FAMILYFANS Books & Comics

WARCRAFT: The Sunwell Trilogy Vol. 1 - Dragon Hunt

by

Richard Knaak, Jae-Hwan Kim

(Tokyopop)

Reader Appeal: Teens to Adults

Genre: Fantasy Manga / Anime

If you haven’t heard of World of Warcraft yet, then you’re one of the latecomers to this enormously popular and powerful franchise. This massively popular, multiplayer, online role-playing game now has over 9 million paying subscribers worldwide.

It may not be the most technically advanced game out there, but what it does have going for it is a rich and fascinating fantasy world with a powerful storyline and incredible art style. That has been enough to take the World of Warcraft out of your computer and into the broader world of media, including books, movies, card games, and comic books.

No surprise, then, that there’s a new line of Warcraft comics on the way from DC. But if you can’t wait, Richard Knaak, who has written several novels in the Warcraft universe already, has lent his pen to a series of Japanese-style manga graphic novels.

If you’re not familiar with the Warcraft universe, there’s no easy way to catch you up. Luckily, the book includes a handy prologue that fills you in on the key events relevant to this particular story. We’re talking about nine pages of heavy reading, but the gist of it is that the Sunwell, the magical fountain which gave power and immortality to the High Elves, has vanished, apparently destroyed in an attempt by the undead hordes of the Lich King to capture it. A young blue dragon named Kalec, though, has detected the emanations of the Sunwell’s powers somewhere in the wilderness. Unfortunately, an evil elf and his hired goons are also looking, and are determined to kill or capture him. Meanwhile, as you might expect, evil forces lurk in the background.

I’ve been a big Warcraft fan since the franchise launched back in 1994, so the idea of a graphic novel written by a seasoned Warcraft novelist was pretty exciting to me. And to some degree, I got what I wanted: the epic storyline, the familiar settings, the rich backstory, the diverse characters. What I didn’t get, though, was a well-written story. The cool factor of all the Warcraft elements is there, but Knaak just forgot to do anything really worthwhile with them. Maybe the comic format didn’t provide enough space for someone who traditionally writes novels to get his story across, I don’t know. The plot was hasty and predictable, the characters were shallow, and the dialogue was flat and cliché.

The art style, too, suffered from problems. The book is printed fairly small, and the panels are so packed with complexities that I felt like I had to bend over and squint to see them properly. As for the manga style, it worked fairly well, though it seemed odd now and then. Some minor character designs in particular were pretty unfortunate and out of tune with the Warcraft world. All in all, though, the art was one of the better parts of the book.

There’s not too much in a broader sense to either recommend or discredit this book, either. There are some vague overtures about giving help to strangers and being kind to those less important than yourself, but they’re so shallow and cliché as to be almost meaningless. There’s a bit of violence too, but it’s of the high fantasy kind and loses much of its impact to the terrible sound effects. Some parents might be bothered by it, though, or by the sensuous (if unrealistic) females typical of manga art styles.

In the end, I can’t recommend this book on the basis of its plot, considering the terrible dialogue and flat characters. On the other hand, if you could find a larger printed edition, you might get something out of the art, if you’re a Warcraft aficionado. If you’re not, though, I would just steer clear of this one.

FAMILYFANS RATING: D+

AFTER THE STORY (optional)

If your family members are interested in this book, then encourage discussion about it afterward. You can use these questions to get started:

• Why does Harkyn have a grudge against Kalec and his kind? Is this fair?

• Dar’khan became resentful because he didn’t feel that he was being rewarded or recognized for what he had done. When have you ever felt like this? What is the appropriate response in that situation?

• What made Harkyn so easy for Dar’khan to manipulate? Do you think this is true in real life?

--MV

Note: All book or comics-related graphics in this column are standard publicity/promotional shots and are owned by their respective publisher.