#my good friend griffin mcelroy did both at once in the hit podcast the adventure zone

[wehavethoughts]

The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins Review!

The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins Written By: Clint, Griffin, Justin and Travis McElroy Illustrated by: Carey Pietsch Comic book First Second Publisher, 2018 Based on the podcast The Adventure Zone: Balance

Rating: 4.5/5 Waves

This review does NOT contain major spoilers for The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins.

Summary: A D&D based adventure comic starring three unlikely friends: Magnus, a human fighter with a heart of gold, Taako, an elf wizard who can charm the pants off a bugbear, and Merle, a dwarf cleric with just enough blood to go around. When a routine delivery to Haverdale goes sideways our heroes must face gerblins, mages, animated robots and the titillating mysteries that unravel in the lost mine of Haverdale.

Review: I’d like to start this review with a disclaimer: I have listened to and thoroughly enjoyed the entirety of the podcast that this comic book is based off of, The Adventure Zone: Balance. Therefore, my review of this comic is going to be a bit biased. I know how this story ends and I’ve already bought into the shenanigans, genius and tomfoolery that are the McElroys playing D&D. Nevertheless, I attempted to approach this re-read from the perspective of someone who didn’t already know and love The Adventure Zone.

The very first thing that stands out about The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins comic is, of course, the art. Carey Pietsch does such a fantastic job of conveying action and emotion that I never lost track of the characters or their movement, even in the most hectic fight scenes. The art style is colorful, detailed and dynamic in a way that is incredibly engaging to look at. Even on my third read through I found new and wonderful details that added to the experience. Comic book art is critical to the enjoyment of comics and I am so glad they hit it out of the park with this one.

Character design is also an important component of why I enjoyed the story so much. As a fan of the podcast I knew what Taako, Magnus and Merle looked like in my head and, while Pietsch puts her own spin on the characters, everyone was perfectly recognizable. Her designs felt faithful to the spirit of the characters and the range of emotions portrayed in her art allowed me to almost hear the characters’ voices in my head.

The plot and the dialogue of The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins is taken from the podcast The Adventure Zone: Balance and they did a good job of keeping both the flow of dialogue and the jokes from the original. There were many scenes in this comic that made me grin so hard my cheeks hurt and some lines like “He vas one day from spider retirement!” had me trying to explain Bryan and Magic Brian to my mother through my laughter (not an easy task). The comic also had an excellent blend of humor and seriousness. The humor rarely distracted from the meat of the story and kept what could have been some extremely depressing plot points relatively light.

The best thing about this comic, in my opinion, is its length. The first arc of The Adventure Zone: Balance podcast is more than 10 hours of audio content. The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins covers the same story, but it can be read comfortably in an afternoon. The comic is also broken up into convenient chapters for people who don’t have time to get through it all at once. I also loved that there is now an alternative to listening to this story via podcast. This may come as a surprise, but I am not a big fan of podcasts and listening to the 80+ hour entirety of The Adventure Zone: Balance was a strenuous labor of love. So for people who don’t have the time, or the mental focus to go through that, this comic is a fantastic way to engage with a potentially inaccessible story.  

One thing all readers should be ready for with The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins is that it is the first comic in a series and while it has its own stand alone story, the last couple chapters are very clearly setting up the rest of the series. The ending is nearly a cliff-hanger with how much it tries to drag you into the next arc of the narrative, which for some readers is bug and for others it’s a feature. As of February 2021, only three of the eight arcs from The Adventure Zone: Balance have been made into comics so if you are the type of reader who needs to binge the entire thing, you might want to give it a few years.

The reason I didn’t give The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins full marks was because I felt there was a bit of a barrier to entry to enjoy this comic. People who haven’t engaged with the podcast will get a full and satisfying story, but they will miss a good amount of the humor and in-jokes tossed around in the characters’ dialogue. Even me, someone who loves the podcast with all my heart, felt like some things went over my head because it's been years since I finished The Adventure Zone: Balance. Additionally, readers who are not familiar with D&D might have a tough time with some of the scenes. Unlike the podcast wherein the players were learning to play D&D with the audience, the comic assumes the reader has a basic grasp of D&D concepts like what a Dungeon Master does and what a Perception Check is. Background knowledge in D&D isn’t critical to understand most of the plot or characters, but for some scenes my experience with D&D really helped me make sense of what I was looking at. At the end of the day, though, I don’t think either of these barriers would make the comic unreadable.

