ARCHLORD, by Jin-Hwan Park, a manhwa prequel to an MMORPG video-game of the same name.
For those not familiar, Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, in which (generally) a player creates a unique character and games with hundreds, or even thousands, of other people simultaneously online, experienced an explosive rate of growth in the early aughts, propelled by the success of Final Fantasy XI (which I myself played for nine years) and World of Warcraft. There were many, many other games that attempted to cash in on the popular trend with varying levels of success and ARCHLORD was one of them.
I never played the game, but the comic looked interesting to me and I enjoyed it, enough that I've read it three times now. The premise of the ARCHLORD game is, apparently, players vying to become the titular Archlord of the world of Chantra by collecting five items of god-level power called Archons.
This prequel follows Zian, an orphan boy raised by his "grandpa" (actually a powerful and famous sorcerer who adopted him after finding him in the woods), and secretly the son of the deceased wielder of one of Archons, who was murdered and his thrown usurped by his most trusted companion. Zian, representing the game's human faction, is joined by his half-orc best friend Uggdrasil, and, eventually, the human sorceress Arin as they initially seek to claim Zian's birthright in order to stop the forces of evil threatening the world.
I liked this comic a lot. It's a fun mixture of classic high fantasy, action, and humor, and for the most part well-drawn. Whether the plot was provided to him by the game's publisher, or whether it was wholly original, Jin-Hwan Park found a way to create an excellent piece of fiction from a game whose story is bare-bones from what I've read of it. The manhwa isn't long, only six volumes, and a great deal of that is spent on epic fantasy battles and action, but character development is handled well - just enough to give the characters unique voices and keep the story rolling without either skimping on character or holding up the main plot's progression.
The art was also very good. It was somewhat generic, but entirely in keeping with the style appropriate for fantasy comics. In fact, it may have been chosen specifically for that slightly-generic quality, as a more unique art style may have turned off some potential readers. Since the point of the comic was to draw interest to the game, a middle-of-the-road style to attract the widest possible audience was probably a good choice. Regardless of the reasons, though, the art was good and I was pleased with it for the most part.
My only real problem with the comic is one I should have seen coming. As a prequel to a game that is entirely open-ended, as is the nature of virtually all MMOs (after all, if there was an end, you'd stop paying subscription fees), the comic has no end. Well, that's not right... it ends, it just doesn't have a conclusion. In fact, at the end, the characters who began as friends are at each other's throats, fighting over the Archons, each vying to become the next Archlord. Being as that's the purpose of the game, it's entirely appropriate, but also rather unsatisfying.
Still, if you're okay with that sort of ending, the comic is definitely a lot of fun. And while the game itself was extremely poorly-received in the US and US servers were shut down fairly quickly, I'm glad TokyoPop was able to translate and publish in English this entire series during the brief period the game was up and running here as it's definitely a worthwhile tie-in with plenty of re-read value.
I never played the game, but the comic looked interesting to me and I enjoyed it, enough that I've read it three times now. The premise of the ARCHLORD game is, apparently, players vying to become the titular Archlord of the world of Chantra by collecting five items of god-level power called Archons.
This prequel follows Zian, an orphan boy raised by his "grandpa" (actually a powerful and famous sorcerer who adopted him after finding him in the woods), and secretly the son of the deceased wielder of one of Archons, who was murdered and his thrown usurped by his most trusted companion. Zian, representing the game's human faction, is joined by his half-orc best friend Uggdrasil, and, eventually, the human sorceress Arin as they initially seek to claim Zian's birthright in order to stop the forces of evil threatening the world.
I liked this comic a lot. It's a fun mixture of classic high fantasy, action, and humor, and for the most part well-drawn. Whether the plot was provided to him by the game's publisher, or whether it was wholly original, Jin-Hwan Park found a way to create an excellent piece of fiction from a game whose story is bare-bones from what I've read of it. The manhwa isn't long, only six volumes, and a great deal of that is spent on epic fantasy battles and action, but character development is handled well - just enough to give the characters unique voices and keep the story rolling without either skimping on character or holding up the main plot's progression.
The art was also very good. It was somewhat generic, but entirely in keeping with the style appropriate for fantasy comics. In fact, it may have been chosen specifically for that slightly-generic quality, as a more unique art style may have turned off some potential readers. Since the point of the comic was to draw interest to the game, a middle-of-the-road style to attract the widest possible audience was probably a good choice. Regardless of the reasons, though, the art was good and I was pleased with it for the most part.
My only real problem with the comic is one I should have seen coming. As a prequel to a game that is entirely open-ended, as is the nature of virtually all MMOs (after all, if there was an end, you'd stop paying subscription fees), the comic has no end. Well, that's not right... it ends, it just doesn't have a conclusion. In fact, at the end, the characters who began as friends are at each other's throats, fighting over the Archons, each vying to become the next Archlord. Being as that's the purpose of the game, it's entirely appropriate, but also rather unsatisfying.
Still, if you're okay with that sort of ending, the comic is definitely a lot of fun. And while the game itself was extremely poorly-received in the US and US servers were shut down fairly quickly, I'm glad TokyoPop was able to translate and publish in English this entire series during the brief period the game was up and running here as it's definitely a worthwhile tie-in with plenty of re-read value.
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