Nodwick Chronicles III, The :
Songs in the Key of “AIIIEEEE!”
by Aaron Williams
Comic Trade Paperback (SC, 7x10, 160 pages)
ISBN: 1-930964-81-1
Dork Storm Press, $16
Nodwick Chronicles III is the next collection of Nodwick volumes 13-18, a popular comic book that revolves around a henchman and his adventuring companions, if you’d call them that. These trade paperbacks have been coming out once a year now, and hopefully will continue for some time.
For those not familiar with Nodwick (all seven of you), he is a henchman who works for Yeager the fighter, Piffany the priest, and Artax the mage. Nodwick’s job involves doing most of the grunt work for his employers, but of course the job involves much more than that, as he always gets caught up in some of the craziest and funniest plots I’ve even seen in print.
In this particular collection of Nodwick, we see him and his friends doing everything from having a rummage sale (D&D style of course) to dealing with problems with their lease on an evil dungeon. Of course, as in past collections, the group also has another run-in with the evil god Baphuma’al and his plan to destroy Nodwick’s friends with the use of a strange piece of armor. The last bit of the book is the only weak link I found in this compilation, being a strange fairy tale-like storyline with the characters appearing in different famous children's tales. There is also included a Henchmen Core class for the d20 system. This addition is a bit silly of course, but makes for fun reading. As I always have, I compliment Aaron Williams on his wonderful imagination and sense of humor, along with the usual bit of things he throws in from other well-known D&D comics, cameo-style of course.
For fans of Nodwick, or those folks who like a good fantasy-based comic that doesn’t take itself too seriously, you can’t go wrong with Nodwick Chronicles III. Give yourself or a friend a treat this holiday season!
(review (c) November 2003 / David Flemming)