The Adventure Zone

Clint McElroy · Griffin McElroy · Justin McElroy · Travis McElroy · Carey Pietsch

Jul 2018 · The Adventure Zone Issue #1 · Sold by First Second

About this eBook

Welcome to The Adventure Zone! If your heart sings for Critical Role and Dimension 20, you’ll want to dive right into this gorgeous graphic novel adaptation of the trailblazing D&D podcast, which illustrates exploits of three lovable dummies on their journey from small-time bodyguards to world-class artifact hunters!

Join Taako the elf wizard, Merle the dwarf cleric, and Magnus the human warrior for an adventure they are poorly equipped to handle AT BEST, guided ("guided") by their snarky DM, in a graphic novel that will tickle your funny bone, tug your heartstrings, and probably pants you if you give it half a chance.

With endearingly off-kilter storytelling from master goofballs Clint McElroy and the McElroy brothers, and vivid, adorable art by Carey Pietsch, The Adventure Zone: Here There be Gerblins is the comics equivalent of role-playing in your friend's basement at 2am, eating Cheetos and laughing your ass off as she rolls critical failures and dies to a slime

Praise for The Adventure Zone series:

"Topping the New York Times bestseller list and building out its stories in fascinating new ways . . . it’s become a cultural phenomenon." —Entertainment Weekly

"Full of charm and snark and wit. Join the party!" —Felicia Day, author of Embrace Your Inner Weird

"The Adventure Zone is fun, hilarious, and also smart. Hey, guys, can I have a cameo next time?” —Adam Savage, MythBusters

“My excitement about this existing cannot be dwarfed by anything. You see what I did there.” —Jean Grae, hip-hop artist, actor, and comedian

“Gorgeous art—the characters come to life! I am so happy that this graphic novel is a thing that exists in the world.” —Hank Green, author of Crash Course and The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Books in The Adventure Zone series:

The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins (Book 1)
The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited (Book 2)
The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal (Book 3)
The Adventure Zone: The Crystal Kingdom (Book 4)
The Adventure Zone: The Eleventh Hour (Book 5)
The Adventure Zone: The Suffering Game (Book 6)

Ratings and reviews

Fun graphic novel! I feel like I would have gotten more out of it if I played D&D. Nonetheless, the illustrations are beautiful and there are many funny moments. I would recommend this book to any reader who enjoys fantasy.

Excellent book! This format is not ideal, since it shows both pages and thus requires scrolling and zooming for each page. Fantastic book, formatting leaves much to be desired!

It took me awhile to read this. As soon as j finished the whole series podcasts, I jump right in. This was amazing and it held so much of the weight from the original. A tear fell from my eye as I finished the last page.

About the author

Meet the McElroys! Clint was born first, which recent studies have shown is the best procedure for fathers and sons. Justin came along twenty-five years later, two weeks late, actually, which caused his mother, Leslie, some consternation and more than a little back pain. Three years to the day (yes, the very day) Travis came along, forever ruining Justin’s birthday, at least according to Justin. The decision was made to not have a third child born on November 8th, so Griffin arrived three-and-a-half years later on April 17th. There followed this decade and that, during which there was a lot of school, theater, broadcasting, video games, moving around the country and various and sundry monkeyshines. Then came a time for fewer monkeyshines, so a ton of marriages happened and people were added to the family branch. In the midst of all this begetting, podcasts began springing up in even greater abundance and their names were My Brother My Brother and Me (which spawned a popular tv show), Sawbones, Shmanners, Rose Buddies, and a farcical romp called The Adventure Zone.

Carey Pietsch is a cartoonist based out of Brooklyn, New York. Her previous work includes drawing two arcs of the Lumberjanes series and the artwork for the Mages of Mystralia webcomic. Carey is also the author of Keepsakes and other original comics about magic and empathy. Along with brightening her workdays, The Adventure Zone got her to join a D&D campaign, where she’s currently playing a dragonborn sorceror who cares too much about romance novels.