WarCraft Leyendas, Volume #1

Warcraft Legends #1

by Richard A. Knaak, Dan Jolley, Troy Lewter

UNA ANTOLOGÍA DE LAS MEJORES HISTORIAS DEL MUNDO DE WARCKRAFT

El universo del videojuego de estrategia y fantasía más famoso del mundo está lleno de historias por contar; protagonizadas por elfos y taurens, trolls y enanos, estos relatos narran historias de arrojo y valor, amistad y traición. WARCRAFT : Leyendas recopila las mejores historias a cargo de algunos de los autores más destacados del momento.

Genres: Warcraft, Manga, Fantasy, Comics, World Of Warcraft, Graphic Novels, Fiction

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2005

About the author

Richard A. Knaak is the bestselling author of Dragonlance novels, the Dragonrealm and Black City Saint series (his own creations), six novels for Blizzard Entertainment's Diablo series, and six works in the Warcraft universe. He has also written several non-series fantasy books.

Reviews

[Athena Shardbearer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really really enjoyed this one, much more than I expected. It gave a little insight into the lore of the game and things that I didn't know about certain characters. This was more of short stories of the different worlds in WoW and I want more!!!

[ℓуηη_σƒ_νєℓαяιѕ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fallen - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Poor Trag! I loved him in the Sunwell Trilogy, and for his life to take this turn 😣 Betrayals hurt like a bitch. Screw Highmountain tribe!

The Journey - ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 1/2
Halsand, Thorn, Ciarin & Lelior like are excellent characters. Lelior & Ciarin definitely gave me Legolas & Gimli vibes 😁 Maddox was a total putz. Sad how things ended.

How to Win Friends - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
This starts off with a cute rhyme about "Corrigan the stout of arm" and how he sucker-punched a dragon 🐉 Ya gotta love dwarven pub songs 😉 The main character is a shy little gnome, Lazlo Grindlewidget, newly transplanted from Goldshire to Kharanos. Bit of a climate shock I'd think ❄ Anyway, poor lil' guy just wants to fit in in the community. Luckily things work out for him in the end 😊 Oh, there was also a hilarious bit with a nelf druid:

"Oh - healing? I, ah, I don't really do healing so much, per se. I have more of a focus on shapeshifting, see -"

I may have snickered too much at that 😂

An Honest Trade - ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Dayum! That's are hard lesson learned about greed & pride 🙊 I'm feeling rather sad for Nori Blackfinger and his son Eli 😢 Also lesson learned at the end, even if you're a big hulking orc with a reputation you still don't want to piss off a dwarf. You will lose.

The End

[Toby · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first of the Warcraft Legends manga (& the first Warcraft manga that I’ve read), this was a fun little volume with four separate stories.

1. Fallen — the story of an undead Tauren that started in Warcraft: the Sunwell Trilogy (which I have not read but now want to!), this is continued in the second volume. 3/5 stars; I was not thrilled by the small amount of story we were provided in this volume. I also don’t enjoy Knaak and how overly purple his prose is. It’s just annoying rather than elegant.

2. The Journey — 4/5. SOB STORY, have your tissues ready!

3. How To Win Friends — a cute story about a misfit gnome and how he helps save Kharanos from a troll invader and thus makes friends! 4/5 stars.

4. An Honest Trade — 3.5 out of 5 stars. Another emotional rollercoaster slash morality tale. It was the morality bit that aggravated me but at the same time, the context in which it was being told was quite clever.

Note: I am a WoW player and have been for over a decade. I’m not sure how much anyone who is unfamiliar with Warcraft/the WoW universe would enjoy this manga.

[Jason Ray Carney · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I'm a big WoW fan and really into the game's lore. With that out of the ways this was a relatively entertaining and unpretentious manga adaptation of four different *World of Warcraft* tales. The first story features a Forsaken (Undead) Tauren, Trag Highmountain. The second story features an undead-infested town that is a familiar setting in the game: Andorhal. The third story was my least favorite because it was rendered using less of a manga and more of a "Disney" illustration style. It was about a misunderstood gnome engineer. The last story was my favorite: it was a dark tale of a Dwarven blacksmith whose moral neutrality cost him dearly. If you like *World of Warcraft* lore and mangage your expectations, you'll like this.

