I follow Jason Anarchy on Twitter. For those of you who don’t know, Jason created Drinking Quest. Drinking Quest is a game that combines the best things about drinking games and tabletop role-playing games. It’s awesome. Those of you who are of legal age to consume alcohol should give it a try. Please drink responsibly. A few days ago he tweets about his new comic, based on his awesome game and he asked people to review the first issue. I jumped at the chance and I proudly say that I wasn’t one bit disappointed, though I may be a bit biased given my love for high fantasy and independent books. Enjoy! Oh, and go get the comics as soon as you can.
[alert type=red ]Spoilers![/alert]
The comic opens with a God of Drinking musing to himself about his day to day activities. Then we flash forward to a snowy field and two men talk about a magical item called a slave crown and how they want to make a killing; betting on the wearer in an arena fight. The bearer of the slave crown in none other than Chuglox the barbarian himself! Who is Chuglox you say? The next scenes explain that as we flash back six days.
We find Chuglox lazing about under a tree telling a story of last nights dream to his “annoying goblin sidekick”. It seems he has decided the drinking gods have sent him a vision of grand adventure. Chuglox downs his beer and sets off to find adventuring companions in the local town of Tippler’s Hollow. The dynamic and drunken duo set off to The Charming Ogre; a local watering hole to meet their friends and “drown out the wailing” of annoying sidekick.
We’re first introduced to Bartlebut via a full panel belch. Good show ‘ole bean. Bartlebut’s a one-eyed berserker busily drowning his sorrows in a tankard of ale. His companion, Malty, is a dashing rogue with a penchant for using lemons in combat. . .and for getting stabby like any good rogue. Every adventuring party needs sex appeal! So says Chuglox! So say we all! Daquirin, an elven sorceress fulfills this duty willingly. The scene continues with classic tavern hijinks and one liners. The need to unwind with alcohol is omnipresent and the humor, while nonstop, isn’t overdone and I enjoyed these pages immensely and with a good feeling that these people had fought side by side before.
Meanwhile, an evil wizard and his equally annoying sidekick or familiar receive a similar vision that comes as a warning: A mighty hero will rise up and thwart the plans of the Mighty Moorfist. These two confer on how best to preserve their dastardly plan. A dragon wearing a slave crown should do the trick. Is this the same crown Chuglox is seen wearing in the opening panels? Later issues will no doubt reveal the truth.
We find the brave heroes traveling away from Tipplers Hollow in search of grand adventure. After a long day of hiking and drinking, they make camp. Alcohol is consumed, lemons are named, elven maidens are bedded. . . good times had by all. The morning brings great danger and great hangovers. Low level goblins attack the camp, sent by Moorfist to dispatch the protagonists. We get so see the heroes show off their moves in combat as well as get our first casualty. Our poor annoying sidekick falls in battle. No one kills their annoying sidekick! The fight resumes with vigor and an enraged Chuglox wins the day with the help of his comrades. They allow one goblin to flee and warn Mighty Moorfist of his coming demise. So ends issue one.
Drinking Quest certainly doesn’t take itself too seriously and readers shouldn’t take it seriously either. It’s just good fun for the sake of telling a story with a strong sense of over the top barbarian machismo, and its main character is delightfully over the top. Think Conan the Barbarian, three sheets to the wind – with a liberal smattering of unintentional comedian thrown in. The berserker and thief both fulfill support combat roles and are very funny and quirky in their own right. They are, of course, overshadowed by the charisma of larger than life Chuglox, though I don’t see that as a bad thing. They make mighty fine support characters and I enjoy reading them as well. Daquirin serves as a strong, but saucy sorceress who in general is the “straight man”. She gets plenty of zingers and one-liners too, but every comedy needs her role filled. Every adventuring party needs a good spell caster also. This elven maiden fills that role admirably. Moorfist is a classic villain: Evil for the sake of evil. Drinking Quest lends itself to a comic quite well.
The first issue does a great job of introducing main characters and establishing the Drinking Quest Universe. This epic quest seems to be unfolding into an action comedy that will be fun and fast paced from start to finish. I’m excited for the rest of the issues and highly recommend the comic. You don’t need to play the game to enjoy the story, but I highly recommend the game as well.
I’d compare this to a night of drunken Dungeons and Dragons played with good friends and good booze. It’s a wonderfully violent and hilarious romp through a high fantasy world. Three Cheers for Drinking Quest!
For more about Drinking Quest, Jason Anarchy, and the comic book check out: www.drinkingquest.com. For more on each of your gaming, movie, and television, and comics needs, stay with us here at BagoGames.com!