Thirteen WoWs

I had been buying the World of Warcraft comic books for over a year, but I had only read the first two issues. I remember reading issue one, and then, when the second issue came out, I had pretty much forgotten everything about the first one. I read the second one nonetheless, but I was rather confused, so I decided I would wait until I had five or six, and then I would read them all in a row.

Months went by, and then I realized the series was about to end (it was supposed to be a twelve-issue series), so I might as well just wait until I had all twelve of them before reading them. It was after buying #12 that I discovered the series had been so successful that Wildstorm had decided to make it an ongoing series. So I got issue thirteen, and I decided it was about time I read those books, just in case they happened to be horrible and I had been wasting my money. Enter Christmas break, the perfect time to lay on the couch and read.

I am happy (and relieved) to say that World of Warcraft is a tremendously fun and entertaining read. I found myself pouring over the different issues quickly and reading the adventures of Lo’Gosh, Broll, and Valeera with interest and exhilaration. Walter Simonson, the legendary comic book writer, has been doing a great job with the series, and I hope he stays with WoW for a long, long time. Good dialogue, interesting stories, and compelling characters make for solid entertainment, and Simonson delivers the goods. As for the artwork, well… The first seven issues are drawn by Ludo Lullabi, and they look great. He has a somewhat maga-esque style that just looks great. However, issue seven was his last issue, and a Mike Bowden draws issues eight through twelve. And he is not a bad artist, but his artwork isn’t exciting and full of life like Lullabi’s is. He is just competent, but he certainly is better than the guy they got to draw issue thirteen, Jon Buran. Again, he is not bad, just mediocre, and after having seen Lullabi’s depiction of the characters, Mr. Buran falls horribly short.

So, if you’re interested, you can get the Lullabi issues in hardcover. They definitely are the best-looking pages in the series, and they will give you a taste of the work Simonson is doing with the Blizzard property. After that, if you are interested (and I think you will be, if you like fantasy), keep reading, but expect no awesome artwork. Bring Lullabi back!