[Mantas Dzemedzionka · Rating 4 out of 5]

Geros istorijos.

[SwedishBrute · Rating 4 out of 5]

*The Swedish translation

Den Fallne 3/5
Resan 4/5
Att Vinna Vänner 3/5
Ett Ärligt Byte 4/5

Total 3.5/5

[Andre · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think these four stories were overall pretty enjoyable. There was nothing terribly original about them but that doesn't mean a story is bad after all.
They fit pretty well with World of Warcraft, of course I cannot tell whether they screw around with continuity or anything, and I think they are nice stories that are fitting for a quick read and except for the first of them they can all be read without knowing anything about the World of Warcraft.
I especially liked the last one with its bigger focus on interpersonal relationships and the power of words. Also the second one had a nice little touch of realism with the children's rhyme warning about the Plague. For those not familiar with Warcraft, the plague can turn you into an undead being like this:


The only odd thing about this was the third story, which had a much lighter tone and mood, more along slapstick than anything else. It was an odd little story among all those other stories of death, disease and murder.

Now the artwork was for the most part pretty good and fitting the tone of each story. However I would say the first one was a bit to detailed with all its shadings and backgrounds. Also considered that this one undead was on fire for some time you would think he looks more burned and not pretty much indistinguishable from before.
Also in the second story I was thinking:
"Holy shit was is wrong with the neck of that dwarven woman? It is far too long and the way her head is angled makes it look as if her neck had been bent to her left. Seriously, this cannot be healthy."
But these were minor points, for the most part I think the artists did a good job.

[Hawke Embers · Rating 2 out of 5]

You cant spell 'Average' without 'Warcraft Legends'

I read these out of interest in fantasy, Warcraft lore and a love of great manga art, sadly all of these elements are pretty 'meh.' I found reading each volume to be somewhat of a drag and I didn't actually finish Vol 1 and a couple of the others due to finding the reading experience to be somewhat of a grind.
Some of the tales are interesting; with volume 1 & 5 highlighting two particularly gripping tales, one about the origins of the Headless horseman and the other about a father trying to provide for his family in the plague-lands. Some of the smaller tales are interesting.... enough, and that backhanded compliment is really the best I can mange.

The art is ok but has more in common with Western comicbook art than it does Manga and the stories are ok overall.

If you're desperate for a light fantasy read; both in tone and technicality then give this a go but otherwise there isnt much special here. Though the idea of a Warcraft manga is pretty amazing, maybe they will revisit it someday but with better creative direction.

[Cameron · Rating 2 out of 5]

Four unrelated short-stories in manga/graphic novel format. All four are presented from Alliance pov, with Horde as the villains. The last story makes the novel worth it, but the quality of the art is average, and the other three stories were mediocre so I won't be continuing with the series.

[Georgia Rose · Rating 3 out of 5]

this was a cute book, fun to read but sad at parts. i'd like to get a hold of the next volume as soon as possible! (mainly my inner geek just enjoyed the lore/geography references)

[Becky · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Don't worry...I think you'll like this one. It has all the ingredients of a fine tale...action, murder, revenge..and a surprise ending...Once upon a time..."

When it comes to World of Warcraft, a vast world filled with thousands upon thousands of interlocking stories and characters, I feel this is one of the better ways to approach the lore. Not telling one big story (although the big lore books do play their part) but letting all the different races and factions and worlds tell the smaller stories that make up Azeroth.

This whole collection earns a solid four stars simply because there isn't a dud among any of the stories (with one story shining far more than the others), but just for posterity, I'm review them all individually.

Also, just as a quick side-note, this particular collection is more focused on Alliance races (with just the one tauren story) and the Horde races mainly show up to be enemies, in case you were shopping by faction.

