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Dork Tower #5
Understanding Gamers
Expanded, and with new material, it's "Understanding Gamers" from Dork Tower #18, back as part of a full-sized trade paperback! One of the most hilarious comic books of the year just got bigger and better, with lots of NEW pages expanding "Understanding Gamers", as well as tons of never-before collected Dork Tower comic strips from dorktower.com, Dragon Magazine, Scrye magazine, and Games Magazine. Also includes "The Death of Gandalf Part III" (from the Dork Tower Lord of the Rings special), and the Unspeakable Oaf, from Dragon Magazine!
134 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2003
22 people want to read
About the author
John Kovalic
122 books22 followersJohn Kovalic’s cartoons have appeared everywhere from his hometown WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL (Madison, WI) to the NEW YORK TIMES and DRAGON MAGAZINE. His creations include the sell-out comic book sensation DORK TOWER and “DR. BLINK: SUPERHERO SHRINK,” as well as SNAPDRAGONS, NEWBIES, WILD LIFE, BEACHED, and panel cartoons including MURPHY’S RULES, THE UNSPEAKABLE OAF and others.
A co-founder and co-owner of Out of the Box Games, and a cartoonist for Steve Jackson Games, John has illustrated over 100 games and game supplements, and is at least in part responsible for best-sellers like APPLES TO APPLES (A GAMES Magazine Hall of Fame inductee) , MUNCHKIN, CHEZ GEEK and BLINK. He is closing in on 4,000 MUNCHKIN cards drawn, and boy, are his arms tired.
He was the first cartoonist inducted into the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) Hall of Fame. In his spare time, John searches for spare time.
You can also read about how he got his wife into the National Enquirer.
The lovely and talented JUDITH, BTW, is world-famous now that she works at Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know.
A co-founder and co-owner of Out of the Box Games, and a cartoonist for Steve Jackson Games, John has illustrated over 100 games and game supplements, and is at least in part responsible for best-sellers like APPLES TO APPLES (A GAMES Magazine Hall of Fame inductee) , MUNCHKIN, CHEZ GEEK and BLINK. He is closing in on 4,000 MUNCHKIN cards drawn, and boy, are his arms tired.
He was the first cartoonist inducted into the Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) Hall of Fame. In his spare time, John searches for spare time.
You can also read about how he got his wife into the National Enquirer.
The lovely and talented JUDITH, BTW, is world-famous now that she works at Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
July 13, 2022
3.5 stars? I mean, it's better than three stars, but it's not quite four. I think it's due to the fact that this is more a collection of strips from online (some of which, I believe, were already printed in another volume? I mean, they were AWFULLY familiar, and I don't deep-dive Dork Tower online anymore) than a collection of the comic book series. Given that volume three ended with a bit of a cliffhanger, I'm surprised Kovalic chose to delay the release of the next chapter of the story for these two books.
It's still funny, of course, but dang, don't drop a roadblock in your grand story, man!
It's still funny, of course, but dang, don't drop a roadblock in your grand story, man!
September 5, 2021
True hard-core gamers form a significant fraction of modern society. The games range from role-playing board games to online with wild graphic action. The desire for more graphics has been one of the driving forces behind the development of even faster and more efficient graphics engines. This new power has led to the development of the new form of challenging entertainment called esports. There are leagues with some professional players.
This comic drops into the past a bit and lampoons gamers as creatures that find the world outside games to be difficult to cope with. Gamers are portrayed as nerds with limited skills outside gaming, the cliches about such people abound. Yet, it is humorous and all in good fun, most gamers admit their addiction to the challenges of faster and better games with against more skilled competition.
While overstated most of the time, this is still a reasonably accurate portrayal of the gamers of years ago. When people played for fun and challenges before it became a billion-dollar business with a professional class.
This comic drops into the past a bit and lampoons gamers as creatures that find the world outside games to be difficult to cope with. Gamers are portrayed as nerds with limited skills outside gaming, the cliches about such people abound. Yet, it is humorous and all in good fun, most gamers admit their addiction to the challenges of faster and better games with against more skilled competition.
While overstated most of the time, this is still a reasonably accurate portrayal of the gamers of years ago. When people played for fun and challenges before it became a billion-dollar business with a professional class.
August 16, 2024
I found two or three issues of this series at a local store and loved everything about it. I ordered book one and loved it even more. It is a hilarious recap of what life was like for gamers and goths against society that isn't copacetic with such interests.
June 30, 2013
More Dork Tower goodness. Yes, some of these strips have appeared in previous DT collections. Kovalic explains why in a brief afterword. Still, Dork Tower is Dork Tower. All together, everyone: "Huzzah!! It MUST be mine!!"
March 7, 2015
Well, and there we are, back to the whole "Who will he end up with, Kaleygh or Jillian". Although true, I liked how they gave Kaleygh some depth this time round.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews