Dungeons & Dragons At The Spine Of The World #4

Dungeons & Dragons: At The Spine Of The World #4

IDW Publishing 2020

Written by Aimee Garcia & AJ Mendez

Illustrated by Martin Coccolo

Coloured by Katrina Mae Hao

Lettered by Neil Uyetake

To rescue one of their own, Runa, Saarvin, and Patience must brave the mines! Out of the snow, can they survive the onslaught of enemies who await them?

As this arc comes to a close it’s nice to see that a new team has taken up residence in the Dungeons & Dragons world. More so since this one is extremely eclectic in its makeup of characters and races. Don’t get me wrong Minsc and Boo will forever hold a place in my heart and I do want to see more of their adventures but this rag tag team has won me over as well. They were strangers who’ve come together and now are a team, a family of adventurers and it is straight out of the beginning of a tabletop campaign. I think that’s it’s biggest appeal is that it feels both organic in how they’ve come together let alone that they have powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. We have gotten to know them alongside each other and it’s this kind of discovery that sets the Dungeons & Dragons stories apart.

I like the way that this is being told. The story & plot development we see through how the sequence of events unfold and how the reader learns information constantly moves everything forward. The character development is phenomenal and as we see them act and react to the situations and circumstances they encounter they become more and more fleshed out as individuals. Belvyre is one of my favourites and mainly because he is just a lad but he has that innocence and belief in people that stops others in their tracks and listen to what he has to say and I want to see him grow into a fine leader. The pacing is great and as it takes us through the pages revealing how the story comes to its closure there are still a few twists & turns left to surprise you.

How we see this being structured with the layers within the story still growing and weaving into the possibility of a new arc it leaves behind a really good impression. How everything works together to create the story’s ebb & flow is remarkably well achieved.

I am a huge fan of the interiors here. The linework is clean, tight and how the varying weights and techniques are being utilised to bring out this level and quality of detail in the work is astounding. Let’s face it with different races who have different qualities and to see those carried out throughout the run has been amazing and from scales to hair to weaponry or magic everything we have seen has been a work of pure imaginative genius. The utilisation of backgrounds could be better but it is what it is and we get some really great depth perception, sense of scale and the overall sense of size and scope to the book. The utilisation of the page layouts and how we see the angles and perspective in the panels show a remarkably talented eye for storytelling. The colour work is spectacular! How we see the various hues and tones within the colours being utilised to create the shading, highlights and shadow work is beautifully rendered. There are some true stand out moments, the reds, the grays and the vines we see all of which ignite something within the reader.

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These are what superhero team books aspire to be like. Strangers turn into friends and this leads to becoming a family willing to die for one another this is what heroism is to me anyway. These adventures thrill, entertain and showcase the promise of a world full of infinite possibilities all waiting to explored.