Comic Review—Invasion 2: Dungeons and Dragons #1

Until this past weekend, I’d never heard of IDW’s Invasion 2 event.  However, I have all of IDW’s licensed Dungeons and Dragons comics on my Pull List, and as a result, my local comic shop (LCS) guy stuck a copy ofInvasion 2: Dungeons and Dragons #1 in my box this week.  Now, I’m not much on Event comics, and this one in particular made me a little leery seeing as how it crosses over a bunch of titles that don’t—I don’t think—normally occupy any of the same Story Universes.  Plus, this book is set in Eberron, and I don’t normally dig D&D books set in Eberron.  But.  I happen to like my LCS guy, and I know it’s a tough market.  So I decided to just pay up and shut up and give Invasion 2: D&D a chance.

The cover to Invasion 2: D&D is easily my least
favorite part of what was really a very good book.

So.  Invasion 2 is apparently the second edition of an annual story arc event that IDW does in which Lovecraftian horrors attempt to take over reality—every possible reality.  Did I mention that I’m not much on Lovecraft?  Heh.  Fortunately, this book doesn’t drown us in it.  In fact, Invasion 2—Dungeons and Dragons #1 is actually built on the Sherlock Holmes model.  Our hero is Abraxis Wren, a typical Holmes-style world’s-greatest-detective, delightfully rude and insensitive but fully committed to truth, justice, and right, and equally interested in solving unfathomable mysteries of every kind.  Juxtaposed against the backdrop of Eberron’s magic-as-science, this makes for a fascinating set-up.  Wren’s world is almost recognizable.  There’s a whiff of 19^th Century London in there, but it’s spliced through with the ever-present magic of Dungeons and Dragons, making it at once odd beyond belief and also wholly familiar.  It’s sort of a steam-punk version of Coruscant save that there’s no steam!  Beyond that, the book’s plotline is a murder-mystery set in an asylum, an appropriate venue given the Lovecraftian turn that we know ahead of time this story’s bound to take eventually.  It all works because of its sheer, dark weirdness and the delightful way in which the story refuses to take itself seriously.

With all of that said, the success of any book as imaginative as this one is always going to hang on its art.  An author can imagine anything, but we as readers can only experience it in comics to the extent that the artist can bring it forth on paper.  Happily, this book’s art is fantastic.  Cartoony and expressive in the close ups but lovingly detailed in the many long establishing shots that give breadth and scope to the cityscape of Wren’s native city Sharn.  In looking at this, I found myself swept away completely again and again.  I have to give big props to artist Valerio Schiti.  This book is insane, and he renders its insanity with brilliant panache.

At this point, I’ve gotta say that although I was dubious coming in, I’m now totally looking forward to the second half of this story.  I may even have to check out some of the Eberron-based Abraxis Wren novels as well.  Writer Paul Crilley has such a good idea going here that honestly, it’d be a shame not to see what else he’s done with it.  Bottom line, Invasion 2: Dungeons and Dragons #1 was a complete kick in the ass.  I read it on the train on my way to work on Tuesday morning, and coming off the long weekend, it was just the thing to get my week started right.  I recommend it whole-heartedly to comic readers of all stripes who’re looking for an awesome break from the same-old, same-old of the Big Two.  This book gets an A+ from me.  Can’t wait to see what’s next!