Blizzard Entertainment
136 page
Full colour
US Comic size
Hardback
RRP: £12.99 but copies can be found online or at W H Smith for under £11.00
ISBN: 9781789096460
The World of Warcraft: Comic Collection brings together eleven digital World of Warcraft comic books for the first time ever in print!
Featuring all-new stories from the eras of Warlords of Draenor, Legion and Battle for Azeroth, go deeper into the lore of World of Warcraft with fan favorites such as Jaina Proudmoore, Magni Bronzebeard, Gul’dan and many more!
Includes never seen concept art and sketches from Alex Horley, Nesskain and more acclaimed artists!
If you are asking "World of What?" -World of Warcraft (WOW) is a "masively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game -an MMORPG that was released by Blizzard Entertainment in 2004. Happy?
First thing to say is that the actual cover is not as bright as this one. I actually thought that it was an alternative cover!
The stories are all pretty good and I don't think any World of Warcraft players will have many complaints (I write that knowing about a gazillion players will complain).
Stories in this collection are:-
Warlords of Draenor -Gul'dan and the Stranger
-Blackhand
-Blood and Thunder
Legion -Magni: Fault Lines
-Nightborne: Twilight of Suramar
-Highmountain: A Mountain Divided
-Anduin: Son of the Wolf
Battle for Azeroth -Jaina: Reunion
-Magni: The Speaker
-Windrunner: Three Sisters
-Mechagon
And the obligatory Sketch-book. Notice how I correctly used an hyphen there? Not a big fan of digital art but what I like I like and there it is. Alex Horley's art is enjoyable enough and miserable old son that I am I'll write that I liked it.
Ludo Lullabi's work on Legion -Magni: Fault Lines and Nightborne: Twilight of Suramar I had flipped through earlier and was very "mmm...meh?" But, when I sat down to read it the art and colours grabbed me in the first two pages. If you can do that then you are doing okay.
I was so-so on avid Kegg's work on A Mountain Divided but it told the tory well enough so I'll just say I was "tepid" -and on such a short strip it is hard to decide on an artist.
When it came to Jaina Reunion and the art by Linda Cavallini and Emanuele Tenderini I had to go through it a couple times. It has that Manga look and feel and that is very popular. The story was okay and the art takes it along. So nothing wrong with it at all.
Suqling on Magni The Speaker has a style that I can either love or hate depending on the story. It worked with this story so not getting a "yeuch" from me these days is a victory.
Windrunner Three Sisters had me hooked from page one just because of the art by Antonio Bifulco and the colours (oh, the colours) by Sebastian Cheng. A treat for the eyes and a good read.
Mechagon with art by Miki Montllo there is nothing wrong with but I just could not get into. Colours are nice and the story is okay but the style of art. I will always point out that for everything I am unsure of or do not like there are a few hundred people who will love it. This story and art does not detract from the book but it's not my cup of coffee.
That said, Mechagon is far better than the obligatory sketch-book and the reason for that is that while Mechagon is well put together and readable the sketch-book is not. As in many of these things the images are far too small. A sketch-book should allow you to study the pencils or inks of an artist whether comic art or character illustrations. You cannot do that hear. This is less a sketch-book and more a stamp album.
You really do not get to learn much about the art because of the limitation of presenting two pencilled pages and two pages of full art (which are full sized in the book itself) on one page. Some 24 pages wasted. This just looks like someone said to the office junior: "Cut and paste and make a 24 page give-away"
If you think about buying this collection I would recommend it but I'd say ignore the sketch-book!
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