Shining a humourous light on the fantasy genre in the gentlest and most affectionate way, the Duds & Dragons saga gets its planned ten issue run off to a great start in this first issue.

Lycan pup Fenris is a Dud, which in fantasy terms means he doesn’t have a role in the endless battles that beset his world. After an intro in which the various terms describing more useful adventurers is explained to the reader, we join Fenris as his bigger, stronger brothers attempt to mould him into an adventurer that his village can rely on. When things suddenly go awry in a big way, and fate calls upon Fenris to suddenly become more than a Dud, will he be able to step up?

This is a charming comic, and despite its more parodic and humourous elements, Graham Misiurak’s script does a great job of being serious when it needs to be, and having real, genuine stakes for our protagonist to come up against. It doesn’t make light of actual danger, or turn tragedy into comedy; keeping the serious elements, well, serious, means that we can root for our little protagonist to face the genuine threats that are spreading through his world.

The artwork is gorgeous; Joanna Materek has a great knack for character design, as well as clear storytelling and action choreography, especially in a training scene that turns into a slapstick montage. Josh Rodriguez’s colours ensure that this issue is beautifully vibrant too (Alberto Sapien and A.L. Jones provide the absolutely gorgeous cover, for the record).

Duds & Dragons #1 really does get this new series off to a great start, and I’m really looking forward to seeing how Fenris copes as his adventures continue.

You can buy Duds & Dragons #1 directly from Duskleaf Media. Many thanks to Graham Misiurak for providing me with a digital copy of Duds & Dragons #1 for review purposes.