good fantasy adventure and wanted something to go along with our current D&D campaign. Good value, good cause, great buy.
Better than I knew; the bundle also
included the more recent books published by IDW. When I flipped open
the first pages of Legends of Baldur's Gate I discovered
hidden treasure. It was there that I met a desperate elven sorcerer
named Delina, on the run from the minions of the Cult of the Dragon
and unable to wield her wild magic effectively. Her flight leads her
to Baldur's Gate and the statue of Minsc, the Beloved Ranger who
generations before was one of the original heroes of Baldur's Gate.
Delina's wild magic brings him to life and the fight is on!
Minsc's first words struck a chord deep
within me, ringing a note I hadn't realized I'd been desperately
missing. “Stand down, dirty minions of evil, or face my hamster's
wrath!” Here stood a hero.
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| Dungeons & Dragons: Legends of Baldur's Gate (2014) #1 |
I'd pretty much given up on comic books
entirely five or six years before. The current generation of creators
simply wasn't telling stories I wanted to read. My present comics
consumption consisted of a scant handful of web comics that I read
whenever I remembered to catch up. Suddenly I remembered how much I
loved this art form and how much I missed it. I have more than two
decade's worth of back issues in a wide variety of titles, but there
is joy in the discovery of new material entirely separate from the
nostalgia of rereading favorite stories. I now had a new hero.
The more I read, the more familiar he
seemed until a soft light finally dawned. It was as if Ben Edlund had
come to his senses and fled the insanity of Hollywood to return to
his roots. If The Tick wore chainmail and fought evil with a
broadsword, this is what it would look like. The rest of the book
remained rooted in the serious pseudo-realism of dramatic fantasy,
without the trappings of the absurd that made The Tick's entire world
surreal. Minsc, however, perfectly echoed that hero's oblivious
optimism and charisma. He was that one guy at the gaming table, the
one who just shows up to have fun and smite evil while the rest of
the party deals with their intrigues and personal drama. I flipped to
the credits page, fully expecting to see Edlund's name as the
headline.
Jim Zub? Never heard of him. Let's see
… Skullkickers – heard of that but never read it.
Pathfinder comics – saw them in the store but never bothered.
Samurai Jack – how on Earth did I miss a Samurai Jack comic?
Figment – my daughter loves that book. This could be pretty
good, I figured, but I'll save my verdict for the end of the book.
With some temerity, I began to
investigate other comics. I quickly shied away from the Marvel and DC
superheroes when a glance at the shelves revealed the continuing
presence of the same elements that had previously driven me away. I
landed at Titan and picked up a new line of Doctor Who books. I
drifted past DC and noticed they were going to try and reinvigorate
the Hannah-Barbera properties. Archie Comics called to me with the
presence of Mark Waid's name on the cover of a re-imagining of the
Riverdale gang and a trade paperback showcasing Mega Man squaring off
against Sonic the Hedgehog. Once again, I could read and enjoy comic
books.
But I had to finish reading my stock of
Dungeons & Dragons books first. They were all pretty good. Alex
Irvine and Peter Bergting took me to the world of Dark Sun and the
quest of a slave for survival and freedom. Paul Crilley reminded me
that comics told mystery stories as well, on the world of Eberron.
John Rogers and Andrea DiVito introduced me to Fell's Five in the
Forgotten Realms, a party of adventurers drawn directly from my
gaming table but who didn't shy away from the consequences of their
actions or the implications of their powers. And of course no one
does the Forgotten Realms quite like R.A. Salvatore and Drizzt
Do'Urden.
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| Dungeons & Dragons (2010) #5 |
And then only Jim Zub and Legends ofBaldur's Gate remained. While Minsc and Boo tackled the forces of
evil with tireless good cheer and inevitable purpose, the rest of the
party rebelled against their parents, quested to save their family,
or hung around simply because they had nowhere else to go. The stakes
of the story rose to a firey crescendo that swelled and crashed in a
wave of action and tide of ebbing emotion. The pacing kept me turning
pages, torn between astonishment at each panel and a desperate need
to see what happened next. The characters involved me in their
personal motivations and desires without dragging me into a morass of
juvenile emotional obsession or pedantic explanations of the obvious.
The party's adventures continued in the
next volume with Shadows of the Vampire. The corruption of the
realm of Ravenloft touched the heroes, laying bare their weakness and
beating them down against the power of Strahd and his ability to
destroy hope. Through it all, Zub continually threw the actions of
hero and villain into sharp contrast, filling the world with people
who are selfish, desperate, and compassionate. The stories haven't
delved deep into the philosophical discussions of the fantasy realm.
They haven't explored the implications of a world populated by deific
monsters and mortals who can challenge the gods. They haven't
needed to; Zub's stories possess humanity. These are the people we
hope we would be if we found ourselves in their world.
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| Dungeons & Dragons: Legends of Baldur's Gate (2014) #3 |
I met Zub at the 2016 GenCon quite by
chance. He was working a booth (for his publisher, I presume) and I
saw the display of Skullkickers and D&D trades. I
commented to my wife that it would be very cool if I could get a
signed copy of Legend of Baldur's Gate. From the other side of
the display, I heard a voice pipe up, “I can do that.” We spoke
for a bit; he was very gracious and patient with me (no small feat).
He's clearly a fellow comics and fantasy fan blessed enough to be
living his dream job. He convinced me to give Skullkickers a
try, and signed that book for me as well.
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| Jim Zub (left), author (right) |
***
Winston Crutchfield has loved comics
ever since he discovered his older brother's stash of Spider-Man
and What If? books forgotten in a dresser drawer. He blames
his mother for teaching him to read and his grandmother for fooling
nobody by “accidentally” picking up new comics at the drugstore
with her crossword puzzles. He is the publisher and small business
service provider at Critical Press Media, and may be found in the
Christian Geek Central forums as “MindSpike”.
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