Posts Tagged ‘extended universe’

Blizzard’s Extensive Extended Universe (List)

8 March 2012 | 9 Comments » | iTZKooPA

List last updated: March 2012

Many people spent Martin Luther King Jr’s holiday schlepping around their house, possibly at work or, and this is the really good-natured people out there, donating their time to a charity. Me, well I spent my time re-organizing my gaming shelves (due to in-home construction).

During the shuffling of games, the mingling of HDDVD (fail) and BluRay and coupling of previous and current generation peripherals I stumbled across a “lost” form of entertainment, the tactile sensations of books, board games and graphic novella. During the organization of this unconnected form of entertainment I realized one important fact: There’s a lot of Expanded Universe material to Blizzard’s universes.

Hit the Continue Reading stub to have your mind blown by the vast amounts of novels, board games, manga, comics and trading card game paraphernalia that have been created to extend one of Blizzard’s three universes. Continue Reading

The Novel Post: World of Warcraft: Wolfheart Review

2 December 2011 | 1 Comment » | iTZKooPA

This review of the World of Warcraft: Wolfheart novel by Richard A. Knaak is of the spoiler-free variety.

The latest novel for Warcraft’s Expanded Universe sits firmly in the current timeline of the game, as most recent novels have. Readers are placed in a small window after the Cataclysm and the events of Lord of His Pack, but before the official induction of the worgen to the Alliance. This is notable because the author, Richard A. Knaak, tends to write in his own timeline. Nearly all of his work has been set in the game’s past, including a handful of plots that few living beings would have intimate knowledge of. Knaak’s other common trait is the inclusion of “his” characters, Tyrande Whisperwing and Malfurion Stormrage. Both of these characters play an integral role to the dual plot.

Yes, a dual plot. Interested?

Knaak weaves two distinct threads throughout Wolfheart. Not so shockingly, one tale features the struggles of the Alliance, while the other showcases the audacity of the reinvigorated Horde. Making this novel fully capable of playing a fantastic Benedict Arnold (overall, more Alliance focused).

Hit the cut to find out how the novel comes together and if Knaak has finally won over one of the Lore Hounds. Continue Reading

The Novel Post: Warcraft: Legends Volume 1 (Free for Download on iPad/iPhone through Thursday)

1 June 2011 | No Comments » | pixiestixy

This review of Warcraft: Legends Volume I is of the spoiler-free variety.

The five-volume Warcraft: Legends series has been out for a good while now, with the first book released in 2008 and the other volumes coming out over the course of about a year. But I had not yet had the chance to read them, and they actually had been off my radar for quite some time until last week when Cryptozoic announced that it had acquired exclusive rights to distribute digital versions of Blizzard’s extended universe manga.

Along with that announcement came the promotion of offering the first volume of Warcraft: Legends for free via the new Cryptozoic Comics app for iPhone and iPad. I jumped on that opportunity, and although it’s a bit belated, wanted to share my thoughts on the book for those of you also pondering the acquisition of free goodies while they’re still gratis.

Legends offers a diverse line of four unrelated stories set in various stages of the Warcraft universe.

The first story, Fallen is a collaboration between Richard Knaak and Jae-Hwan Kim. The first part of the Trag Highmountain story, Fallen follows up from the Sunwell Trilogy. The tauren Trag, who readers were first introduced to in Warcraft: Shadows of Ice, finds himself reborn as one of the undead after defeating the Baron Valimar Mordis. Mordis who had stolen the orb of Ner’zhul from the scourge and raised a frost wyrm, ultimately intending to spread the will of the forsaken. Trag crushed both the Baron and the orb — but in doing so cursed himself to undeath. Continue Reading

Losing Tokyopop Deal Costs Us Excellent Storytelling, Progression

30 March 2011 | No Comments » | iTZKooPA

Early this month, we broke the story that Tokyopop and Blizzard would be going separate ways. Originally thought to be the cause of recent strife inside Tokyopop, it was later revealed that Blizzard felt it didn’t have the time and resources to dedicate to this section of the Expanded Universe. After releasing more than 20 products together, the companies have parted ways, leaving at least one storyline hanging in the void.

Personally, I believe WoW’s universe, its lore, is the title’s greatest asset. People may believe that they don’t care about it, but if it was stripped from the game, I subscribe to the notion that the game would be far less popular. I bring this up because the manga has been a perfect avenue to test the character development waters for Blizzard, to progress storylines. The Warcraft: Legends branch being the epitome of perfect brand extension.

