Wednesday, July 21, 2010

DC Comics' Advanced Dungeons and Dragons 1988-1990

A couple weeks ago I’d made an impulsive purchase on eBay of DC’s Advanced Dungeons and Dragons comics (before Zak's post, fwiw). As the days went by, my buyer’s remorse grew.

The problem was, I’d been reading the first volume of Darkhorse’s reprint version of (Marvel’s) The Savage Sword of Conan, and loving it. This was probably the inspiration… eBay is really a dangerous place to be lurking late at night after a few too many drinks - I bought the whole thirty six issue run along with annuals.

I’d never read or even noticed them back in the day, basically only collecting oddities like The Flaming Carrot and other weird indy comics during the late eighties and early nineties. So I wasn’t eager to open the package when it arrived. I knew that the art wasn’t going to be anything like the Buscema/Starlin/Windsor-Smith work in the SSoC. I still hoped that it might be mildly entertaining and suitable for the bathroom though.

Well, that’s where they’re going. On page twelve I learned that one of the main characters is a centaur. It’s not just that though, it’s the whole “we’re superheroes in a fantasy setting” thing that irks me. I’d have much preferred to follow some low level fools (some of whom will die) as they work their way up to owning their own fortresses. I suppose that’s where the game went overall in the years to follow though - towards epic stories that could be retold and sold in lines of fiction that earned the company more than the actual games that inspired them.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Now Holmes mentions a centaur PC, so I can stomach that, but yes, the superhero thing is a bit over the top. I don't regret buying them, but they are pretty cheesy.

Jeffrey Runokivi said...

Back in the Olden days, one of the ancient Grognards had a character that was reincarnated as a centaur...the stats are in the Rouge's Gallery. (along with the character who was reincarnated into a lizard man.)

Anonymous said...

Actually, there are some "superhero" fantasy comic books that I like - Battlechasers, and all of Crossgen's fantasy titles, Scion, The First, Sojourn, The Path, even The First (which I expected to hate but tried nevertheless).
But I didn't like DC's AD&D offerings, any of them (Dragonlance, Spelljammer).

There was one Forgotten Realms comic book that was done by an Italian publisher, 21st Century Games: The Forbidden Sands of Anauroch. Only two issues appeared in English, slim hardcover booklets. That one I liked, even if it was done in an very unusual anime style!

ze bulette said...

@Ancient & Mr. R - Sure sure, but of course there's a centaur character, you know? And of course he has a double sword. :|

Anonymous said...

:D
Cheesy and all, it could be worse.
Say there was this dark elf, and he was a ranger and....

Brutorz Bill said...

I had some of those back in the day. Traded them in many years ago. Didn't the centaur have a kinda weird double sword weapon?

Post a Comment