by Ralph Griffith (Writer), & Guy Davis (Illustrator)
Publisher: Caliber Comics (Feb. 14th, 2017).
Softcover, 156 pages each.
The
reason I'm combing four volumes together into one entry is that they are part
of one long continuous story. And as The
Realm is an obscure title from an effectively defunct publisher, the
chances of anyone being interested in two entries is rather slim.
The Realm
was one of two series taken from Arrow Press (the other being DeadWorld- the original zombie
apocalypse comic). Similar in format to the Dungeons
& Dragons cartoon, it follows the exploits of four humans from our
world who are sucked into a fantasy world of magic and mayhem.
This
world is heavily influenced by Dungeons
& Dragons with all sorts of familiar monster races - orcs and goblins-
and friendly orcs- dwarves and elves. What sets it apart is that obviously the
writers had a plan as they wrote this. The
Realm is a twenty issue long epic, with a sister comic Legendlore that lasted just as long. There is a long standing Arc
and several nearly overpowering enemies to deal with. Or sidestep, as the
group's main goal is to get back to Earth.
The
criticism is that the comic is in black and white. If you don't like
non-colored books that's fine. The art (done by a young Guy Davis who went on
to do Baker Street, The Marquis, and BPRD) is somewhat rough, but has a lot
of promise. The artist is just coming into his own. There is a, sometimes
pointless, action scene tossed into every issue-but hey that's just like the
game, right?
But
overall the story is above average and a fun, inexpensive romp.
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