The Adventure Zone, Vol. 6: The Suffering Game

The Adventure Zone Graphic Novels #6

by Clint McElroy, Griffin McElroy, Justin McElroy

Taako, Magnus, and Merle are near the end of their quest to collect the seven Grand Relics, dangerous magical artifacts which threaten the world as they know it. The penultimate item on their adventuring to-do list is the Animus Bell, which The Director tells them is hidden at the heart of Wonderland, a carnival of torment. Once inside, the boys will have their shot at winning the Bell...but each step forward comes at a horrible cost. And the deeper they go ― the closer they get ― the higher a price they’ll pay.

And if they can secure the Bell, surely then the worst will be over, right? Surely they’ll go back up to their Moonbase in the sky, and hand the Bell over to The Director, and Bureau life will return to normal while they begin their hunt for the final relic, right? They’re so close to the end, after all, and they’ve gone through so much to get this far. There can’t possibly be any further surprises in store...

Genres: Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Comics, Fiction, Humor, LGBT, Adventure

272 pages, Paperback

First published July 16, 2024

About the author

Clint McElroy is the father of Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy. He does the Adventure Zone podcast with them and has also appeared on several Maximum Fun donors-only bonus episodes.

Clint is the Ultimate Dad.

Reviews

[Shelby · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐ I think this arc suffered a lot from being rushed, and is my least favorite of the adapted volumes so far because it feels like it lost the most. The suffering game itself only took up half of this and it was an arc with so many memorable moments that I was sorry to see it lose. More importantly though it lost the impact it had with the original, it really made each of the trio truly suffer and struggle, but it felt like a blink and you missed it moment here.

The second half managed to draw me back in, everything unravelling was done well. But I do wish that the suffering game itself had gotten as much care and time as other arcs, and had been able to stand more on its own.

[The Bibliopossum]

"Magnus, you landed on 💀 in the last round, didn't you?"
"...Yes."
"Bad Luck 🔔"

[sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

SERVED MUCH MORE CUNT THAN EXPECTED 👍 thank you taako for being the only bitch ever with real emotions. as usual. thank you [REDACTED] for showing up and serving. thank you [OTHER REDACTED BLORBOS] for being good and perfect. thank you hot cunt elves. thank you for a complicated and interesting Lucretia without stripping away anything that makes her Her (i was scared of this).

anyways complaints time. wild they cut the best most interesting consequences of wonderland and the character’s actions but what ever. cutting Cam is so stupid bc it’s literally foreshadowing Lucretia’s “betrayal” and makes it even more intense and consequential. what ever. cutting Taako losing his beauty is so so so insane also but at least he’s characterized better than the last one so what ever. can you see my struggle here? the graphic novels are SO enjoyable but they just do not hold the same emotional intensity and fucked-up-ness of the original and they suffer (lol. haha.) for it.

at the VERY least this one was super consistent and i think it’s really smart to set up story and song in this one so the last volume can be half stolen century half epic ending. so good decisions here except for the ones that aren’t lol but don’t worry, real Suffering Game exists and it’s better in every way (soundtrack mostly) and it lives on my phone forever!

[Isa · Rating 4 out of 5]

ultimately at the end of the day I do think we should all blow ourselves up

[Keanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hi, hello, is this thing on? Yes *ahem* so here’s the thing. The Adventure Zone is my favorite podcast of all time. I hold this piece of media so very closely to my heart that, well, you see, I almost have that whole show memorized. I’ve listened to it countless times. I’ve read and re-read the graphic novels. I’ve made so much art based on it. I love this little thing in all of its iterations.

And that’s why… well that’s why I’m a bit bummed.

You see, they cut out A LOT. And I understand why. They were streamlining things. Making it easier to follow for the graphic novel only fan base, putting emphasis on other things. But, well? They cut out some of my favorite parts of the podcast for this, and it leaves me feeling a bit hollow.

The chimera scene? Yoinked! I do love the cameo of the chimera flying happily in the sky, but I do think that whole scene is so big for setting up how truly miserable Wonderland is. And because this scene was erased, it means we also didn’t get Lord Artemis Sterling, Antonia, or Rowan, AAAAND thAt means we didn’t get the infamous forsake scene that breaks my heart on each listen.

We also didn’t get Cam. I miss Cam. Cam adds to Lucretia’s story. Cam adds to Merle’s story. I miss Cam.

Taako didn’t lose his elven beauty. While this may not matter to most, IT MATTERS SO MUCH TO ME AHHHHH!!! It’s such a growing point for Taako in terms of his relationship with Kravitz. It’s such a silly little thing, but I missed that!!!

