Tag: clint mcelroy

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The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal by Clint, Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy with art from Carey Pietsch – Review

START YOUR ENGINES, friends, as we hit the road again with Taako, Magnus and Merle, the beloved agents of chaos from the #1 New York Times Bestselling books The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins and The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited.

Our boys have gone full-time at the Bureau of Balance, and their next assignment is a real thorny one: apprehending The Raven, a master thief who’s tapped into the power of a Grand Relic to ransack the city of Goldcliff. Local life-saver Lieutenant Hurley pulls them out of the woods, only to throw them headlong into the world of battle wagon racing, Goldcliff’s favorite high-stakes low-legality sport and The Raven’s chosen battlefield. Will the boys and Hurley be able to reclaim the Relic and pull The Raven back from the brink, or will they get lost in the weeds?

Based on the beloved blockbuster podcast where three brothers and their dad play a tabletop RPG in real time, The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal has it all: blossoming new friendships, pining for outlaw lovers, and a rollicking race you can root for!

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I have been anticipating this book since December 2019, which is when I preordered it from Books-A-Million. It was one of my favorite arcs of the Balance campaign, and I was excited to see not only the excitement of the race come to life, but I was also anxiously awaiting being kicked in the heart again by the love story between Hurley and Sloane. Alas, I seem to be getting ahead of myself. This series is close to my heart, and I was overjoyed when they started to make these graphic novels. The boys and Carey Pietsch are a dynamic quintet; her gorgeous art paired with their masterful retelling has made for a refreshed and renewed look at the audio storytelling that is so loved within the Dungeons and Dragons community. This installment is no different, and may even be the best of the series so far.

I am always floored by how well this tale has transcended its medium, and it has given the boys a chance to right wrongs they made in a different time. I assume most of the readers of these novels have listened to the podcast, so I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler to say that in the source material, Hurley and Sloane didn’t exactly have the happiest of endings. I was very glad to see that this was re-imagined within these pages as a later-in-the-campaign ‘twist’ happens much sooner than expected. It felt very natural, and I was very happy with the outcome. Most of the changes to the other graphic novels have been for copyright or narrative flow reasons, so it was interesting to see them play around with the plot. I think too, that this arc was best suited for the graphic novel treatment, as the race took on a new life within the art. Not only was seeing Garyl, the binicorn, a life changing experience, but just the heightened excitement from page to page was exhilarating, and I loved having Griffin as our faithful announcer through it all.

I so hope that they continue to make these, as this tale that this family weaves just gets deeper and richer, and the story is just about to break loose. This podcast has gotten me through a lot of hard days, and got me into the world of Dungeons and Dragons, which has become one of my favorite things within the last year. So, it means a lot to me, and so do these good good boys. I love how they are constantly bettering themselves, and they really are such kind and goodhearted people. When I say they deserve your time and attention, I mean it. Not to mention that the art inside these pages will make your eyes bleed from the pure heavenly nature of it! I’m ready for The Crystal Kingdom now– how long must I wait!?

5/5 stars

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The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited by Griffin, Justin, Travis, and Clint McElroy, Illustrated by Carey Pietsch – Review

In the second Adventure Zone graphic novel (adapted from the McElroy family’s wildly popular D&D podcast), we rejoin hero-adjacent sort-of-comrades-in-arms Taako, Magnus, and Merle on a wild careen through a D&D railroad murder mystery. This installment has a little of everything: a genius child detective, an axe-wielding professional wrestler, a surly wizard, cursed magical artifacts, and a pair of meat monsters.

You know, the usual things you find on a train.

Hot on the heels of “The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins”, the smash hit graphic novel that launched the series, “Murder on the Rockport Limited” picks up the saga where volume 1 left off. Both books are based on “The Adventure Zone,” a tabletop RPG comedy podcast with downloads numbering in the tens of millions and an army of passionately devoted fans. With art and co-adaptation from Carey Pietsch, the McElroys are once again turning their raucous freewheeling D&D campaign into some damn fine comics.

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Another stellar adaptation of my favorite podcast! I’m so glad that the McElroys got to continue these graphic novels because as they pull away from the actual copywrited DnD content and go into Griffin’s original arcs that there is going to be so much more room to play! This one lent itself so well to the comic format, and it was so nice to see all of these iconic characters that I’ve only ever been able to form in my head!

I love how easily they were able to slip DM Griffin in, and how they used Railsplitter, the Extreme Teen Bible, and the Umbrastaff to showcase who was speaking out of Magnus, Merle, and Taako (respectively) if we weren’t looking directly at them. Angus was everything I needed him to be and more, and I loved seeing more of Lucretia. There was a moment with just her with no dialogue that took my breath away, because it was something that couldn’t be included in an audio medium but worked so well for the moment it was in and will hit so hard for devoted listeners of the show as a whole.

I cannot wait for Petals to the Metal to come out, as it is probably my second favorite arc, and the subject matter will be even more exciting than this one was to see actually play out on the page! I think the McElroys and Carey are doing such a wonderful job staying true to the podcast but also breathing new life into it for lovers of the show AND newbies to the Good Good Word of our McElBoys alike! I recommend this series and the show it’s based on to anyone who will listen to me.

5/5 stars

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The Adventure Zone: Here There be Gerblins by Clint, Travis, Justin, and Griffin Mcelroy – Review

Join Taako the elf wizard, Merle the dwarf cleric, and Magnus the human warrior for an adventure they are poorly equipped to handle AT BEST, guided (“guided”) by their snarky DM, in a graphic novel that, like the smash-hit podcast it’s based on, will tickle your funny bone, tug your heartstrings, and probably pants you if you give it half a chance.

With endearingly off-kilter storytelling from master goofballs Clint McElroy and the McElroy brothers, and vivid, adorable art by Carey Pietsch, The Adventure Zone: Here There be Gerblins is the comics equivalent of role-playing in your friend’s basement at 2am, eating Cheetos and laughing your ass off as she rolls critical failure after critical failure.

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I fell in love with The Adventure Zone podcast earlier this year when a friend suggested it to me. I had never played D&D before, and actually didn’t listen to many podcasts either. I devoured all 69 (nice) episodes of the first arc within two months and was overwhelmed by the creativity, imagination, and heart put in to each episode by each of our McElroy boys.

As much as Griffin created this world our adventurers found themselves in, Justin, Travis, and Clint molded its existence around them and they all four created a beautiful, enthralling story. When I found out there was a graphic novel in the works, I was thrilled to say the least. Finally I would get a chance to lay eyes on these characters that I’ve been listening to for months.

I preordered it and waited and waited and it was worth every penny and every second. Carey Pietsch did such a great job with the art, and helped bring these characters out of my brain and onto a page! It was like meeting them all over again. The names of a few things were changed (good ole Klaarg becomes G’Nash), some things were scaled back (a very less lengthy jelly battle for one) and of course there are less mentions of rolls, checks, and hit points, but none of this takes away from the story; instead it makes a much more concise narrative.

I believe fans of the podcast and newbies alike will love it! I’m already counting down the days until we get Murder on the Rockport Express! I’m so excited for everyone to experience this world in this form. 10/10 would recommend.

5/5 stars