Written by Jim Zub
Art by Max Dunbar
Colors by John-Paul Bove
Published by IDW
Jim Zub and Max Dunbar introduce readers new and old to the sword fights, magic, and even more colorful characters of the world of Baldur’s Gate. No knowledge of Dungeons and Dragons or the Baldur’s Gate video games is required to enjoy this comic. After a few exposition captions, Legends of Baldur’s Gate #1 drops right into the action where the protagonist Delina, a Moon Elf mage is being chased by dragons for some reasons. Max Dunbar is a deft fight choreographer, who shifts the panel shape to keep the battles fresh and not just hack and slash. And the action, adventure, and comedy reach a whole new level when Minsc, the dumb as rock, hamster wielding Ranger shows up to help Delina. Zub uses Minsc’s lack of intelligence to make many wordplay jokes, and Dunbar shows his skill with the blade as he impales everything in sight and then some. Colorist John-Paul Bove adds some subtle touches to the art, like mist in the streets of Baldur’s Gate to go with the mysterious nature of the city and characters as well as making Delina’s magic look gorgeous if slightly pitiful.
Legends of Baldur’s Gate #1 is chock-full of fantasy tropes, but Zub plays with them to create an entertaining narrative. At first, Delina seems like a prototypical POV character, who is simply overwhelmed by the scale of the city and the fierceness of her pursuers. But as the story continues, Zub peels back layers and shows she is a fairly competent spell-caster, who picks up on things quickly like the black and white morality of the Baldur’s Gate Watch and Minsc’s lack of intelligence/amnesia. However, she still reacts to danger realistically. Zub fills her dialogue with stutters and long pauses when she’s surrounded by enemies, and Dunbar gives her expressive eyes that work well with the pale color palette Bove uses for her character. And Minsc. Dunbar and Bove veil him in shadows like an undead creature before going full Sergio Aragones and revealing him with hamster in hand. Minsc (a fixture in the Baldur’s Gate games) is definitely influenced by Aragones’s Groo the Wanderer, but Zub also uses his character to poke fun at the way characters sometimes speak in sword and sorcery stories. He and Delina have a great odd couple rapport with her focus on stealth and illusion
through magic and his loud, boisterous swinging nature. The comic is worth reading for Minsc’s hilarious dialogue alone.
However, the humor of Baldur’s Gate isn’t all in Zub’s dialogue and funny lines. Artist Max Dunbar makes Minsc pull some crazy faces, and his hamster Boo is good for a chortle each appearance he makes. Dunbar’s art isn’t the most detailed, but his storytelling is clear. He also has a good sense of timing, especially with page turn reveals. He tailors the panel layout to each character’s power set giving Minsc wide panels for his big biceps and sword swings and vertical panels for Delina’s spells and aerial dragon attacks. He and colorist John-Paul Bove make Baldur’s Gate look lived in with the market actually having people selling things and characters bumping into guards at times. Bove goes above and beyond with his colors to actually show a purple sunset with some clouds instead of just a generic black night with a moon. Legends of the Baldur’s Gate #1 doesn’t have many answers about why characters are doing things, but it’s a wild, hilarious ride with nifty color effects and shows the world of Baldur’s Gate instead of relying on exposition.
