Literature similar to IDW's Dungeons and Dragons?

December 20, 2011 6:42 AM

What are some comics, novels or non-fiction with a similar sense of humor and adventure to the new John Rogers-penned Dungeons and Dragons comic being put out by IDW? (Sample inside.)

There's a review and a few sample pages that really capture the spirit of the comic here. I know Rogers has worked on the new Blue Beetle comic but I'm not too fond of Jaime and the whole "ordinary teenager" angle, although I'm open to a particularly good storyline.

I want to emphasize the "humor" over "adventure" part. High fantasy is actually a bit of a turnoff for me -- I like the D&D milieu more out of nostalgia than anything else -- so I'm not looking for good fantasy works, so the McCaffreys and Jordans and Martins and Brookses and whatnot are all out. I do like Zelazny, though.

Other than that, anything goes, as long as it is humorous and there's some swashbuckling action and adventure to it.

posted by griphus to Media & Arts (13 answers total)

The Discworld novels by Terry Pratchett are very funny and are based on a medieval fantasy setting. As it can be overwhelming to figure out what order to read them in, someone has created this handy guide.
posted by maxim0512 at 6:46 AM on December 20, 2011

Came in to say Discworld (maybe Pyramids or the Watch novels come closest among the many possible starting points), but I'll add The Long Ships for historical swash-buckling with a strong sense of humor.
posted by Monsieur Caution at 6:50 AM on December 20, 2011

Response by poster: Oh, yeah, I guess I should've mentioned that I've made a pretty heavy dent in the Pratchett ouvre -- Pyramids was my favorite! -- and am sort of topped off on Ankh-Morpork.
posted by griphus at 6:52 AM on December 20, 2011

You might get a kick out of Jim Butchers's Dresden Files series. They're pretty tongue-in-cheek a lot of the time, and I don't think anyone would classify them as "good fantasy works." Definitely humorous (after a fashion) with plenty of swashbuckling action though.
posted by valkyryn at 6:58 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

While not Wizards of the Coast-y fantasy, I'm enjoying the hell out of Jeff Lemire's current run on Frankenstein: Agent of S.H.A.D.E.. You're familiar with the New 52, so maybe you've read it; if not, I'd encourage you to give it a shot. The book is an over-the-top mash-up of horror, sci-fi and fantasy tropes with a tone very similar to the material you linked. Frankenstein's band of monster commandos are reminiscent of your typical monster killing D&D party with a mummy wizard; mouthy, roguish vampire; a noble werewolf; and a Black Lagoon-y creature. Their base is a 3-inch ball hurtling through the atmosphere and can only be reached by teleportation and a shrink ray. Lemire really pushes on that 4th wall without ever letting the characters acknowledge their comic book existence outright.
posted by popculture at 7:09 AM on December 20, 2011

Skullkickers!

Oh my god Skullkickers is exactly what you're looking for. If you're on Comixology, there's a free zero issue that gives a good taste of the series.

To a lesser extent, I'm enjoying DC's Demon Knights as well, it's basically an all-star team of DC Fantasy characters (Etrigan, Shining Knight, Vandal Savage, and a few lesser-known characters). There's definitely humor there, but it's played straight a little more often than I'd like.
posted by Oktober at 7:10 AM on December 20, 2011

Girl Genius is the obvious answer-- the creators used to do D&D humour comics back in the day. Humour yes, adventure yes, not high fantasy.
posted by Erasmouse at 7:53 AM on December 20, 2011

Also Atomic Robo. There are a few free issues of AR on Comixology too.
posted by Oktober at 7:56 AM on December 20, 2011 [1 favorite]

Maybe the mythological novels of Tom Holt? Or Flashman? Or, going even further afield, how about the Brigadier Gerard stories of Arthur Conan Doyle?
posted by villanelles at dawn at 8:19 AM on December 20, 2011

Thank you for introducing me to this comic! I'll have to check it out. In payment, I offer: Yet Another Fantasy Gamer Comic, and Looking For Group.
posted by The otter lady at 10:04 AM on December 20, 2011

Can't believe no-ones mentioned The Order of the Stick yet. Set in the DnD world with lots of inside humor and Fourth Wall breaking fun.
posted by elendil71 at 10:26 AM on December 20, 2011

Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. by Warren Ellis & Stuart Immonen.

(They had me at Fin Fang Foom.)
posted by D.Billy at 2:38 PM on December 20, 2011

I feel like a broken record because I always recommend this, but... the panels you linked really reminded me of Nextwave: Agents of H.A.T.E. I couldn't find an article with panels in about 90 seconds of Googling, but if you do a Google image search it looks like there are some on the 'net so you can get a look at it (and probably find one of those articles that my lackluster searching failed to produce).
posted by daikaisho at 2:39 PM on December 20, 2011