Cecilie "Q" Ravn

Hello, Raff here! I decided to start keeping a series of reviews (or better, comments) on webcomics I read and like. I don’t want to come off as pretentious: I’m not a professional, I make a comic of my own and that brings me to have nothing but respect for all the people who make comics, and last but not least I’m not a fan of hate-reading.

The aim of this corner is to get me off my chair and have an opinion on things, and my critiques are, in the end, the opinion of a single person. But here we are, and today I’d like to talk about:

WAYFINDERS: OFF COURSE

Wayfinders: Off Course is described as “an epic fantasy adventure, with wacky shenanigans and tender moments in equal measure”. It is currently at its fifth chapter, and I’m going to say the description fits pretty well. It’s based on a D&D campaign, and it holds strong role-play game vibes because of it. The pacing is pretty quick, and it’s not dialogue heavy. I’ve had the fun experience of reading it while listening to the soundtrack of Rayman Legends, which added a game-ish vibe to it all. The following comment is spoiler free.

Plot, as described on the site: the captain of a ship with an important embassy task, a mysterious sailing monk, and a stowaway wash ashore on a mysterious island, where they find a compass (the Wayfinder), and embark on a seemingly impossible journey to keep war from breaking out again.

Advantages: the Art. It’s drawn exquisitely, the colors are great, the backgrounds are great – there are some shots of the ship in the first chapter that are to die for, the character design is interesting and varied, you will not end up mixing who is who. The clothing design is aesthetically pleasing, and does moderately express the characters’ personality and backgrounds. The anatomy isn’t always perfect and the characters aren’t always drawn coherently, but it’s a minor detail on the overall work. Additionally, the Mood: if you like fantasy, sea adventures, D&D, and magic, this might be your cup of tea, as long as you don’t expect a super detailed world setting.

Disadvantages: the Characters. They’re actually quite good and enjoyable, but in five chapters, they don’t stick out very much, and I haven’t developed any emotional bond with them. That doesn’t mean it won’t happen in the future; Wayfinders has been out for only eight months and it updates a lot, therefore it has the possibility to develop the story more as it unravels.  I expected a different approach, but that might be my fault: I’m not as used to epic fantasy stories as I once was, and that might be how characters start as. What I do know is how D&D campaigns are made and what limitations do characters have, and they are perfectly functional D&D characters (including Sally, who I find pretty annoying as a comic character, but who would be fun to play with).

I think that the diffusion of rpgs in the last years has influenced a lot the way people conceive storytelling. It’s a good thing, I’m a big supporter of the social and recreational experience that are rpgs, but to make a novel or comic from a campaign is a bit risky if you’re not an seasoned writer: games and tales have different dynamics and needs. More often than not, putting a heavy plot in a D&D world will end up taking away agency from your players, and re-telling the stories you played will hardly follow the rules of plot building. I’m not sure I’m explaining myself well enough, but these are some thoughts I’m cooking lately, because I’m trying to write a campaign of my own!