I also missed the devastation of Magnus losing his memories of Governor Kalen. Annnnnd I missed Magnus’ line “those are the arms that held my wife.” GOD that line gets me every time. That whole scene depicts so much of Magnus’ humanity. How much he wants to be human just to keep some semblance of Julia with him. It is, again, a little thing, but that little thing has impact.

All that to say: I loved it. I cried. I laughed. Some of the changes they made were quite wonderful. The flaming poisoning raging sword of doom was superb. The last page left me shaking. I’m obsessed with the minds of the McElroy’s and Pietsch. This was beautiful, and I will recommend it always.

[EJ Richard]

excited but scared

[JD Odea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw seven birds😭😭

[Elizabeth Addison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tore through this faster than any of its predecessors, probably because it’s SO visual. I’m a little sad that the actual Suffering Game part of it goes so fast, because it’s one of my favorite parts of the podcast (I love suffering and I love games!) but I understand why when there’s so much plot to get to in the second half. I really love how The Hunger is depicted but it did make me miss some of the descriptions, to be honest. Griffin’s language is really powerful and sometimes it would be nice to have it as a companion to an image (although I also really liked how even he as a character was being subsumed by The Hunger.) I even got a little choked up at the end because Lucretia as a character is just so tragic and complex and hateable and empathetic at the same time. The second to last page is mind-blowingly good.

Also… Arms Outstretched 😭

[Mara · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars - This was probably my least favorite arc in the original show so not surprising that it's also probably my least favorite volume so far. That said, it's still so fun! I love this world & the gang, and it's so cool to see them brought to life in this format

[Adam · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5

This arc on the podcast was least favorite of the seven, though the snappy pace helps out. I found the artwork confusing — so much happens with very little panel space, I had to squint to figure out what actions were being taken. And the onomatopoeia is a little out of control!

Still, this arc has some of my favorite one-liners and dad jokes, and it’s always great to see TAZ in this medium.

Can’t wait for The Stolen Century… hope it’s super-sized.

[RaspberryRoses]

as an adaptation, i think it has it's flaws. i dunno. TSG was a weird arc in the podcast and while i think it was the correct choice to distill it for the adaptation. i'm not quite sure they successfully got it in the change.

however it's actually a 420/10 morbillion point novel because the best character in the series has returned. they gave barry bluejeans a ponytail. this is such a huge win for the community, and by community i mean me. 15 year old me, who ran one of the most popular fanblogs for this character, would be thrilled. well actually she probably wouldn't she'd probably hate the GN design for that character. but i'm older and wiser now and i think the design is great.

but even more secretly it's a 0/10 novel because marlena bluejeans, a character who was literally only mentioned once and used in an exposition scene, isn't present in it anymore. i can't believe they'd do this to me .

overall i think it's very obvious where my enjoyment of this novel hinges on. i am at peace with that.

2025 edit: my points still stand. i find it fascinating how much more angsty magnus feels in the gn.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 rounded to 5

[Valeria · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to agree with some of the other reviewers here that it’s a shame that so much was cut out. Though I totally understand why, and seeing the care put in with those behind the scenes at the end of each novel does really make me appreciate how much work goes into these graphic novels. And the art in this one is just as absolutely gorgeous as always, huge props to the artist. It did still feel a bit rushed, and some quite important moments were cut, moments that added to the absolute misery of the suffering game. In the graphic novel it just didn’t come across as soul crushing as it was in the podcast. But again, adapting to another format necessitates some changes so I’m not too disappointed or anything and I have to say the whole re-remembering and LUP and the portrait at the end brought tears to my eyes, so. I just love this story in any form.

[SilverGlimse · Rating 2 out of 5]

Way to ruin an arc. This book is almost 80 pages shorter than the one before and you can feel that. The Wonderland part of the book is incredibly rushed and barebones, only having 55 pages between entering and the beginning of the final battle, which is wild, since you know. That’s the focus of the arc in the podcast. That was wayyy too short a time.
Because of this rushing you don’t really get to feel the impact that Wonderland has on THB. Many of the more hard hitting moments have simply been removed from the story, which removes a lot of depth and heart from the characters.

The pacing of the parts not in Wonderland are mostly great, so what happened to the stuff inside?

[Dandy ˙ᵕ˙ · Rating 4 out of 5]

i know that this requires more drawing but i think that the pacing in this volume was kind of atrocious especially around the end and it should be lengthened

[Milo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was probably my favourite comic of the bunch. They did cut out a lot of wonderful things that I loved in the podcast, but I feel like it did the pacing a world of good. (Although.... my Forsake scene 😭 rip) I do feel like they couldve gotten one more Wonderland round in there to amp um the mental and emotional exhaustion, Magnus reaction felt a bit out of nowhere. But you know. We'll take it.

