DCC The Graphic Novel, Vol. 1

Dungeon Crawler Carl: The Graphic Novel, Vol. 1
by Matt Dinniman, Tevagah et al
Recommended Ages: 15+

I'm not even sure how to list the author credits on this one. The front cover lists Matt Dinniman, Laurel Pursuit, Tevagah and Aethon in that order, but in the same font, style and size, like equal contributors. But I'm not sure they're all human persons. Based on an inside credits page, Aethon seems to be a publishing company and Laurel Pursuit is a webtoon studio (i.e. a team of artists), while Tevagah seems to be a writer from Australia. And of course, the graphic novel credits Dinniman as "creator," as this manga-style production is based substantially on the first few chapters of his novel, Dungeon Crawler Carl. I guess this book is more or less a bound volume of chapters skimmed off the top of a webtoon, and if it suffers from anything it's a page format that makes some of the lettering (particularly of in-game dialog boxes) eye-strainingly small. I spent a frustrating amount of time holding this book up to a strong source of light and squinting to read bits of it, unhelped by low-contrast color choices.

As for the story, I've already reviewed that. Vol. 1 gets through only the first "13 chapters" of the webtoon, which I reckon is somewhere around a third of the first book in Dinniman's series, based on the fact that Vols. 2 and 3 exist. Since it's only been a few weeks since I read the book, my recall is fairly fresh but as always imperfect. I have no complaints about how the story is depicted. The characters, especially of Carl and his feline partner, Princess Donut, are portrayed in a fun way. The design is energetic and attractive, delivering the dramatic impact of the book in a visual form. I would definitely recommend reading the novel first, though, because then your idea of what Carl, Donut and everything around them look like will be your own. As an interpretation, however, I think it works well.

What else is there to say, except read the book as your main course and, if you like it, have this graphic novel for dessert? Apparently there's an audiobook of it narrated by Jeff Hays, who is also going to voice Donut in an upcoming TV series based on the books, co-written by Christopher Yost of Cowboy Bebop fame. I don't know how far along it is in development, but Hays is the only cast member listed so far on imdb. It could be years before we see anything come of it. So, for now, hit the books, baby! With eyeball lasers and the whole biz!