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warragh's review
4.0
The second volume of Dark Souls comics and a big improvement.
The first volume of DS comics (The Breath of Andolus) was a bit hit or miss (unfortunately more miss than hit) but overall decent. Winter's Spite takes a different approach and manages to hit much closer to the mark. Once again the visuals are a big plus. Outside of a single character towards the end I loved the way everything looks. However, the big change here is in the structure. Gone are the formulaic chapters of the first series and replaced by a single cohesive story. This in turn lets the environments flow much better and become a more central piece to the puzzle of the story (much like they are in the games).
The connection with the Souls universe is thin at best, with only a few creature designs and some vague nod to the power of souls but it works much better. The story is more natural and doesn't feel as fake and forced as the first one. The characters have clear motivations, the world is an integral part of the story, there are some small surprises, every aspect is improved. It comes across as a much more confident work instead of something which simply aims to copy a famous franchise.
Overall a much stronger effort. Manages to capture the Dark Souls atmosphere without trying to force in needless direct references.
The first volume of DS comics (The Breath of Andolus) was a bit hit or miss (unfortunately more miss than hit) but overall decent. Winter's Spite takes a different approach and manages to hit much closer to the mark. Once again the visuals are a big plus. Outside of a single character towards the end I loved the way everything looks. However, the big change here is in the structure. Gone are the formulaic chapters of the first series and replaced by a single cohesive story. This in turn lets the environments flow much better and become a more central piece to the puzzle of the story (much like they are in the games).
The connection with the Souls universe is thin at best, with only a few creature designs and some vague nod to the power of souls but it works much better. The story is more natural and doesn't feel as fake and forced as the first one. The characters have clear motivations, the world is an integral part of the story, there are some small surprises, every aspect is improved. It comes across as a much more confident work instead of something which simply aims to copy a famous franchise.
Overall a much stronger effort. Manages to capture the Dark Souls atmosphere without trying to force in needless direct references.
loop's review
3.0
Okay, so my review of the last Dark Souls volume wasn't very favorable. I said it was okay for the most part, but overall not a good comic. This volume does a lot to change that. I think it was a huge improvement.
Focusing on one main character and his existential conflict was a good device to convey the feeling of a Dark Souls setting. Each issue has us follow the main character through a perilous journey, falling victim to many unfortunate events, as is common in Dark Souls. I thought the existentialism and despair were well conveyed, as well as the ambiguous morality of the characters, the concept of undeath, and the cyclical, limbo-like existence of the characters. The writing was significantly better this time around. I think the story flowed much better and the Middle English vocabulary didn't feel as forced.
The art is still a mixed bag, with a lot of my complaints from volume 1 carrying over. Basically, lack of clarity, actions felt stiff, swords look boring, panels don't flow into one another well, body proportions and positions look odd at times, faces change too much from one panel to another to the point of certain characters looking similar, and colors can further muddy up how unclear the pencils can be (though not nearly as bad as volume 1 since the setting is more uniform).
All in all, this was pretty enjoyable, and I'd rate it as a 4/5 as a piece of Dark Souls fan service, but only a 3/5 as a comic. Considering I gave the last volume one point less, I consider this an improvement. Now onto Legends of the Flame, the anthology style Dark Souls comic. Should prove to be a different experience from these.
Focusing on one main character and his existential conflict was a good device to convey the feeling of a Dark Souls setting. Each issue has us follow the main character through a perilous journey, falling victim to many unfortunate events, as is common in Dark Souls. I thought the existentialism and despair were well conveyed, as well as the ambiguous morality of the characters, the concept of undeath, and the cyclical, limbo-like existence of the characters. The writing was significantly better this time around. I think the story flowed much better and the Middle English vocabulary didn't feel as forced.
The art is still a mixed bag, with a lot of my complaints from volume 1 carrying over. Basically, lack of clarity, actions felt stiff, swords look boring, panels don't flow into one another well, body proportions and positions look odd at times, faces change too much from one panel to another to the point of certain characters looking similar, and colors can further muddy up how unclear the pencils can be (though not nearly as bad as volume 1 since the setting is more uniform).
All in all, this was pretty enjoyable, and I'd rate it as a 4/5 as a piece of Dark Souls fan service, but only a 3/5 as a comic. Considering I gave the last volume one point less, I consider this an improvement. Now onto Legends of the Flame, the anthology style Dark Souls comic. Should prove to be a different experience from these.
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