[Mackenzie (mackenziespocket) · Rating 4 out of 5]

i think if i hadn't listened to the podcast this one would be pretty confusing - there is just a LOT of story going on, and i think it is difficult to translate to a comic. i do think that the artist+authors did a good job, but it's just a lot. and ofc the artwork is beautiful, as usual. it def makes me want to do a re-listen of Balance

REP: gay main character, gay side character

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do love a good death adjacent game

[Joel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought the litches would be way hotter tbh

[Rhyan · Rating 5 out of 5]

nothing like a new graphic novel from my favorite comfort dungeons and dragons podcast EVER to get me out of a reading slump….wow i cant believe theres only one left now

how many times do you think i can listen to this podcast without getting sick of it??

the adventure zone is maybe the best fiction/storytelling experience ive ever had and i would give so much to experience it again for the first time

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read for Popsugar: The next book in a series you started

I'm always so excited to read The Adventure Zone graphic novels - they have done such a great job adapting a podcast to image-based format. This one had a lot to cover, and I do feel it ended up a little rushed, but still enjoyable! That ending has me so jazzed to read the next (and final!) installment. I hope we don't have to wait too long for it!

[Robert · Rating 1 out of 5]

It reads like there are a hundred pages or so missing.

It also wouldn't be any better with the missing pages.

[Emmaline Savidge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly this is probably a five star book purely for nostalgia. I love TAZ so deeply and I think that everyone should listen to balance and read these books. The graphic novels are a masterclass in adaptation. I loved the stylized portions of this book like the usage of Griffin. Mostly I’m just excited for the final book because story and song is one of my favorite arcs.

[Connor · Rating 5 out of 5]

the first (non-recap) page of this went so hard it made me have to put the whole thing down and walk away for five minutes and frankly it did not let up after that either!!!

(10/10 recommend listening to it with the suffering game soundtrack/voidfish (plural) when applicable)

[Kale · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2.5*

This installment really suffered from a lack of pages. The whole story felt rushed from beginning to end with the exception of the arms outstretched moment. Dozens of pages were dedicated to fight sequences that could have been better served adding character growth or spending more time on the stakes of the situation. It's impossible to give this less than a 2.5 because Carey Pietsch is a master of color and expression, so the moments that are good are /really good/. It's just a shame that those moments were few and far between this time. Really disappointing following The Eleventh Hour, which was certainly the best installment in the series thus far.

[Hannah Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

The art in this is simply breathtaking, and all the things they've added to the story make it so much fun to dive into after all these years.

[Tessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

this is not a no notes situation, there just really is something to be said for demonstrative evidence that beauty and taste still exist in the world

[Danika · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a long time fan of The Aventure Zone, it has been such a joy to see this story get adapted into a graphic novel. Specifically, it's been very fun seeing which parts get neatly ribboned or cut in order to make a more cohesive story, one that wasn't initially conceptualized until later arcs during the podcast. Carey and the boys have once again knocked it out of the park. The art, the tone, the stylization of specific key scenes.. this is the arc where things really hit the fan!

As with any adaptation, there are things bound to get lost. Like the other TAZ graphic novels before it, The Suffering Game had a lot of content that was ultimately cut out for the sake of the story. However, as many other reviews have mentioned here, there is a lot of key moments of the arc that were cut out. And, like those reviews, I think this adaptation suffers (hah) because of it.

For context, my favorite TAZ arc is The Eleventh Hour. It's also my favorite of the graphic novels thus far, so perhaps I'm coming at this with a little bias. But despite everything that got cut out of The Eleventh Hour, it still came out as a strong arc overall. The Eleventh Hour was approximately 350 pages. In comparison, The Suffering Game was only ~270 pages long, and it had to juggle a Lunar Interlude, the actual Suffering Game arc, and the Reunion Tour on top of that. Cue the chopping block.

Again, a lot of what is cut out is understandable. A few spins on the suffering wheel, a battle here or there; so here's a quick list of things that have been cut out:
A Round of Wonderland: Instead of the three rounds of Wonderland, it's cut down to just two. I think this change makes sense. There's only oh so many ways spinning a wheel can be visually interesting. Of course, this shifts some of the things the boys have to give up, which I will get to.

Trust/Betray Game: This sort of piggy backs on the above point. I do think it's understandable that this got cut out for the same reason as above. However, I also think it's such a big loss character wise. Each of the boys' choices for this, and their results, said so much about them: Merle trusting and getting betrayed, Taako betraying and being trusted in turn, and then Magnus trusting and being trusted in return. Even if the results were just coincidence, decided by a dice roll, it was such a charming bit of serendipity. Of course, with the removal of this part, they also made the choice to remove...

