Rise of the Dungeon Master: Gary Gygax and the Creation of D&D Paperback – Illustrated, May 9, 2017

Just received my copy today! I noticed some 1 star reviews because this is a comic book, which I think is unfair rating since its clearly described as an illustrated graphic non-fiction story. In terms of contents, beautifully drawn in black and white and illustrative of the life and events of Gary Gygax in the formative years of Dungeons and Dragons. I think this is the perfect media to showcase Gygax's life as D&D is itself a visual medium. I really like the touches of nostalgia and the way the illustrator lays out the panels and the story. Mr. Kushner does a very good job of giving us the story of the creator of D&D in a way that is fresh and original. While this is not an academic or biographical work, it is an innovative way of showcasing the life and times of Gygax in creating the worlds greatest role playing game. Highly recommended for the shelf of any lover of D&D.

Well written loving tribute but skips the drama. The story works better without the infighting and backstabbing but it is not the whole truth. However it does good at showing the love and passion they had for gaming.

The very model of a graphic novel. Beautiful halftone illustrations, well written and nicely produced, telling a nonfiction story in an interesting, dramatic way. As a second-gen AD&Der (early 1980s), I enjoyed learning more about Gary Gygax and his ultimately sad journey.

Rise of the Dungeon Master is an okay graphic novel, but falls short of being an excellent work.Up front disclaimer—I was a writer and editor for Gary’s projects in the later years of his life and knew him pretty well. So I want to make sure I take note of any potential bias up from. Also, I am reviewing the paper copy of the book, not the Kindle edition. Take note that this is a black and white graphic novel, there’s no color art outside of the cover.At first, you would think a graphic novel of Gary Gygax’s life would be a very interesting work. I was interested in how the work would be presented, and if it would be an entertaining read. I am a gaming fan but I am also a long-time comics fan, and I have read many graphic novels, including biographical and autobiographical ones. Sadly, I only got a “meh” feeling from this project.What people may not know is that the author of this work (David Kushner) is more or less taking a lot of the graphic novel’s structure from a single article written shortly after Gary passed away in Wired magazine titled Dungeon Master: The Life and Legacy of Gary Gygax. Much of the text in the work comes from this article, including most of the dialog and quotes. In short, this graphic novel is an adaptation of a magazine article, and not an original work designed for the format.You could still have a decent graphic novel from an article, but the new format has problems. The Wired article used what D&D players might know as “boxed notation”. That is, rather than just not narrate the article or use a third person narration device, the book’s chapters begin with narration in what might first appear to be “second person” narration, but it’s trying to evoke a dungeon master talking to the players in a tabletop RPG. While it is a decent device in the original article (which is aimed at people know are in the know about RPGs), it ends up not being good in the graphic novel—it makes for a very weird structure that isn’t as compelling. If the "you are" viewpoint was Gary Gygax’s, it might be good, but it switches to other people. I simply don’t think this works well unless you are “in the know” as a gamer…people who’ve never played D&D but want to learn about the subject are probably not going to be satisfied. I think it might have worked better if the graphic novel had more of a third party narration and also tried to tell the story via dialog, like a screenplay.For one already knowledgeable of the creation of D&D, there’s not a lot of stuff that is new to read. In fact, so much stuff is skipped over. Don Kaye (co-founder of TSR) appears, and a few of Gary’s relatives, but there’s not much about any early staff members or the growth of TSR. The narrative also takes some liberties with the order of things—for instance, the Gygax-Arneson lawsuit and settlement appears to occur as soon as Lorraine Williams takes over the company, but this was actually a few years before that. Instead, this graphic novel spends a little more time talking about the sensational controversies of D&D that happened in the early 1980, as well as also talking about the influence of D&D on the culture from computer games to celebrities who play it.Reviewing the artist—Koren Shadmi does a pretty good job of getting the likenesses of Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson well, at least in their elder day. I am not sure how much references Mr. Shadmi had. He’s a decent artist, some of his style reminds me a bit of Scott McCloud, but he’s also not what I would call in the “top tier” of comic book artists either. I’m not sure what he was using for references—it was easier to draw Gygax and Arneson in their recent years. There probably wasn’t much original research that I could see—it’s probably based on whatever public photos could be found—for instance, Lorraine Williams is portrayed almost exactly like the one photograph I am aware of (a photo in the D&D Anniversary boxed set, necklace and all). If the party at the beginning of the book was at Gary Gygax’s home at the time, he got the exterior and porch wrong, though it looks like the one interior shot might have been correct. (The old “famous” house where D&D was created and played in the basement is shown a few times). I was also disappointed by the fonts used—especially the one used in the narration blocks—it looks more like a horror font and not a font used for general exposition. I think a few good Comic Craft fonts would have been a good investment.I think the book is okay as a primer for somebody who doesn’t know anything about Gary Gygax and D&D’s creation, but only as that. I think long-time gamers would probably want something meatier, and fans of biographies might be put off by the odd structure and narrative skips. One person asked me if this was a good thing for younger kids to read. It could have been, but they have at least one F-bomb quote from Gary as well as mention a porn star who loved D&D, so I’m not sure this would be a good work for a pre-teen to read.I’m giving it 3 stars out of five. It’s an interesting work, but falls short of what I would want to see in a biographical graphic novel.

Great primer for those curious about the origin of D&D. VerY digestible and easy to complete in an hour or less.

I had a page come folded which was no big deal to me, but could be to others

I definitely would recommend this to my friends, it give an interesting look into the mind of Gygax and the trials that he and his fellow founders went through in the beginning.

An interesting comic book style story of the great creators of D&D. A Very balanced perspective from an obviously well researched D&D fan. Worth the investment of time to read.