Fallen- A Tauren, slowly being driven mad by the whispers of the Scourge, tries to find refuge among his own people and find a cure for his curse. Personally my least favorite of the four stories. While the artwork is solidly done (although I am a bit puzzled by the lack of pupils in any of the tauren and Trag sometimes blends in despite being an undead ghoul) and there is a really nice climax to this, I was not a fan of the Sunwell Trilogy and feel that Knaak's writing in this feels too...heavy, for lack of a better term. He's a novel writer writing for a manga, and because of that, there are one too many walls of text. I feel the writing and the drawings should have equal weight, and instead there was too many "Trag felt THIS WAY because etc. etc." passage blocks.
Also, not sure how Trag managed to escape being placed in a funeral pyre whilst in a trance completely unscathed.
References to game: Trag Highmountain is now an NPC that wanders around the Argent Tournament grounds in Northrend. There was speculation that he was going to have a part in the Icecrown Citadel raid during Wrath but that never happened.

The Journey- A farmer leaves his family and children to go with some adventurers to fight the scourge in Andorhal and take back the city once and for all, only for everything to go horrifically wrong. This is one of the better stories in this collection and is probably the most gruesome of the four. While there are some light moments (I like how the night elf warrior would joke around with the dwarf and they had these friendly insult fights with each other), this is a very sad blood-soaked death-filled story. There's a good blend of action and drama and really deals with the impact the Scourge had on the Eastern Kingdoms and how the Plague of Undeath can warp a person's mind and pit families against each other.
The ending of this in particular is incredibly poignant. That poor kid's going to have huge mental scars for the rest of his life...
References to game: None of the characters appear in the game proper, but it makes good reference to all the various lands taken over by the Lich King. And while Andorhal has yet to be completely retaken, it is now a warzone between the Alliance and the Horde and supposedly is under Forsaken control now.

"Feh. Gnomes. Not even magic gnomes."

How to Win Friends- Lazlo Grindwidget is a trifling gnome who just moved into Kharanos and finds that no one respects him, his fuse business, his pet bunny, or his useless gadgets. To make matters worse, a giant seemingly invincible Frostmane troll is now rampaging through Dun Morogh and it's up to Lazlo to put a stop to this tusky menace. I've noticed a lot of reviews list this one as their least favorite on account of the tone and the style, which is much more light-hearted compared to the other stories in this collection. Personally, this is probably my second favorite story. The style really fits the tone of the story (especially in the gnomes) and the dialogue is snappy and clever enough that I found new jokes in my second and third readings of this. I like that we have this story too, since World of Warcraft has serious quests and more comedic quests often taking place in the same town. Plus, without it, the overall tone of this book would've been much too heavy.
The troll in this is fun too, even if he changes into a weird bird creature in some panels. I got some laughs over the big bezerking troll look for his mojo, mon.
A part of this I never see anyone reference is the five-man group, complete with recognizable tier sets, that attacks the troll. To have this sort of tongue-in-cheek nod to the player base in any of the other stories here would've been out of place, but here it works. At one point, one of their members gets injured, asks for some healing, and the druid says "Oh, I don't really do healing, per say. I have more of a focus on shapeshifting". Pffft...
References to game: A lot of the named characters in Khanaros are actual NPCs in the game. Ozzie Togglevolt, Innkeeper Belm, and Razzle Sprysprocket all make an appearance. The five-man group has an issue with proper crowd control, DPS management, and specs.

An Honest Trade- A orc wakes up to find himself tied to a tree and forced to listen to a dwarf tell him a tale about a blacksmith named Nori Blackfinger, and how his greed led him to take on a quest to rid the world of his own swords and weapons. This is the best story in the book. The use of language coupled with the drawings makes this the closest thing to a perfect story in this. The pacing, the drawings, and the ending are all amazing.
Also, stick around for the final image in this story. I really wish this story somehow got referenced in game. Possibly with just a simple campfire with a sword laying next to it...
References to game: Havoc is apparently exalted with Undercity because he's riding the Forsaken racial mount (or he got lucky during a Stratholme run) and Booty Bay is the main backdrop in this story. It looks like two of Nori's customers are a Bloodsail Buccaneer and a member of the Defias Brotherhood.

All in all, definitely a fun book. It's probably my personal favorite of my Warcraft manga and believe it should be read by everyone who likes the Warcraft lore.

