The Guild #2-3

By Felicia Day, Jim Rugg, Dan Jackson, Nate Piekos, Matthew Stawicki, Kristian Donaldson, Juan Ferreyra.

Issues 2 and 3 of The Guild complete the prequel to the successful cult web series. Main protagonist Cyd Sherman's involvement with the online game deepens; she becomes emotionally isolated from the real world; the rest of the cast is assembled; and the story leaves off where the series begins. As I said in my review of the first issue, the comic is best appreciated by pre-existing fans. The deterioration of Cyd's relationship with her boyfriend is alluded to in the first few episodes of the series. And the comic contains in-jokes and references that will go over the heads of non-fans. The supporting characters that comprise her online friends aren't fleshed out enough within the pages of the comic, as they're written as a collection of quirks that fans will easily recognize and proceed to fill in the blanks.* But I'm not sure if most first time readers will understand why Cyd would actually enjoy hanging out with them.

It is through Cyd that Felicia Day most effectively demonstrates the charm and wit of her writing. Cyd is largely portrayed as a sympathetic, if hapless, individual unable or unwilling to confront her manipulative boyfriend. Every real world disappointment prompts her to dive deeper into the fantasy world. Unlike the series, the comic illustrates more of the game's environment. This allows the visuals of the story to break up the monotony of looking at a series of talking heads staring into computer monitors. But even with this device, Day still prefers to largely tell the story through words. The combat sequences are minimally and perfunctorily staged, and tend to rehash Cyd's voice-over narrative. Day's panels are usually filled with dialogue, which isn't necessarily a problem in itself. But the virtual setting feels comparatively cramped and generic. While every character has an easily identifiable in-game avatar, it's really the verbal back and forth that animates them, and helps distinguish them from each other.

Of course, in the web series, the characters are brought to life by actors who have the advantage of being able to deliver their lines. Within the pages of a comic book though, Day's writing falls a bit flat. I don't get the impression that artist Jim Rugg possesses the necessary chops to pace her dialogue in a way that approaches the timing of the live casts' performance, especially Day's. But the page limitations presented by a three issue story doesn't exactly give either him of Day sufficient space to juggle half a dozen eccentric personalities. So while the fans are going to get the story's in-jokes, they're also likely to come away feeling disappointed with it for not being as funny as the web series.

At the end of the day, The Guild comic doesn't function as a stand-alone story. Whatever the weaknesses of the art, or faults found within the writing due to Day's own inexperience with the comics medium, they aren't glaring enough to damage the popularity of the series. If the comic points people towards the main body of work, it's arguably done it's job.
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* Admitedly, that's how they started out within the series.

The Guild #1

By Felicia Day, Jim Rugg, Dan Jackson, Nate Piekos, Georges Jeanty, Dexter Vines, Tariq Hassan, Cary Nord, Dave Stewart.

Media tie-ins generally seem like pretty extraneous efforts when compared to the source material. But for fans of The Guild web series, the selling point of its comic book tie-in is that its being penned by series creator and star Felicia Day. For those unfamiliar with the series, The Guild is a web-based sitcom about a group of gamers who play an unidentified massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). The comic book functions as a series prequel. While this makes it an easy jumping off point for new viewers, there's a clear sense that Day is assembling her cast of characters again, for the first time. Several of them make cameos in this issue, although for now it centers around the main protagonist Cyd Sherman.

No doubt, the show's subject matter puts it deep into nerd territory. This is offset a bit by using the online game as a McGuffin for the cast's real world shenanigans. Despite their attempts to escape into the game's environment, their interactions inevitably lead offline. Within the context of the web series, Cyd is a single, unemployed, shy and retiring woman whose life revolves around her relationships with her gamer friends. Much of the show's self-deprecatingly humor is built on the dialogue written by Day. While that is carried over to a certain extent in the comic, the overall tone of this first issue is slightly more dour. This is because the pre-gamer Cyd is a very lost adult. Despite her cozy job as an orchestra violinist, she's suffering from depression bought about by a midlife crisis. She's also unable to assert herself in a relationship with a boyfriend who takes her for granted. She has no close friends. And her therapist isn't able to connect with her. On a whim she purchases the MMORPG because she's immediately drawn to the idea of recreating her own identity.

The idea is a familiar one to the average adolescent misfit; and it's implied that Cyd is emotionally regressing by choosing to dive into a virtual world. Nothing new is being said about its overarching themes. But overall this is a gentle and sympathetic portrayal of a nerd subculture that's bound to play well to the comic book crowd. The art supplied by Jim Rugg isn't anything unusual. Aside from pacing Day's dialogue, Rugg ably reproduces her likeness and the pared down, mundane look of the series. And he illustrates more of the game than is shown on the show - which is painted to look like a idealized version of Cyd's self-image. But for the most part, it's Day's authorial voice that predominates.

For people with less geeky tendencies, the comic book, like the original web series, presents a high barrier of entry. The cover alone should drive away a good portion of them. And the comic itself lacks the charisma found in Day's actual performance. While amongst the fanboy contingent it should attract new viewers who have been unaware or previously uninterested in the series, this is most likely to appeal to the completist tendencies of preexisting fans. Not that this will be much of a problem. From what I've heard, the show is about to produce its fourth season.