Knights of the Dinner Table Illustrated #30

From the Random Stack of Unread Comics.

Title: Knights of the Dinner Table Illustrated
Issue: #30
Date: January 2004
Publisher: Kenzer and Company
Writer: Mark Plemmons, Brendan Fraim, Brian Fraim
Artist: Brendon Fraim, Brian Fraim
Editor: Brian Jelke, Eric Englehard
Cover: Brendon Fraim, Brian Fraim

So, this is my first time reading this series. Knights of the Dinner Table is a funny gag strip about a group of middle-aged tabletop roleplaying gamers. The "Illustrated" version is the in-character version of the story, starring the player-characters, El Ravager, Knuckles, Thorina, and Teflon Billy.

A love-spell has turned El Ravager against his companions, and they fight a desparate stalling action to try to find a way to bring him back to his senses, which the villainous Lord Skrall looks on (and takes a moment or two to explain his evil plans).

This story did a good job of starting with a fairly complex setup, and coordinating the moving pieces to make it accessible, even to a reader jumping in at issue #30.

There is a sprinkling of fourth-wall-breaking humor (these are roleplaying characters, after all), a couple of genuinely emotional moments, and in between there is plenty of good, fast-paced sword-and-sorcery action.

Fun story. I have the next issue and I'm looking forward to checking it out.

Rating: 7.5/10