It does, as it says, contain some surprise endings.

"The End."

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. We’ve got a collection of four stories set in the Warcraft universe. The very first adventure, The Fallen, ties in to the second volume of the Sunwell trilogy. Meh.

The second story, The Journey, surprised me with its earnestness at trying to replicate aspects of the game while attempting cool. It is cool! It’s a tad dark and some themes are a bit antiquated.

The third story, How To Win Friends, I shouldn’t speak on. The art style irked me as did the plot. I skimmed and skipped.

The fourth story, An Honest Trade, is about on par with The Journey. If you have eyes you’ll see what’s coming. It’s either the best in this comic or second best.

So there you have it two stories that I enjoyed, two stories that left me wondering how they couldn’t think up ANYTHING else…

[Noelia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Es un cómic muy bueno, lo compré porque jugué a los videojuegos Warcraft 2 y 3, en especial el tres, y también un poco en world of warcraft a penas una semana para ser sincera.
Cuando has jugado a Warcraft 3 conoces a los personajes, Arthas, Thrall, y entre otros que marcaron la trama de la historia principal del videojuego. Con este cómic profundicé en la historia tras el videojuego, así como me hizo reflexionar sobre sus situaciones. Recuerdo con especial atención al mejor herrero enano, cuyas armas eran las más poderosas y las vendia al mejor postor, con independencia de sus intenciones con esas armas.
Pero su avaricia por obtener todo el oro posible de sus creaciones mortiferas puede volverse contra sí.

[Timothy Pitkin · Rating 4 out of 5]

While I was not to happy that this took a more anthology route instead of having a single narrative through it but I still liked most of the stories with the only story I did not like is the How to Win Friends but the others are really good with Fallen being a good call back to the first Warcraft manga series with Trag, The Journey being a good tragedy story with a heartbreaking twist, and An Honest Trade being a very well down revenge and tragedy story with another really great twist.

[David Matteri · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of four illustrated short stories in the Warcraft fantasy universe. I was pleasantly surprised at the depth of the characters and of the plots in these stories, making this worth reading even if you are not familiar with the game. Three of the four stories in this volume focuses on characters from the Alliance, though, so I hope that future volumes have more stories featuring characters from the Horde.

[Nerd_Pilgrim · Rating 4 out of 5]

The best story in my opinion was "An Honest Trade" although none were bad! I found all of them to be quite memorable and brief enough to hold my attention and get me accustomed to the story to end the tale nicely. The art is pretty good but does vary in quality. I've been loving the Warcraft universe recently and with stories or 'legends' like this, it certainly helps build the world and make it feel alive.

[Redfox5 · Rating 2 out of 5]

I think this might be the most boring manga I've ever read, although to be fair, I've not read the novels that are supposed to come before it. I has no idea what was gong on in 'Fallen'. It was hard to tell the characters apart. The rest of the stories were just so so and not that interested. Wouldn't recommend unless you are a big Warhammer fan.

[Sierra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I hadn't realize it was multiple stories until I started reading it. I recognized a couple, I think they're quests in the game, that or I been paying way too much attention to tavern talk. My favorite was The Journey.
By the way, this books timeline is set after Arthas becomes Lich King but before Deathwing and Cataclysm.

[Kyle T · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its pretty good, but the first two comics are brutally sad and made me hesitate to even continue reading. Most characters in this collection are bad people, or tragic souls. Then there's the gnome! Haha!

[Annemary Noble · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't notice at first that this was a short comic collection.
Inan unorthodox manner, I really enjoyed the story with the gnome inventor, the rest had a wee bit too much killing. But all in all, this was quite a quality comic to read, really nice all around.

[Spikkee R Djinn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un libro más de la franquicia de Warcraft, aquí se recoge breve relatos de héroes de los juegos. Mi recomendación personal son las historia de Vol'jin y Silvanas Brisaveloz.

[Austin Phadoungsyavong · Rating 5 out of 5]

It different story or short story and different art make same fantasy year in long ago like kind of melee, ranger, and magic in match story but we not real.

