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mars2k 's review for:
The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins
by Griffin McElroy, Clint McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Carey Pietsch
adventurous
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
It must be incredibly difficult to adapt a story from a podcast (all audio, no visuals) to a graphic novel (all visuals, no audio), but The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins more or less pulled it off. Of course, there were sacrifices when it came to the vocal humour – Magic Brian’s accent doesn’t always come across and Taako’s iconic voice is gone (I wonder what people who read the book without listening to the podcast think he sounds like...)
Pietsch’s loose art style is nice to look at and it’s versatile, which is great for a story that flits back and forth between silly and serious. The colour palettes are varied and engaging. The action scenes were sometimes a little hard to follow, especially when there was a lot of dialogue to keep track of as well. Even so, the general vibe of “there’s a cool fight going on!” was conveyed well through the dynamic, irregular panels (contrasting against the flat, rectangular panels used in calmer scenes) – I was able to understand the general mood even if the specific attacks and movements weren’t always as clear as they could have been.
As an adaptation it fared pretty well, but I can’t help but feel like Merle was a little out-of-character. For the most part he came across as too sarcastic, too grouchy, too quick to suggest violence. I remember him being much more agreeable, acting as something of a foil to Taako and Magnus, who can both be abrasively arrogant and impulsive. That said, this is only the first book of the series so I expect he’ll mellow as the story progresses.
Though not flawless, this graphic novel was fun and nostalgic. Gerblins is not the strongest Balance arc story-wise since the McElroys were very much still finding their footing, so I’m hoping the following installments will be even better than this one.