Comic Strip Review: Guilded Age Volume Three written by T. Campbell & Phil Kahn, illustrated by John Waltrip
Note: The following review contains SPOILERS for the previous two volumes.
The Peacemakers are an elite band of adventurers who are contracted by the city state of Gastonia, which is majority human but has people of other species living in it as well, to protect the city from various threats that the regular armed forces and city guard are not equipped to deal with. The primary known threat at the moment is a coalition of the Savage Races, more “monstrous” peoples bent on destroying the “civilized” races, but there are enemies within as well, most notably the prejudice of many Gastonians against anyone who isn’t like them.
The current lineup of the Peacemakers, in rough order of joining: Byron Hackenslasher, human berserker; Syr’nj, wood elf field medic; Frigg Akerfeldt, human crusader; Gravedust Deserthammer, Savasi (dwarf) mystic; Bandit Keynes, gnome thief; E-Merl Danielssen, half-elf magician; Rachel al Abinya, human cleric; and Scipio the Scorpion, human fighter.
While the team meshes well on the field of battle, there are sometimes personality clashes, different agendas, and dark secrets to contend with. A near-death experience has left the team shaken but closer than before.
The volume opens with a bonus chapter, “Woodreads”, which combines a look back at Syr’nj’s childhood with fragments from wood elf literature. It introduces a couple of characters who become important in this volume, at least for a few pages.
In the main story, Syr’nj works on finding a way to cure or at least mitigate Byron’s blood rages; Rachel trains with Frigg in an effort to allow Frigg to fully access her divine powers; the Savage Races attack a couple of times, and we meet some of their soldiers; there’s illegal weapon development in Gnometown, and the Peacemakers make a trip to B’ial Vezk, home of the wood elves, in an attempt to form an alliance.
This epic fantasy webcomic is now complete, and can be read on its own website, but collected volume sales help financially support the creators. The cartoony (usually) art works well for the story, which has a rich variety of personalities and plenty of twists.
And now about those SPOILERS I mentioned. It’s not a spoiler for this volume, but if you haven’t read the previous ones…. The world our heroes live in is not precisely real in the usual sense. It’s a deep immersion virtual reality scenario, and several of the characters are the avatars of “real world” people who have been stripped of their original memories and trapped inside the game. The introduction of these free-willed beings seems also to have kickstarted the NPCs into also having an approximation of free will and the planned storyline going off the tracks.
The CEO of the corporation that created the VR simulation has stopped trying to fix the situation and has moved to trying to exploit it, seeming to want to become a god. The segments in the “real world” are done with a more “realistic” style and with a more muted color palette. There’s relatively little of that plotline this issue, just a quick reminder that it’s happening.
Content note: fantastic racism, Byron is tortured in an attempt to deliberate invoke his berserk state, recreational drug use, and a fair amount of rough language, particularly from Frigg and Rachel. Plus of course fantasy violence. I’d put this as senior high readers on up.
Recommended to fantasy role-playing game and isekai fans.
