World of Warcraft #12 and Ashbringer #2 comic previews available
by Alex Ziebart 
Oct 28th 2008 at 10:00PM
The official World of Warcraft website has been updated with previews of the next issues of both currently running Warcraft comics, the Ashbringer series and the series featuring Varian Wrynn.
The Ashbringer series is starting to feel a little more like a story and a little less like random happenings in Alexandros Mograine's life superglued together, so that's good. I wasn't too impressed with the first edition in the series, but I'm hoping that's because it had to string together in-game events to set the tone/story in motion. This is only a preview though, so we can't really judge from that. There's a neat little discovery at the end of the preview that grabbed my attention, so I'm curious to see where that goes.
The Varian Wrynn comic is starting to come to a close I think, as we're finally seeing the King make his comeback. It looks like the player's role in ousting Onyxia has been nullified, which is disappointing but expected. It would've been nice if they left that nod to us, but what can you do?
Anyway, if you're into the comics, go check it out!
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Sorano Oct 28th 2008 10:29PM
Wow, it's the first time I think I've seen a Holy Troll Priest that clearly stated he followed the Holy Light!
The Ashbringer comic seems mighty alright. I hope they release a trade paperback of it at the conclusion of the storyline.
miko Oct 28th 2008 10:37PM
THE walk into Stormwind.
i've walked that walk *sniffle* and it was Glorious.
PS. way to cliffhanger Blizzard ffs
brownhairblog.blogspot.com Oct 28th 2008 11:01PM
While I'm not into Paladin/Argent Dawn/Scarlet Crusade lore, I suggest picking up the Ashbringer series. It is fairly well written and has a bit of merit to it, unlike the WoW comic series. If you are tempted to pick up the hardback collection of #1-#7 simply put-don't. The writing is pretty bland and the storyline isn't very compelling since it is so transparent. If I come off as irate, I'm honestly not. I'm just disappointed.
For those in the dark about the WoW comic's current arc: Varian is forgetful. Varian joins stereotypical Night Elf druid and young (yet chesty??) Blood Elf rogue in a gladiator tournament which is lead up to for four comics or so, and then takes place in a few pages. Varian escapes orc captor and discovers his past. Snooze. Uninspired writing (funny, considering the world it is set it..) and lackadaisical plot left a bad taste in my mouth. Ashbringer #1 did not.
BaskinRidge Oct 29th 2008 12:52AM
I actually liked the WoW comic series quite a bit, some people just view it too harshly imo. The comic is mainly about learning of the different characters, and the journey they must take. People have become to focused on how obvious it was knowing Varian was the king. Blizzard was never trying to hide that fact because it wasn't the point of the story. Most people seem to overlook the that each character was given an in-depth look into their lives. Honestly, how often would you expect to find a Druid, one who is suppose to be collected, have problems with rage and unfulfillment? We still haven't gotten to the secrets behind Varian either, or his actions as king.
The main reason people find Ashbringer more interesting is because of the unknown factor. Thanks to a WoW quest, we had a simple yet accurate idea what was going to happen with Varian, even though we don't know all the exact secrets and details. The Ashbringer however, has a much bigger unknown, hence, why people feel more story in it.
Hepzibuh Oct 29th 2008 9:56AM
I think what makes the WoW comic such a lackadaisical experience for me is all of the fluff included in the hardback collection. We get a quasi indepth look at Broll-who participated in the Battle for Mt. Hyjal-but that isn't really what anyone *should* be caring about, seeing as Varian is getting tugged around trying to escape danger and find out more information about his past. The issue including furbolgs was slightly boring and the naga attack on the ship was enough to have me say 'This is just getting silly.' More often than not I found myself trying to relate more to in game places and not the story itself. (You'll get that feeling a lot when certain attacks are bolded, such as "Wow, Varian, that was a great HAMSTRING.) The storyline hasn't done much to intrigue me like Ashbringer has, and all of these rather uneccesarry characters and scrimmages throw me off.
BuffaloDave Oct 28th 2008 11:22PM
I didnt bother picking up the main Warcraft story line comic, because i heard it was trash. But I did pick up, the Ashbringer, and it was alright, nothing great, but ill probably pick it up for the hell of it.
SBKT Oct 29th 2008 12:04AM
Mmm, the art looks similar to that of another artist I know.
Lemons Oct 29th 2008 1:31AM
those comics look shweet. It's strange though, In wow there was always a lady prestor, but there was never an imposter king. I guess they gotta take some liberties to make the story a bit better.
mbenitez1992 Oct 29th 2008 5:34AM
I actually found the Varian comics okay, I just found the alliance POV kinda boring so I never bothered picking up the issues past #6 or so (horde4lyfe!). This new ashbringer series looks awesome though, hope we see some Forsaken playing a role here since it follows the scarlets. Definitely buying.