Lord Artemis Sterling and co.: I admit, I have mixed feelings about this. While I think it works, I also think showing other people within Wonderland helps to raise the stakes. The novel makes it seem as though the Tres Horny Boys are the only three at Wonderland, even if it's established that others have visited it in the past. To contrast, in the podcast, having other contestants there, and then including them when Wonderland collapses, does a lot to show that the Relic was doing active harm. It set the stakes, much like saving Refuge, Sloan and Hurley, etc from the devastation of the Relics. I also just think the bit where Taako betrays and it cuts to their team on the screen would have been gut-wrenching (and neat!) to see in the novel.

Cam: I've seen other reviews lament his exclusion, especially as someone that plays into Lucretia's story. However, I understand this cut. Even within the arc, Cam felt like a character that was there for exposition. Even by the end of the arc, when Cam decides to leave the group, the boys point out that all Cam did was make them take on more spins.

Specific Sacrifices: I think this is where the arc suffers the most. Since the boys had to do less spins (from the loss of a Round and removing Cam), it makes sense that the specific sacrifices each of the boys made had to have a specific gravitas to it. Of course there had to be small sacrifices like Magnus' pinky or Taako's dexterity. But the heavier sacrifices suffered too. There is no Merle refusing to forget about the birth of his children (an establishing character moment in my opinion, especially since the graphic novels are really emphasizing that part of Merle's backstory), there is no Taako losing his beauty (again, another good establishing character moment as he struggles to choose if it's something to give up. While Magnus reassures Taako that everyone has their own struggles). And most importantly...there is no Magnus choosing to forget Governor Kalen. On one hand, I think it's fair that this was cut out but on the other hand, this is one of the scenes of the arc in my opinion. If they were worried about not having set up this part of Magnus' backstory, they could have made it so that Magnus realizes his hatred at that moment as well. There isn't anyone I hate, Magnus could say, before realizing this part of him that still holds a grudge. Maybe others might disagree, and I'm definitely on the fence about its exclusion, but it just felt anticlimactic for Magnus to demand the game be stopped if he gives up one big sacrifice only to back out when Lydia and Edward tell him what he needs to sacrifice.


Whew. That was a lot. Anyway. While I think it worked in some places, again, I think other decisions dropped the ball for the arc overall. However, if it drops the ball for the Suffering Game arc, the book picks up halfway for The Reunion Tour. I think this novel could have benefitted from being longer, and I really hope the Story and Song gets enough pages to wrap the story up. (From what I've seen, they're planning on making it as long as possible while keeping the book at the current price point. The best decision, really, but I for one wouldn't be opposed to spending a bit more for a longer book, especially if it's the last book of the series.)

Overall though, most of this was just nitpicking from what I liked in the podcast. I'm not sure how a book-only reader might take everything, perhaps everything that was cut worked even better without having any previous expectations. I enjoyed the book a lot despite lamenting the loss of some of my favorite scenes and I cannot wait to see how the novels will expand on the next arcs.

[Gretal · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been really excited to get to this arc in the graphic novels, and unfortunately I think that in this one we lost a lot with the graphic novel format. By necessity, the actual Suffering Game arc was quite a bit shorter than in the podcast with quite a few things cut I was especially disappointed to realize that Taako didn't lose his good looks. Still, I enjoyed this and look forward to the final book.

[Cal Sab · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm reading this out of obligation to the series, as I've read all the others and I've listened to the podcast in its prime. I know the series is close to an end now, so I'm reading through the rest of them to finally put the series to rest.
As this series has continued, I've noticed the drop in quality of the artwork, which personally, I do not blame the artist herself. The turnarounds for this book are, no doubt, short and fast, but there's part of me that wishes there was a person to approve the final artwork or to just go in and fix up smaller mistakes like lines outside the panels, color blotted outside of where it should be, etc. The Hunger, as it was introduced in this novel, was admittedly hard to read around. Now I get it, it's intended to be hard for the reader to understand what it is, as it was intended to be from the audio series, but it was to the point where I couldn't understand where one panel ended and another began. I'll be honest, most of the pages where people were attempting to fight The Hunger or The Hunger was the main attraction of the pages/spread, I sort of skipped over it predominantly because I didn't feel like doing the mental gymnastics it required to comprehend what was happening in each panel. At least the colors were nice though, I'm a big fan of glitchy effects.
All in all, you'll be hearing from me with the last book upon release (which apparently is slated for next year?). If you're a die-hard fan of the series, go for it, I'm sure you won't be disappointed, but if you know nothing about The Adventure Zone as a whole and you're curious about this novel, I'll be so real with you, pass it. There's so much nuance that comes with the series, some of it won't make sense, but if you truly want to read it, don't let me stop you. To those who are following along with the series via the reviews instead of reading the series itself, godspeed.