The series enabled Blizzard writers and outside wordsmiths to expand and complete game storylines that, for whatever reason, haven’t been fleshed out in the game. The origins story of the Headless Horseman is a prime example of such expansion. Or we’d be introduced to entirely new characters, some that would be incorporated to the game, delivering extra fan service. Furthermore, the medium allowed for a much quicker turn around than, say, the novels. Tokyopop could produce and (occasionally) had its work vetted by Blizzard in time for major seasonal or storyline events. The medium supported any type of storytelling techniques, from one shots to frame narratives to long-running arcs. Ultimately, it was a perfect testing ground to see what the dedicated lore fans enjoyed. This enabled Blizzard to cherrypick techniques, stories or writers to bring to the digital medium.

That’s why all of us should miss the medium. The stories were good, experimental and conclusive. More importantly, they were frequent. Blizzard is infamous for making tortoises seem reckless. In the immediate Internet age, content from the company comes as often as an Ice Age. By partnering itself with Tokyopop, Blizzard gave gamers a reprise from the massive droughts between digital content. We could continue to invest in the universe – either StarCraft or Warcraft – to see our favorite characters progress or be introduced to new figures as we waited for the next major content package or expansion.

We’ve still got the impossible-to-find comic and numerous novels, but the absence of Tokyopop’s work will leave a massive void in the lore lineup in the coming months. Not to mention The Novel Post.

The Novel Post: StarCraft: Ghost Academy Volume 3 Review

21 March 2011 | 3 Comments » | iTZKooPA

What does Nova do in the face of a hyrdralisk swarm? She clenches her butt.

The first entry in Ghost Academy was a character experiment. Readers spent the majority of their time getting a feel for the (largely boring) characters –  Gabriel Tosh, Nova Terra, Kath Toom, Lio Travski and Delta Emblock – at the expense of a grandiose adventure. Volume 2 increased the tale’s scope, introducing additional storylines, showing us what’s going on outside school. Volume 3 combines the storylines for an epic finale to a series that has matured to Tullamore Dew Special Reserve quality.

The third installment begins with the final days of Ghost Academy. The training culminates with former adversaries becoming allies when Team Red and Blue are coalesced under Tosh’s command. With little time to learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses, the new team  - purple, for those that don’t know the color wheel – is deployed in the field for the first time. The routine training mission on a safe planet of The Baker’s Dozen system is diverted to Shi, of the same system, after Lio detects a faint radio signal. The discovery of zerg hatcheries on the surface seals the decision, forcing Team Purple to conduct their final training mission in a live operation.

Who will die? Do the ghosts pass their final mission? Will the zerg get their hands on that perfectly sculpted posterior? You’ll find the answer to none of those questions after the jump (SPOILER FREE review, remember?)! Continue Reading

The Novel Post: World of Warcraft: The Dragons of Outland Volume 2 – Nexus Point Review

4 March 2011 | No Comments » | iTZKooPA

This review of World of Warcraft: The Dragons of Outland Volume 2 – Nexus Point is of the spoiler-free variety (since most of this lore is known).

It’s not uncommon for a sequel to of a piece of media to pick up where its predecessor left off. In Nexus Point, the second (and likely final) installment of the The Dragons of Outland trilogy, writer Richard A. Knaak takes it to the next level. The manga picks up exactly where Shadow Wing left off, with Ragnok Bloodreaver baring down on the portal with the Dragonmaw clan army backed by mind-controlled nether dragons. Jorad Mace and his broken friend, Warrith, are hot on Bloodreaver’s heels. Meanwhile, Tyri, the blue dragon, discovers a shocking revelation.

Well, discovering that the nether dragons are spawned from Black dragonflight eggs mixed with arcane energies from Draenor’s destruction would have been shocking. Had we not learned about it ages ago. Scheduling issues took the wind out of the story’s sails for me early, and the book never fully recovered.

The story thread of Ragnok and Jorad battling it out in front of the Dark Portal felt incredibly forced. Their struggle, which is a visual treat from Jae-Hwan Kim, appears to have been created just to precipitate the nether dragons escape to Azeroth, where the real tale begins. Or to show off Kim’s talents. Being back in Outland felt odd, yet refreshing for the early part of Nexus Point. Then the reader is thrust to the icy shores of Northrend and the magical leys of Coldarra, where little happens. Truthfully, the tale could have revolved around Tyri and her two nether companions, Zzeraku and Valoku. Everything else was fluff, indirectly leading them to their greater purpose without any interesting character development, unknown details or revelations by those that played second fiddle.