[Vojtěch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Příběhy zajímavé (i když žádný z nich nikterak neprohlubuje znalosti lore), kterým však chybí větší hloubka a pocit, že bych měl s hlavními hrdiny víc soucítit.

[KIRIAKI(Dominica Amat) · Rating 4 out of 5]

https://dominicamat.blogspot.com/2019...

[Santiago Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Las historias tiene mucha profundidad.
Me parece genial las ilustraciones.
Si eres amante de Warcraft 100% recomendado.

[Sjoerd]

Shorter comics like collected here work way better than the longer ones I've read

[Charlie Devlin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun set of warcraft stories.

[Ebster Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read. It didn't take very long to get through, but I liked the variety of stories. Some of them are tragic and others are a little more whimsical. I also liked that they center around ordinary people in this world, no super legendary ones. It kind of mimics the game experience with your character kind of making a name for itself, and you kind of building up a backstory for your character (if you RP).

1) The first one is about an undead tauren who's being 'called' by the Litch King. It's really sad, because he's in possession of his own mind right now, and he does the right thing but you know what's gonna end up happening to him! (See also: the death knight questlines)

2) The second involves a human farmer helping these warriors fight the scourge in Andorhal. Everyone else who writes scourge-storylines should take notes from this one. It's exactly the correct combination of gross and tragic.

3) The third one is about a gnome who recently moved from a predominantly human community to a dwarvish community and has a hard time fitting in (even with other gnomes), and him finding a way to fit in and prove he's committed to being a part of the community.

I love the setting, and Gnomes are pretty much my race, and I don't disapprove overall with how they were treated in this one, but I do think it's weird the character cares less about the impending threat than securing his own place in the community. For him, there's like a whole town full of people who are bigger and stronger than he is they've got the situation in hand, so what's the point in even offering to help? He's just wallowing in self-pity a bit much.

Also, his name is Laslow and I can't read that name without thinking of a really STUPID Doctor Who episode (ugh! I was rooting for the Dalek in that one

4) The last is about a mysterious dwarf and an orc mercanary sharing a story around a campfire. I don't want to give too much away on this one, because part of enjoying it is the slow reveal of these two guys' backstories. I do think they could have started the story out a bit differently to make the ending have a little more impact I think it would have been better if they were just two random people sitting at a campfire sharing casual conversation, and then Nori tells him the story. The ending was clearly supposed to catch you offguard "You...You're the blacksmith..." but it doesn't because DUH he's the blacksmith!!! Why else would he have friggin tied you up??? but overall it was pretty good.

[Dbgirl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I play World of Warcraft, it's a great game but I don't really know about the mythic. I've played it about three years now. I don't know how much of these have actually happened in a game and which things are just adding some depth to the story and characters. With this little knowledge, I enjoyed this book a lot. It's fast to read and entertaining. Entertaining in this book just doesn't mean it's fun (well, ok there is some humour), it actually have very grim, tragic and violent stories. It maybe would have been too much for me unless they wouldn't have had these lessons in them. I love good old-fashioned lesson stories when they're made well. My favourite stories were all of them (but especially that story where the guys go to Andorhal, and the last story), except that Lazlo's story which was comedic. I understand it was probably necessary to lighten a bit depressive mood before going to another depressive story but it just was the weakest link in these stories. It was fun though. I loved this book because it raised so many feelings in me, and of course because it was well written and drawn.

[Filip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fallen - even though I do not like Knaak's style much, as stated in my previous reviews, I have to admit that the first part of the story about an undead tauren seems more mature than any of his works. Also, drawing is quite nice. Though it is unfinished, it deserves 3/5 stars.

The Journey - this story takes us to Andorhal and revolves around one farmer's journey to the heart of Plaguelands. Although the story moves too fast for its boundaries, it nontheless is an excellent example what short stories should be told in WoW universe. 4/5

How to Win Friends - from top to bottom, from start to end, this story is very silly. And it does not work that way, lorewise or storywise. Also, drawing is not particulary to my liking 2/5

AN Honest Trade - the best is reserved for the last, as this story has everything mysterious character warns us about in the beggining. And indeed is there a twist ending. 4/5

Summary - 3/5