Blizzard releases preview of World of Warcraft comic #9
by Daniel Whitcomb 
Jul 15th 2008 at 2:00PM
If you're a Lore Nerd like Alex and I are, you've probably at least been following the storyline of the World of Warcraft Comic, and you know it's likely going to have a pretty big impact on WoTLK lore, as King Varian Wrynn returns and we finally get an end to the Missing Diplomat Storyline.
Issue #9 continues the journey of Lo'gosh and his companions as they travel toward Ironforge and brings a familiar old villain into the light as well. Blizzard has posted the first few pages of the issue on the official WoW site.
I have to admit, I have one major reservation about the story.
It looks like Lady Katrana Prestor, also known as Onyxia, is alive and well, and is being set up to be deposed by the returning king. As a pre-BC Alliance raider, I can't really get too excited about that, because I remember how in depth and epic the Onyxia key quest chain was, and I remember the rush when I first killed Onyxia and we headed to Stormwind to turn in her head.
Sure, it's true that it's difficult for an MMORPG to make a non-static story change, and you can't expect the credit for Onyxia's kill to go to any certain guild or group in game. Still, at least for the Alliance side, the story of how she was unmasked and defeated is pretty epic in and of itself.
It starts with Marshall Reginald Windsor, a legendary knight of the Alliance, once wielder of the epic Ironfoe. He goes on a desperate quest into the territory of the Dark Iron Dwarves to find the evidence he needs to unmask Lady Prestor's duplicity and restore order to the kingdom. He finds the evidence he needs -- a prophecy from the halls of Karazhan itself -- but is taken captive by the Dwarves. After you break him out of Blackrock Depths and recover the tablets that hold the prophecy from the Dwarves, you head to Stormwind itself, where you march gloriously through the streets of Stormwind while the guards salute you, barge into the throne room, unmask Onyxia, and free Bolvar Fordragon from Onyxia's mind control.
And honestly, that description up there? It doesn't even begin to describe the actual epic feeling of the quest line. Actually going to Onyxia's Lair and slaying her almost feels anticlimactic compared to the events of The Great Masquerade, although watching her head being lifted to adorn the gate of Stormwind as a warning to Interlopers is awesome in and of itself.
Even if it is the King himself who will defeat Onyxia, I'm a little sad that that victory is being taken away from us, and possibly from Marshall Reginald Windsor, a vertiable man among men. If Varian defeats Onyxia singlehandedly, will Marshall Windsor and the compelling story of his brave struggle to find a lost prophecy be written out of lore altogether? Will Bolvar never get to prove his honor by breaking free of Onyxia's mind control and slaying her honor guard? I honestly believe that, should the WoW comic take that tack, Warcraft's lore will be poorer for it.
At the least, maybe they can split the difference and have Varian meet Windsor and Bolvar at the gates of Stormwind and confront Onyxia and the false King Wrynn together.
Filed under: Odds and ends, News items, Lore, Comics, Alliance
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Doffencrag Jul 15th 2008 2:17PM
OMG! You mean the one who kills Onyxia and saves the day *isn't* Rhonin-Sue?
Sacrilege.
DarkRa Jul 15th 2008 2:27PM
http://www.dccomics.com/comics/?cm=10233
Do not despair, our (or rather your, I'm a faithful Horde for life) achievements might not be lost just yet!
For those too lazy to click, the review of #11:
Magni returns to Ironforge, along with Lo'Gosh and his comrades in arms. In Stormwind, Marshall Windsor goes missing after stumbling upon clues to the disappearance of King Varian. It's off to Blackrock Depths for our heroes — but are they prepared for what they will find?
Daniel Whitcomb Jul 15th 2008 3:29PM
That's certainly good to hear!
I didn't think about it, but if they skip the Deeprun tram, which seems likely, They'd pretty much have to pass through Blackrock mountain to get to Stormwind. That's a perfect time to go spring Windsor, and I hope they do it.
grravie Jul 15th 2008 2:58PM
How does the Horde side of the story go? Is there a quest chain as in depth as this for the horde? What makes the horde want to go to Onyxia's lair and slay her?
Daniel Whitcomb Jul 15th 2008 3:28PM
The Horde stumbles upon the "truth" of Onyxia during a quest in Blackrock spire. In order to get to Onyxia, they actually have to trick the Black Dragonflight into giving them a key to the lair with the help of Rexxar, killing Dragons of every other flight to "prove" that they are proper Black Dragons.
Not quite as epic as the alliance version, but very few things are.
Alveredus Jul 15th 2008 4:00PM
What makes the Alliance want to go into Scarlet Monastery?
I had a letter of commendation from Raleigh the Devout, setting me up for recruitment. Then some jerk in South Shore burns it and I have to fight them?
DarkRa Jul 15th 2008 5:20PM
I find the Horde questline equally intriguing. Here is how it goes:
We are ordered to go to LBRS, kill all the important figures and bring anything of notice back. You go through that hellhole (back in the day the documents could be looted only by one person in the group, oh the horror...)
and find out that Rend Blackhand, a guy eveyone though dead, was not only alive, but running around calling himself Warchief. Thrall didn't like this one bit, but his throne in Orgrimmar is too comfy so he sents you to dispatch of the pretender. To be fair he gives you a very nice trinket when you get back with Rend's head, so I forgive his laziness.
