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A review by warragh
Dark Souls Vol. 2: Winter's Spite by George Mann
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.