Overall, this comic is a very fun read with fabulous art, hilarious jokes and an engaging adventure. It’s the perfect length of story to be read and enjoyed over and over again.

[thatgirlonstage]

Podcast Challenge 6/4/18

When I said I got home and collapsed and only wanted to listen to podcasts I wasn’t kidding between this morning, my commute, and me getting home this evening to do NOTHING I listened to HOURS AND HOURS of podcast today

Trying something new today-- here’s a list of podcasts that I’m listening to. Bolded ones are ones that I listened to episodes of today, while those with the strikethrough are the ones that I’m caught up with (and so I’m waiting for the next episode).

The Adventure Zone | Alice Isn’t Dead | The Bright Sessions | Can I Pet Your Dog? | Ear Hustle | The Flop House | The McElroy Brothers Will Be in Trolls 2 | My Brother, My Brother, and Me | Sawbones | Shmanners | The Thrilling Adventure Hour | Welcome to Night Vale | Within the Wires | Wonderful!

I apologize, when the post gets this long I’d normally put it under the cut, but readmores are still glitching -_- No one reblogs these, though, so at least you only have to scroll past it once

Podcast: The Thrilling Adventure Hour

Episode: #49.1: “Filibuster”: A word from WorkJuice Coffee

Time: 4 min, 9% of goal

Commentary:

“Keep this country great” oh boy that phrase has never been a good thing but these days it triggers my fight-or-flight response

Episode: #49.2: “Dressing Room”: A word from WorkJuice Coffee

Time: 2 min, 4% of goal

Commentary:

An abundance of flowers in a dressing room give me flashbacks

Episode: #50: Tales from the Black Lagoon, “The Search for Marnie Bennett” part 3

Time: 13 min, 29% of goal

Commentary:

Awwww Ben came back!!!

Episode: #51: Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars, “A Mind is a Terrible Thing... In Space!”

Time: 23 min, 51% of goal

Commentary:

I’m really falling in love with Croach and Nevada’s relationship. I don’t think I’m ready to fully articulate WHY it’s so good but there’s always something so compelling about people who are wildly different from one each other and don’t even particularly like each other but also would die for each other... even if they would never admit that.

Also I feel like we got a lot of foreshadowing and hints at backstory this episode???? I don’t really know how much things are going to be used in continuity - like the robot fists being a gift COULD mean something important in the future, or maybe it was just a throwaway joke, and “King of Mars” is either SUPER important or Nevada just pulling something out of his ass. But the Red Plains Rider backstory was new!!!! (I think.) Human raised by Martians? That’s so cool, and explains a lot about her character and her connection with Croach. I’m really hoping we get more about her backstory in the future.

Episode: #52: “Christmas on Mars”

Time: 1hr 28 min, 196% of goal

Commentary:

"Christmas, the most important of all human organs”

Oh my god it’s podcastception I love it. Does this mean Beyond Belief is just ghost stories on Mars?

There are parts of this episode that are perhaps, uh, shall we say playfully offensive, but I have to say the line “He took a pistachio in the war” is so much funnier than it has any right to be

Episode: #53: Sparks Nevada, Marshal on Mars, “War of the World”

Time: 23 min, 51% of goal

Commentary:

She’s baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack. Rebecca Rose Rushmore is a hilarious character I hope she sticks around. Also I love that Croach’s wingman-ing was clearly him TRYING to be exceptionally considerate by trying to get Nevada laid by the best human woman he knows but so misguided lol

Podcast: Alice Isn’t Dead

Episode: (2) Mérida, Yucatán

Time: 4 min, 9% of goal

Commentary:

HOLY SHIT ALICE. Are we actually getting Alice talking in this season???? Are we getting more characters recording???? Are we going to hear from Sylvia in the third preview??

Podcast: The Flop House

Episode: Movie Minute #15 - Horn-nutz!

