Forgotten Realms: Homeland collects issues one to three of the Devil's Due comic series into a 160 page tradepaperback. Together these issues adapt the first book of of R.A. Salvatore's Drizztian origins trilogy.
This review covers some general plot points, but doesn't spoil any surprises. It's also a revision & expansion of my earlier review of issues #1-2 of the comic.
The Story
Homeland is the origin story of Drizzt Do'Urden.
Three main plots run through the series.
First, we learn the story of a drow born into the great Undercity of Menzoberranzan. It tells of how he fits into that society, and the challenges he faces as he comes of age.
Second, besides just learning of Drizzt's early years, we also explicitly see how he becomes the person that we recognize in Salvatore's later books and we encounter important touchstones, such as his early lessons with the scimitars and his meeting of the panther Guenhwyvar.
Third, we have the story of the family Do'Urden, their destruction of the Devir family, and the cycle of vengeance which this begins.
This is all an adaptation of R.A. Salvatore's novel Homeland (1990).
The Continuity
In 1988 TSR published The Crystal Shard, R.A. Salvatore's first published novel, the first novel in the Icewind Dale trilogy, and one of the first few Forgotten Realms novels. It featured a band of adventurers, one of whom was Drizzt Do'Urden, a deadly double-scimitar-wielding drow fighter. He was the exact character that my most munchkin friends wanted to play throughout High School (expect, perhaps, for his hatred of drow ways and society), and thus it wasn't much of a surprise that he was a big hit and would live far beyond that initial trilogy.
Drizzt has now starred in 16 different novels, some of them New York Times bestsellers. The second series of novels he featured in was the "Dark Elf" trilogy, and it told Drizzt's origin, before the Icewind Dale stories. Homeland was the first of those books.
The city of Menzoberranzan is probably ultimately based upon the Vault of the Drow, the underground city of the drow first revealed in Descent into the Depths of the Earth, a 1978 AD&D adventure, and also the first place where the drow appeared. The actual city of Menzoberranzan was published as an AD&D Forgotten Realms supplement in 1992.
None of this is necessary to understand this comic, however. It's the origin of Drizzt, and thus his story begins here.
This, by the by, isn't the first Forgotten Realms comics. DC did two comics set there in the early 1990s, Forgotten Realms and Advanced Dungeons & Dragons. I enjoyed them at the time, and I have a sneaking suspicion that Drizzt might have made a cameo somewhere therein, but I no longer have the issues to actually check (alas).
The Storytelling
Origin stories are tricky things. You have to balance telling a good and interesting story with integrating all of the background details about your character. In addition, you have to somehow maintain tension despite the fact that the readers probably already know the fates of your main characters. Unfortunately, Homeland is weak by many of these criteria.
If you take the heart of the story as the origin of Drizzt, it's fine. We see his birth, his early trials, his schooling, and ultimately his problems with his society. We come to learn where the origin of his unconventional (for the drow) morals are. Here the comic succeeds, though it's a bit dry, particularly for the first half.
We also get to see some of the real interactions of the drow in Menzoberranzan and how their society works & this is going to be interesting for any fan of the Realms.
However, the story of the Do'Urden's house's attempted ascendency starts off quite weak because there's not a lot of tension in whether Drizzt's house succeeds or fails. Fortunately, by the third part of the comic, when things start really happening, the excitement ramps up, and its a worthwhile payoff for the first two-thirds of the comic being a bit slow.
I think part of the problem of the comic is that the unsure, young Drizzt that we meet at the start of this comic isn't that interesting, except as a benchmark, but by the third act he's become the kick-ass warrior that people are more familiar with from Salvatore's other books, and he definitely is fun to watch.
Before closing, it's worth noting that the adaptation of the original Salvatore book is very good. Sometimes adaptations can be quite jumpy, because you have to cut a lot, but Dabb's script for this book never hints that anything is missing, thanks primarily (I suspect) to the wide span of time it covers. It reads quite well.
On the whole Homeland succeeds most as a narrative sourcebook for the Forgotten Realms & background for the Drizzt. The core plot of Drow in-fighting is a bit slower, but is served a worthwhile conclusion by the end of the story. On the whole Homeland earns an average "3" out of "5" Substance rating. It's good reading.
The Artwork
The artwork of Forgotten Realms: Homeland, by Tim Seeley, is in a fairly cartoony style. Figures are kept simple, and often idealized. The peoples in the comic remind me of those drawn by some of the more stylized super-hero artists, like Todd McFarlane or Erik Larsen. They're generally drawn well and consistently within this style.
Unfortunately, much of the comic seems to be filled with talking heads. We see drow talking and walking and for the most part this doesn't hold my visual interest. Some action scenes and some spells do help this out, and those increase in commonness as the book goes on, to the point where I had no such complaints by the third act. I also feel like the few times when the story presents other characters, including hook horrors, goblins, and other denizens of the Underdark, the artwork immediately rises to a new level, but they're too infrequent.
My overall impression of the comic when I first read it was "drab". Much of this was probably a stylistic decision by the colorist, who often portrays gray-skinned drow in dull-colored clothing in front of dull-colored walls. The occasional spots of color, usually the result of magic spells, are all the more shocking as a result, but not sufficient to really brighten the comic.
In this new reproduction as a trade paperback the contrast has been tweaked up just a tiny bit, and I was amazed how many new details leaped out. It's still a bit drab as a whole, but less so.
This drabness is also the result of a general decision to keep backgrounds fairly plain and simplistic. We see a lot of stone walls and a fair number of bookcases. This is a bit of a pity, because there was a lot of potential to really depict a weird, alien city that I feel was overlooked here. In a few places where we do see more details, including glowing facades and occasional classical ornaments in houses, the story immediately takes on a much more three-dimensional feel, but that's unfortunately missing from much of the comic.
Combat, often the heart of Salvatore's books, starts off a bit dull as the artist often cuts away from physically depicting a fight to instead show a silhouette or swords clashing or worse violence being done. However, this improves as the comic progresses, and by the third part of the comic, I thought the artist was very comfortable with drawing solid combats.
One of the best sequences in the book is the first page from the first comic, which shows a hapless kobold in the Underdark. I've included a thumbnail to the right, as contrast. It suggests that the artist & colorist can do some interesting work, and it may just be that the constraints of the adaptation don't allow for that to be highlighted. (And it's always a danger that adaptations might not work well in a more visual medium.)
Overall, the artwork slowly improves as the comic goes on, and this new trade paperback production definitely brings its strengths out a slight bit more. I've given the comic an average "3" out of "5" for Style, but I'm interested to see what the artist is able to do when future books (presumably) bring us out of the Underdark.
The Presentation
Homeland is presented as a high-quality 160-page graphic novel. It's a well laid out book. Individual issues are separated by chapter pages, and all the covers for the original comics, including several alternative versions, are collected at the back.There's also some very nice endpapers at the front and back of the book.
Usage in RPGs
As I've already said, I think Homeland's best use may actually be as an RPG supplement. It gives insight into Menzoberranzan and will be of interest to Forgotten Realms and drow fans.
Conclusion
The Forgotten Realms: Homeland trade paperback feels like a series slowly finding its feet. The plot starts off slow, but comes to a worthwhile conclusion, and the artwork slowly improves as the comic progresses. Overall, the book is an interesting starting point for a collection of Forgotten Realms comics, and I'm looking forward to what's up next.
