Graphic Novels: The Guild Volumes 1 and 2

 If you are a gamer, and especially if you are a MMORPG gamer, you probably already know about the web series "The Guild."  I have been a fan of this series for quite a while now, and when I heard that the creator of this series -- Felicia Day -- would be taking the characters in the show to graphic novels, I knew it was only a matter of time before I bought and read them.

Using gift money from Christmas, I finally did.  I read them.  I enjoyed them.  And I am not surprised.

"The Guild" centers around a group of people who retreat into the online fantasy world of The Game -- a Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game which is amazingly similar to World of Warcraft.  Felicia Day created the series using her experience as a gamer as a basis.  As the series starts, Felicia Day's character in the show has already developed an online relationship with her Guild -- a group of other characters who band together to go on missions and complete quests.  But, as the show begins, she has never met any of them in real life.  Their real-world separation does not last long, however, and there have been five exceptionally funny, and sometimes touching, seasons of a show which is by, for and about gamers.  I love it.

The graphic novels, in the version I bought, are collected into Volume 1 and Volume 2.  Volume 1 contains the story of Felicia's character from just before she joined The Game, until the point at which the web series starts.  It's a three-part story, and it fills in her backstory very nicely.  Volume 2 does a single-issue backstory for each of the other five main characters in The Guild, and again, it is a measure of her creativity that Day is able to make each of these unusual people fit very nicely into her main project by giving them an interesting and fitting history.

If you have seen "The Guild" and liked it -- congratulations, you are probably a gamer, or could be.  And, if you are, you will like these volumes.  I can guarantee it.

If you have not seen "The Guild" I cannot say how you would like the graphic novels.  I'm pretty sure most people would like Volume 1.  The story of Cyd Sherman, Day's character, dealing with her neuroses and her insecurities while being taken advantage of in the real world is one which resonates and makes us feel for her.  The eventual discovery of a certain amount of freedom and control when Cyd finds The Game might seem like it's unhealthy avoidance to some people, but to gamers, it will make complete sense.  And, as I have mentioned, the graphic novel is not the end.  It's satisfying as a story, but Cyd's life and story continue in the series.

The second volume, "Knights of Good" -- named for the Guild to which the characters belong -- is a little more series-specific.  Vork's story is a sweet, if frustrated, story of commitment and co-dependence.  But while Zaboo's story is funny and very "comic book" - it merely leads Zaboo to the moment the series begins --- excellent for fans, but I'm not sure it works for non-fans.

And that, by the way, is a Major Point of this series of stories -- both the graphic novels and the web series -- It Is For the Fans.  Felicia Day is not trying to make something for the masses, or for the literati.  It is for gamers, and as a gamer, I love it.