So now you came to his throne room carrying the head of a guy he hated, he doesn't need more proof you are trustworthy...so he sits you down and tells you that the humans were acting pretty crazy as of late, and the reason was that they were corrupted by Onyxia in disguise, but she got busted not a long time ago, causeing her to flee to Dustwallow Marsh (this part I find really fascinating, to my knowledge this is 1 of the 2 times in the whole game quests show a hint of a timeline, the other been the whole poison the dog deal, where the Horde gets the quest to poison the dog, and the Alliance gets the quest to kill Hordes cause they poisoned the dog). The Horde isn't exactly happy with the Black Dragons either, unpayed debts from the end of the 2nd war etc, so Thrall thinks it's a good idea to attack Onyxia. The fact that she was much closer to Alliance settlements, and the Alliance had in general much more reason to want her dead obviously escaped him. Some say it was some kind of bet between him and Jaina...anyway...
He sents us to Desolace and meet a Champion of the Horde, preBC the patrolling pain-in-the-arse Rexxar, or nowaddays the mercifully stationary Rokaro, who is Rexxar's bestest buddy and they have apparently identical knowledge. He tells you the best way to enter Onyxia's Lair is to pretend you are one of her honor guards. With the help of a gnome from WPL you get a cool dragonkin transformation necklace (that saddly works only in a very small area) and you go to Onyxia's gatekeeper, Emberstrife. He tells you that to become a honor guard you have to prove you are big and bad enough. What better way to do that than killing 1 drake of each of the other colors?
Now, I found this part a bit distasteful, killing the protector's of Azeroth, but the dragonflights never cared to create a bond with the Horde, while they got very strong ties to the Alliance (especially the Reds). Plus, it's for the greater good, the world at stake yadayadayada...Winterspring, Tanaris, Swamp of Sorrows, Wetlands, a lot of travelling...
After you are done with that, you are pretty much done. Emberstrife makes a medalion out of the skulls you brought him, and asks you to go to Drakkisath to activate it. By activating of course meaning giving a bit of his blood, that god there are easier ways for this to happen. And damn Blizzard that had the Blood as a limited drop for so long...
You are ready now to storm the cave, to bring the old hag's head on a stick (vastly superior to just hanging it from some chains, but thats just my opinion :P)
Overall, in it's original form, the questline had an intresting story, but you really couldn't enjoy it... between the woe of looting at last the documents (LBRS was one of the less traversed dungeons back then), finding Rexxar 3 times in a patrol route that spanned the entire Desolace, and traveling the whole world twice, any sort of epicness was lost in the way.
The Hammer Jul 15th 2008 5:34PM
They should just make a very vague and general "A bunch of heroes" helped defeat her. Have them blacked out and stuff.
Blackhawk003 Jul 18th 2008 6:17PM
Well... we know that all those Windsor quests were done by a group a few adventurers. Lo'Gosh, Broll, and Valeera constitute a group of adventurers - who says they didn't free Windsor and expose Katrana? In fact, since no one knows that Lo'Gosh is King Varian yet, it would still allow Bolvar to free himself on his own. That would be an awesome way to show those events in comic form.
Suzaku Jul 15th 2008 6:21PM
I really miss Ludo's artwork, I must admit.
Siorra Jul 15th 2008 9:46PM
Same. it was a much cleaner style and easier to get into, despite the messy combat scenes.
Quendir Jul 15th 2008 10:34PM
Just a heads up, if you like the comic (or the figure designs) there's a pair of wallpapers over at DC Comic's Download page.
Linky: http://dccomics.com/downloads/
Enjoy.
Angelus Jul 15th 2008 11:29PM
Thank gosh, if us killing the major lore characters isn't part of the canon, then there is actually some hope for this series past WoW.
isobelle Jul 15th 2008 11:42PM
anytime i read or see something along the lines of "RAPTORS! LOOK TO YOUR WEAPONS!" i just die a little bit on the inside.
Look to your weapons? seriously? like you were going to look to your celphone when the dinosaurs came out of the bushes or whatever?
Jinvasha Jul 16th 2008 4:08PM
The writer's efforts were so poor he has to go and steal what Blizzard has already written? I feel all cheated. And it's not like he's even going to do it justice - not from his current track record at any rate. At least the art has stepped up several dozen notches from Lullabi's work. Sigh.
DNathan Jul 23rd 2008 12:59AM
It sounds to me that the comic is following the questline in the game, more or less, as per Blackhawk003's post.
I just hope Blizzard keeps Onyxia in the game somehow, because the questline is *awesome*.
Its seems very do able; maybe change some of the dialogue in the turn ins in stormwintd to something like 'thanks for your help [character]! Matters here keep me busy- please go save [insert new character now trapped on BRD]' and report on what you find there'
instead of 'you shouldn't listen to those silly local politicians' (or whatever Prestor says).
They could even include a new NPC who is a hidden black dragon stooge of Onyxia's in the same room who serves the same purpose- to turn into a big dragon when the truth comes out, because it turns out that even though Prestor has been kicked out, she still has a dragon buddy in the court that is still trying to mess with the humans.
Ok, now that I write this, it does sound far-fetched, but I just hope they don't get rid of the quest chain! It is absolutely one of the best in the game.
Leshrac Jul 22nd 2008 5:45PM
Sadly, the comic sucks - its all about Alliance, you know those sissy pants whiners that Blizzard caters too because they....well....QQ?
Anyhow - the story is very amateurish and very predictable. I dropped it after the first 2 issues, the art is nice I must say - but that's it.