Webcomic Review: "Goblins"

Goblins

Tarol Hunt and Danielle Stephens

Imagine a webcomic based on Dungeons and Dragons. Now imagine it was told from the point of view of the monsters in the game. Now imagine that same webcomic is one of the most engaging, addictive, and downright hilarious comics you've ever read.

Goblins is that webcomic.

Drawn and written by Tarol Hunt and colored and edited by Danielle Stephens, Goblins examines the weird, arcane world of Dungeons and Dragons through the eyes of the much-maligned monster races in the game. A band of goblins, their camp destroyed by loot-seeking adventurers, decides to become adventurers themselves. In seeking their home village, they navigate trap-filled dungeons, outwit monster-hating villains, and evade a monomaniacal paladin bent on wiping all monsters from the face of the earth. A parallel plot revolves around the adventurers who destroyed their village, as they come to realize just how human many of the monsters truly are.

Goblins is surprisingly effective. Hunt's sense of pacing and deceptively simple drawing style lend a rhythm to the battle scenes unmatched in many of the comics I've seen, web-based or otherwise. The comic treats its heavy themes with a deft hand - there were several scenes that floored me with their poignancy - balancing these with a sense of humor that pokes fun at the mechanics of D&D gameplay while staying true to its principles. This is also one of the few webcomics with truly likable characters; one character, Kin the Yuan-Ti (half-woman, half-snake), is particularly compelling, mixing spunk and vulnerability with a winning quirkiness.

Some minor kinks persist in the comic. Melodrama abounds here, with a few too many scenes of the "leave-me-and-save-yourselves" variety. Another obstacle to enjoying the comic is the arcane nature of the humor: an early, extended joke involves the technical gameplay loopholes allowing monsters to operate as player classes. The comic's simple style often works against it, leaving some panels difficult to decipher.

Its faults, thankfully, are very small. Goblins offers a strange, goofy, nail-biting, fantastic experience, and is well worth the read. It shows clearly the capabilities of both Dungeons and Dragons and webcomics as a storytelling medium, and I'm impatient for the next installments. Bravo.

Comments

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