In the last storyline, Kyri got a turn in the spotlight with “Death and the Dragon’s Eye.” This time, it’s Onyx’s turn as the lead. Once again, the rest of our intrepid adventurers get cameos or nothing in terms of appearances. I think this was a result of the creative team wanting to do some character-building for what they thought was going to be a longer-running title. However, it could also be a bit of meta-commentary on D&D as a game, since almost everyone has experienced a game night where most of the players couldn’t make it and the DM had to cobble together a hasty side quest.

Continue reading “Comics & Quests: Pillar of Gold” →

It’s no secret that I really like Kyriani, especially after her makeover during “The Ostus Legacy.” Once she combined her “good” and “evil” halves, she became confident, charming, and clever. Her flirtatious ways, usually avoided in 1990s fantasy heroines, are something she has no shame over but do not define her character. So I should be very happy that she gets a story arc focused on her, especially since she’s been mostly a side character since “The Ostus Legacy.”

I should be happy…so am I?

Well, let’s dive into “Death and the Dragon’s Eye” to see if Kyri gets the treatment I think she deserves.

Continue reading “Comics & Quests: Death and the Dragon’s Eye” →

Our last, light-hearted tale mentioned that Timoth and Vajra were off on another adventure. In “Scavengers,” we see what they are up to while Onyx is shirking his responsibilities in repairing Selûne’s Smile. Sadly for Timoth and Vajra, it’s not as silly as Onyx’s quest to rid Waterdeep of lawyers.

Continue reading “Comics & Quests: Scavengers” →

Dungeons & Dragons has an inherent amount of silliness to it, derived its roots as a casual hobby filled with puns and friendly banter. You can absolutely do epic quests with it, but the game often works just as well if it tells smaller, sillier stories. This story is one of the latter, as Onyx the Invincible and Khelben Arunsun team up to deal with something that the city of Waterdeep has outlawed for years: lawyers.

Continue reading “Comics & Quests: Lawyers!” →

By 1990, DC Comics had four concurrent Dungeons & Dragons comics running: Dragonlance, Spelljammer, and two Forgotten Realms titles. A TSR Worlds Annual one-shot that year tied all four settings together, while the Forgotten Realms Annual featured a crossover between the two Toril-bound adventuring groups. Meanwhile, the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Annual went for something much smaller, but very fun…

D&D is the original role-playing game, yet the media that ties into it very rarely leans into the “game” aspect of it. That’s natural, since it’s hard to handle that sort of fourth wall breaking without feeling trite. “Players,” the tale told in the 1990 Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Annual, manages to subvert that by simultaneously fleshing out our cast of heroes and presenting them as characters in a game. All it takes is a little magic…

Continue reading “Comics & Quests: Players” →

The heroes of the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons and Forgotten Realms lines were part of the same adventure in “Jammers,” but they never actually crossed paths. The 1990 Forgotten Realms Annual changes that, as the crew of the Realms Master drops anchor in Waterdeep and runs headlong into the adventures who live at Selûne’s Smile.

Continue reading “Comics & Quests: Waterdhavian Nights” →

Our last adventure ended rather abruptly with Jasmine’s kidnapping. The resolution to that story doesn’t happen in the pages of the Forgotten Realms comics, though. Instead, DC tried to introduce a new line of D&D comics, bringing in the brand-new Spelljammer setting.

Released early in 2nd edition AD&D, Spelljammer served as a way to connect other settings. By using a magical form of space travel, characters could leave the Forgotten Realms to journey to Oerth, Krynn, or one of the many other settings that came out as 2nd edition got rolling. For the comic stories, this meant a chance to tie the two existing Forgotten Realms-based lines in with a new cast of characters, creating a grand crossover.

Quite honestly, I’m surprised that Hasbro hasn’t tried to duplicate this effort in the modern day. In an era where every major corporation sees its creative properties as content to iterate upon and where shared universes are all the rage, the many worlds if D&D offer a potential goldmine.

Then again, maybe I shouldn’t give Hasbro any ideas…

Continue reading “Comics & Quests: Jammers” →