Batman: Arkham City (comics)

Writer: Paul Dini
Artist: Carlos D'Anda
Collects: Batman: Arkham City #1-5, five digital chapters

Comic prequels can be a tricky act to balance. If they show important events, there's a tendency for the game developers to forget storytelling rules and assume you read the comic, making it mandatory instead of supplemental. Ask Halo fans about that one. But this is written by Paul Dini, who is a pretty safe bet as far as comics go.

As expected, Dini delivers a good read, even if an instance or two of the above manages to sneak in.

Being a prequel, the main event exists in service to something else; it's there to set up the events of the game. That's not necessarily a bad thing in this case, as the comic fills in some details the game didn't bother with. When the game starts, Arkham City has already been constructed and the game is rolling immediately. Specifics of how we got to that point aren't what the game focuses on.

As a bridge between the games, this comic holds up well. Many of the elements present in the game are set up here, such as the factions vying for control in Arkham City as well as the armed Tyger task force. It's not necessary material, but it fleshes things out a bit more. The book even bothers explaining a thing or two the game neglected.

Except, that last bit is my one real issue with the book; actually, not just the book, it was one of my few quibbles with the game too. As you may know, Quincy Sharp appears all of once in the game itself, with no mention of his possession by Amadeus Arkham among other things. Odd, considering it was a fairly major subplot of Arkham Asylum. We receive some answers here, but it feels more like clearing the deck; it reveals Sharp has a disorder that leaves him extremely prone to suggestion, making him little more than a cipher. The possession was never on the up and up; worse still, it's not even explained in Arkham City itself.

Granted, that plot point was wrapped up in a side quest, but it seemed to be a clear setup for the sequel; instead, it's a footnote brushed aside in a tie-in.

If I have any other nits to pick, it boils down to my general feeling that structuring this book as a direct prequel might have been a bit detrimental. I think the book would have been better served by fleshing out the Arkhamverse more through adventures in the intervening year between the events of Asylum and City, with the elements leading up to the games opening as a subplot. I think an approach like that would have helped the book stand alone better while still accomplishing the goal of building up to the game.

The short stories - originally digital exclusives - are also included, by the way. They're cute but hardly important, though one does give a better look at the Robin of the Arkhamverse. His jokes are even worse than Burt Wards. That's a sentence I never thought I would type up.

The Score: 7.5 out of 10

A solid tie-in; to be expected, given Paul Dinis involvement. Pick it up if you want a bit more background detail on the game. If that's not a big deal to you, it's safe to skip it.

World of Warcraft: Book One (comics)

Writer: Walt Simonson
Artist: Ludo Lullabi
Collects: World of Warcraft #1-7

I've never played World of Warcraft. I know, it's odd. I must be one of the three guys who haven't. But it's not even just that. I've never really paid attention to Warcraft, period. Of Blizzards franchises, I was always more interested in the others; your Starcrafts and Diablos. So why am I reading a World of Warcraft comic?

Well, the name "Walt Simonson" is a pretty good reason to give anything a fair shot.

The story follows a dark elf, an elf druid and a human they dub Croc-Bait, all three slaves to an orc who trains them to be gladiators. But slavery is not for them - or, well, anyone really - so naturally they decide to flip him the bird and escape. Since it quickly becomes apparent that there's more to Croc-Bait than meets the eye, they decide figuring out who he is and why he's important is as good an idea as any. Thus, it's time for our trio to get into trouble, because what else is going to happen?

Since, as I mentioned, I'm not at all familiar with Warcraft, I suspected it might take a while for me to get what was going on. Surprisingly, it was easy to catch on. The Warcraft universe appears to pull from some pretty standard fantasy tropes, which made it easy to get the gist of the races. The only thing I was particularly in the dark about is the characters. I assume the three are at least semi-important to the WoW universe - who Croc-Bait turns out to be is one of those things that seems to be one of those "this guy is from the game" deals - but how or why eludes me. Doesn't much matter; they're likable for the most part, even if Croc-Bait himself is a bit stiff a character.

As I expected he might, Simonson plays the long game. There's no real "story arc" to be found here; while a given issue might contain some measure of resolution or revelation, there's no real stop to the flow between issues. Issue seven ends with the three sailing onwards towards their next destination, more or less saying "buy the next volume". I like it; you don't always see much of this kind of thing anymore.

Overall, the book is pretty well written. It feels a bit old fashioned - the amount of dialogue and exposition makes it feel a bit more 80's than something from the 2000's - but that seems to fit it just fine. For some reason, that sort of writing goes well with fantasy and Simonson knows how to make it work for the book.

Now, Walt Simonson is a definite legend - his Thor run alone puts him at that level, but I'm also a sucker for Robocop vs Terminator - but he doesn't draw this. Ludo Lullabi - who the inside cover tells me is a French artist - does and manages to keep pace. I'd say his art is almost manga-esque in appearance. Lots of simple lines keep a clean look to the book that's rather appealing to the eye, especially great use of color all over the book. Lullabi's storytelling deserves some praise as well; action beats are easy to follow and flow well from panel to panel.

Speaking as someone who's not really knowledgeable about Warcraft, I was able to enjoy this volume just fine just as a fantasy themed ongoing. I imagine there's a lot here that will carry a lot of weight with actual Warcraft fans, but I was pleased with how readable it is on a basic level. I'm not sure just how much of that is Simonson and how much of it is the accessible nature of this variety of genre setting, but no doubt Simonson played a part.

The Score: 7.5 out of 10

I don't know how much better this might be to a fan, but at the very least it's an enjoyable book from start to finish. Not even for a video game based comic. It's just enjoyable in general. I think it's worth giving a shot and I had a decent enough time once I got my head around the world I was presented with that I'll probably check out volume 2 at some point.