Hit the jump to digest the rest of the review. Continue Reading

Blizzard & Tokyopop End Six-Year Relationship [Update2]

3 March 2011 | 8 Comments » | iTZKooPA

The Novel Post has been a staple column in the Lore Hound diet since the beginning. Long running and often updated thanks to Blizzard’s various licensing deals across numerous literary medias, the column is going to slim down in 2011. That’s not because we writers are getting lazy. Heavens no. It’s because Tokyopop, Blizzard’s most frequent producer for the Expanded Universe, over 20 products to date, is no longer making manga for the Blizzard universes.

According to an inside source, Blizzard is no longer in a relationship with the Los Angeles-based publisher of anime and manga. “The TOKYOPOP/Blizzard program ends with [the latest] books” the source said.

Tokyopop has been struggling to remain profitable in recent years, with a major restructuring occurring in 2008. More recently, the company saw its COO John Parker resign in February, followed by more employees layoffs on March 1. The collapse of Borders and its inability to pay what it owed content creators forced Tokyopop’s latest cutbacks.

This week’s downsizing included well-known manga editor Lillian Diaz-Przybyl and Troy Lewter. Lewter’s name should ring a bell to Blizzard fans, as he was the editor behind Tokyopop’s most recent batches of Blizzard-based manga.

[Update]

According to the source, the dissolution of the agreement has nothing to due with the most recent layoffs. The decision for the companies to go their separate ways “was actually made a while back.”

[Update2]

A further inquiry was just returned. Blizzard decided to end the agreement, despite being happy with the returns, due to its own inability to fully commit to the project. The developer felt that it did not have enough time to devote to co-developing and reviewing the products in a timely fashion. See the Feast of Winter Veil story in Warcraft: Legends 3 coming out months after the holiday as evidence.

[End Updates]

Blizzard protects its intellectual property closely – ask any number of people that have been hit with cease and desists letters – and has been known to let licensing agreements expire due to quality concerns. Just ask Upper Deck Entertainment. The internal strife at Tokyopop likely precipitated the end of the relationship (See updates above), since the books saw at least modest commercial success. But the exact reason remains unconfirmed.

Fans of Richard A. Knaak and Kim Jae-Hwan are probably wondering what is going to happen to The Dragons of Outland. The proposed trilogy from the team that created The Sunwell Trilogy had its second installment released earlier this week (along with StarCraft: Ghost Academy Volume 3). The third and final chapter, and only announced manga not produced, is now in limbo.

We’ve reached out to our contacts to have these questions answered, but none have responded as of press (see update).

It’s quiet sad that this avenue of storytelling is going away. Manga offered a perfect way for Blizzard to get stories out that needed to be told, but for whatever reason, haven’t made it in to the games. Case in point, the absolutely stellar origins story for the Headless Horseman. Warcraft: Legends really hit its stride the last two volumes. To those at Tokyopop that made the products happen, thank you for the hard work and captivating stories and artwork!

You can see, and buy, all of the products created during the six-year relationship in our Extensive Expanded Universe piece.

The Novel Post: World of Warcraft: Shaman Review

12 November 2010 | 2 Comments » | iTZKooPA

This review of World of Warcraft: Shaman is of the spoiler-free variety.

The class-based World of Warcraft manga from Tokyopop has not resonated well with me to date. The story for Death Knight was a prequel/re-telling of Thassarian’s lore that had already been recanted in-game months beforehand. Mage told a story of a person we’d never heard of — in a setting untouched by the gameworld — and finished with a resolution that would be lucky to warrant future cameos. To be fair, our guest reviewer saw it differently. As Thassarian showed, class-based manga can have a cohesive and intriguing story as long as it focuses on a semi-known character and the role of the class in one’s life. Paul Benjamin, the writer for Shaman, picked up on the strengths of Death Knight and eradicated its weaknesses.

Shaman starts off, oddly enough, with a flashback to the War of the Three Hammers. Benjamin uses the epic war between the dwarven tribes to illustrate how abuse of the elements can have disastrous effects on Azeroth. Thaurissan of the Dark Iron Dwarves (not to be confused with Thassarian from Death Knight) and his accidental executioner, Ragnaros, cause a bit of a stir. This leads immediately to the introduction of Shotoa, an Earthen Ring member that believes the turmoil of the elements to be the cause of numerous natural disasters. His feelings go deeper, against the training of shamans. His talks with the elements cause him to act boldly, to demand that the elements answer his calls, rather than asking for help. His audacity is met by a plummet deep inside the earth as he attempts to save his apprentice. Continue Reading