So, my editor was all, “Jack, you suck.  You need to review more comics,“ and I was all, “Yeah, editor, but Destiny is so good, and I have virtual friends now!” Then, my editor was all, “I don’t care, Jack – write this review.”

So, that’s why I’m writing this review.  Good story, right?

Anyway, Destiny is awesome.  I play that game a lot.  Another game I like is Zelda.  Like, all of them.  Other cool games are the random RPGs that come out of Japan. You know, the ones where the dialogue is weird, the characters have odd foibles (Often around women, am I right?), and the story jitters a little as you try to figure it out . . . and yet you can’t help but love that video game?  For me, it was Zelda 2 . . . but there are a myriad examples of other games just like what I described.

I also just described Land of the Rats, which looks like Lord of the Rings when you make it an acronym, by the way.  The comic has, no joke, pretty fabulous art (reminiscent of R. Crumb).  Frankly, when the dialogue got just a little too weird, the art was a wonderful distraction. 

Anyway, I digress.  The 5 comics in question do a nice job of a creating a whole world of races, weirdness, magic, prophecies, and all the rest.  This weird world might sound a little clichéd – mostly because it is – but credit where it’s due: this world is like none I’ve ever seen (so points for creativity).  Our fearless (mostly) hero is a rat which is basically a human with a couple of rat-like characteristics.  He is a bit of a warrior/philosopher/coming-of-age kid, and the comics follow him through 3 big adventures that are loosely connected.  It’s a bit Conan-esque in this way. 

The reality is that our comic creator (writer/artist), Mark Nasso, doesn’t believe in characters who are so tough that they can kill everyone, so our fearless (mostly) hero spends a good amount of time getting his ass kicked and learning lessons.  This is refreshing.  Ultimately, the story gets hugely epic, and then disillusions us all and becomes slightly less epic.  Bottom line – it was entertaining.

So, the writing and story are straight up weird, and at times pretty broken, much like your favorite video games from Japan.  The art is straight-up inspiring and must have taken forever to complete. (Kudos to Mark Nasso!)  The comics deserve a read, if you’re an artist, a gamer, or bored of the usual stuff.  But, they do take a little bit of effort, so if you’re coming off a My Little Pony bender, wait until you’ve got a little more depth before you dive in.

That’s all I got. 

Hugs n’ kisses.  I’m going back to Destiny now.