Ultimately, World of Warcraft: Death Knight delivers all a player can ask for in a World of Warcraft comic, and that's what matters. There are very nice bonuses throughout, such as the appearance and origin of Koltira Deathweaver, Thassarian's Horde counterpart. It wasn't entirely unexpected but it was a pleasant surprise, nonetheless. One niggling thought about his appearance was the way it was left hanging, with Koltira depicted agonizing with his own demons in his room in Angmar's Hammer. It gave hint to a good friendship between Koltira and Thassarian, but the book being Thassarian's show, there was little beyond that.

I love the young Argentinian Rocio Zucchi's fine line work on the comic. The 22-year old Zucchi is part of Tokyopop's stable of talented female artists. With the help of Altercomic Studios, she makes excellent use of chiaroscuro as well as tone, giving the book a rich, robust feel. Her art on Crusader's Blood, one of my favorite stories in Warcraft Legends and also written by Dan Jolley, was notable in that it really hearkened to the game, making good use of in-game models for reference. One other amazing thing about the comic is that the whole 166-page project is Zucci's first major assignment, and she does a really tremendous job.

Readers familiar with the story might also note that Zucchi doesn't shy away from gore or violence. In fact, she recreates one of the most stark images in Crusader's Blood -- the graphic slaying of a main character's niece in panel 5 of page 34 -- in the pages of World of Warcraft: Death Knight. Except where she is constrained by a tight script, Zucchi also handles action sequences adeptly, making furious use of action lines where the black and white canvas limits the depiction of spells.

As a player, one of my favorite things with comics or any other licensed product is to see the use of actual armor sets and items from the game. It helps tie the world together, which is why I think the action figures from DC Direct are so cool. Zucchi clearly uses in-game models for reference as shown by her illustrations of ghouls, identical down to the bandages. The armor and swords used by Death Knights, especially during the Battle for Light's Hope Chapel, are taken directly from the game. It's wonderful to read as a player because seeing them is like finding Easter eggs for me.

Players who've played through the Warcraft III campaigns would also recognize Arthas' treacherous moment when he strands his own soldiers in Northrend and betrays the very mercenaries he hired to do the deed. Death Knight players will also see that Thassarian experienced his share of jeers and tomatoes riding into Lordaeron just as they had going into their capital city after the starting zone. Small things like this make the comic worth it for Warcraft fans and players. Because most of the events have already happened, Jolley is really just working to flesh out characters and the environment for players of the game, free of the burden of having to push the game's story forward. And for the most part, it just works.

I still have minor quibbles with some of the fonts letterer Michael Paolilli used throughout the book, such as Thassarian's handwriting in letters sent to his sister, but these are more a matter of preference than anything. The book is good. It's solidly written, beautifully drawn, and delivers a character-driven story without impacting the game world in a way that disrespects players. Although I'm still of the opinion that the Warcraft Legends series of books are the best Warcraft-related comics, this first chapter in the class-based series (Mage and Shaman books are already in production) leaves little to be desired. In fact, it's such a fun read that I almost don't dread the next installment of World of Warcraft: Mage, written by Richard Knaak. Almost.