BaskinRidge Oct 29th 2008 6:23AM
I think thats been the true complaint Mben. Most of the people who like Horde stuff got bored with the comic, which explains why you stopped after the first few issues which actually contained quite a bit of Horde elements. I'm a big Alliance/Horde fan, and I like to keep up with all the stuff that goes on so I buy them regardless of who the spotlight is on. Plus in issue 15 the WoW comic should tread into some new territory outside of the Missing Diplomate quest which includes Garona and such. So i'll definately be looking forward to the next issues.
Suzaku Oct 29th 2008 7:14AM
Personally, I read the first volume of the main series issue-by-issue, and was generally fairly disappointed with it. Ludo's a good artist, but the inking quality is quite poor in it. The issues are also very short and always feel very rushed to me, with poorly paced, unbelievable character development. Wrynn is hard to believe, he quickly develops a grudge despite being fairly well treated, and even recieves honors and help from some members of the Horde, but soon after is shown to resent and hate them almost as blindly as Garithos. Likewise, enemies show up and are quickly dispatched in a seemingly random manner. There are, however, a lot of nice nods, and there's some new lore, so I can't say it's a total waste of time.
I lost interest shortly after Ludo stopped illustrating. His replacement has a drastically different style and is much less consistent; some pages look nice while others look messy.
As for Ashbringer, so far, it's of a much higher quality than the main series. Ludo returns to illustrate it, however, this time the inking is of a much higher quality, and nearly all of the illustrations are of high quality. The first issue rehashed several scenes familiar to players, but also revealed a fair amount of new information and gave further backstory to some characters we actually know very little about.
If you have to pick between one and the other, I'd say Ashbringer is the one to choose.
Nene Oct 29th 2008 9:08AM
"Wrynn is hard to believe, he quickly develops a grudge despite being fairly well treated, and even recieves honors and help from some members of the Horde, but soon after is shown to resent and hate them almost as blindly as Garithos."
This is pretty much why I started to dislike it-- and I totally fell out of charity with the comic (and Varian) after I saw some of Varian's quest text in Beta. WTF, Wrynn? You're ranting like a true Old Alliance racist and nobody from the Horde really did anything that bad to you. You'd think he'd be full of RAAAAGE for the Defias and Prestor, but no-- apparently this is all Thrall's fault and the fault of those icky, bad, horrible orcs. For some reason.
Also the whole dichotomy with people exclaiming over how young Valeera is when she's packing a rack bigger than Broll's is just kind of....uhhhh. I guess the comic is worth reading if you've always wanted to see a Night Elf become the foster daddy to a teenage Blood Elf jailbait mana junkie. They should have made this comic all about Broll running a halfway house for young Blood Elf tweekers looking to kick the habit.
mbenitez1992 Oct 29th 2008 12:08PM
@Nene
Yeah, the alliance king dude is pretty much a racist asshole. I didn't know that when I was reading the comics but If i still was I'd be turned off. Can't wait to pwn his head for the achievement.
Medievaldragon Nov 6th 2008 6:58PM
Hi there Alex. DC Comics told me about a month ago, the comic book will remain an ongoing series. It may look like it is wrapping up, but that's just the end of the second story arc. King Varian will continue its adventures past issue# 15 without a foreseeable finale.
Hreidmar Oct 29th 2008 1:48PM
Speaking of comics... what ever happened to the Tales of the Lion's Pride Inn? I really enjoyed those.
BaskinRidge Oct 29th 2008 6:48PM
The Ashbringer series has rushed events too. They jump from one thing to the next very quickly. It actually makes for a confusing timeline. Thats just how the comics work, however the WoW one is based more on the characerter's journey, and how the act. The Ashbringer series has barely gone into much depth with any character while the WoW series did. You can blame Blizzard quest writers for changing a comic character, and so far thats what they did with Varian, to create a war. The Ashbringer deals with more well known events and more well known characters. The WoW series deals with a known quest and unknown characters which is why people feel less story in it. I like both because one was meant to develop new heroes, the other was to tell the stroy of the Ashbringer.
BaskinRidge Oct 29th 2008 6:38PM
The Ashbringer series has rushed events too. They jump from one thing to the next very quickly. It actually makes for a confusing timeline.Thats just how the comics work, however the WoW one is based more on the characerter's journey, and how the act. The Ashbringer series has barely gone into much depth with any character while the WoW series has. You can blame Blizzard quest writers for changing a comic character, and so far thats what they did with Varian, to create a war. The Ashbringer deals with more well known events and more well known characters. The WoW series deals with a known quest and unknown characters which is why people feel less story in it. I like both because one was meant to develop new heroes, the other was to tell the story of the Ashbringer.