Time: 11 min, 24% of goal

Commentary:

This episode made me feel like I had bees crawling on me

Episode: #26 - 88 Minutes

Time: 49 min, 109% of goal

Commentary: 

“We are recording this the morning after Obama was elected president” 1. Oh my GOD this episode is from a long time ago 2. That sound in the distance is me sobbing

Al Pacino where did you go so wrong

Episode: Movie Minute #16 - Missed Connections

Time: 4 min, 9% of goal

Commentary:

ie, the millennial version of all those “killers on the phone” horror films because none of us answer the phone ever

Podcast: The Bright Sessions

Episode: S1E1: Patient #12-D-10 (Sam)

Time: 13 min, 29% of goal

Commentary:

Hmmmmm intriguing. A different take on time travel, one that eliminates most of the usual problems with paradoxes.

Also I love the cover art???

Episode: S1E2: Patient #11-A-7 (Caleb)

Time: 17 min, 38% of goal

Commentary:

I highkey do NOT agree that the witches took Macbeth’s free will, most interpretations are that he is manipulated into a self-fulfilling prophecy. Otherwise the story loses much of its interest. Also are you kidding I love Lady Macbeth.

I love this character though, I love the idea of a teenage boy, which can be such an emotionally repressed demographic, as an empath. That’s such a cool subversion.

Episode: S1E3: Patient #13-A-3 (Chloe)

Time: 14 min, 31% of goal

Commentary:

I like Chloe she’s so bubbly!! Also though “If properly trained, she could be one of my most promising subjects” is... a TAD ominous. Promising for... WHAT, exactly?

Episode: S1E4: Patient #12-D-10 (Sam)

Time: 17 min, 38% of goal

Commentary:

WHO IS MARK

WHAT KIND OF ASSET. WHY DO YOU NEED ASSETS

WHY SO INSISTENT THAT SHE CAN’T TELL ****ANYONE****

I’M NOT SURE I TRUST YOU DR. BRIGHT

Episode: S1E5: Patient #11-A-7 (Caleb)

Time: 19 min, 42% of goal

Commentary:

So like Caleb and Adam are definitely gay and become boyfriends later right

Also oooooooh hints at backstory, Caleb is in therapy because he got overwhelmed with anger and hit somebody. I don’t know if this podcast would do this yet, but I’m hoping maybe for a flashback episode where we get his first session? It’s an interesting choice to have both Sam and Chloe be just starting but start Caleb at Session 9

Episode: S1E6: Patient #13-A-3 (Chloe)

Time: 14 min, 31% of goal

Commentary:

1. Chloe is going to get herself in trouble

2. I’m not sure that Bright should be ENCOURAGING Chloe to get better at voluntarily READING MINDS, that’s... a pretty extreme invasion of people’s privacy

3. Soooooooo who’s Damien hmmmmm

Podcast: Can I Pet Your Dog?

Episode: 2: Corgi Beach Day

Time: 35 min, 78% of goal

Commentary:

“We all made it back for episode 2!”

Travis: “Well it’s my house”

One of my dad’s old friends has a dog who “had a career change” after they didn’t make the cut as a guide dog, but the dog still occasionally does guide-doggy stuff. So like for instance, if she’s out running and drifts too close to the curb, the dog will bump her side to push her back onto the sidewalk

Podcast: Wonderful!

Episode: 4: Good As Hell

Time: 50 min, 111% of goal

Commentary:

Yessssssssss The Good Place is so good. It was actually a tweet Justin made about it that convinced me to check it out, I’m really glad Griffin likes it too

Rachel the 20-minute power nap skeptic should meet my mom, she doesn’t even need the 20 minutes. Her power naps are 2 minutes long and she gets up from them more awake than I am after eight hours of sleep

Podcast: My Brother, My Brother, and Me

Episode: 122: In Your Tarzan Boy

Time: 1hr 6 min, 147% of goal

Commentary:

Okay that girl legit has a stalker and I really really hope she did something like call the actual police about this problem and didn’t just write into a comedy podcast because YIKES

Total Listening: 7hr 46 min, 1036% of goal