Dungeons & Dragons: Ravenloft Caravan Of Curses #1 - IDW Publishing [Part One]

DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: RAVENLOFT CARAVAN OF CURSES No. 1, April 2024

Described by “IDW Publishing” as “an oversized one-shot containing four terrifically terrifying short stories”, this hefty anthology certainly seems to start off well enough, courtesy of a truly torrid tale by Amy Chase and Casey Gilly which is initially set within Tenebrarum Woods. Indeed, if the cackling crone and her decidedly disconcerting maggot baby don’t instantly raise the heckles upon the back of its audience’s necks, then the quite literal buckets of blood which soon follow after the “gang of misfits” encounter the blue-hued Yvelda Bonnefoy, surely will.

Fortunately however, such a grotesque curse as having to pour and drink numerous teacups over brimming with ruddy-coloured gore, hasn’t simply been penned just for its sickening impact upon any perusing bibliophile. But is surprisingly central to an intriguing storyline of royal court politics that depicts a malicious mother-in-law determined to ruin her son’s marriage when he falls for a woman supposedly far beneath him on the social ladder; “The true purpose of the gift is removing any threats to your security and station. I care not for that little opportunist’s feelings.”

Far more flowery word-wise, and ultimately rather disappointing when it comes to the tale’s somewhat uncertain ending, is this comic’s look at an arrogant Elven actor who initially appears to have become the prey of a werewolf-turned-understudy. This deadly threat to Aster’s future becomes increasingly bleak when it appears that the thespian’s foe has deliberately infected him with a deftly placed scratch upon his right shoulder, and many a reader’s heart will surely beat a little faster when his boyfriend finds himself confronted by a pack of potential hungry lycanthropes in the claustrophobic darkness of the understage.

Somewhat frustratingly though, the possibility of a man-wolf or four massacring anyone is eventually shown by the Vistana witch as being an infuriating red-herring, after she swiftly deduces the true cause of the now rapidly aging artist’s dire predicament. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the performer appears eager for the hag to rid him of his unsightly, wrinkly flesh. Yet in doing so it arguably becomes unclear as to whether he will for at least a short time re-tread the boards with both vigour and youth, or rather unconvincingly has agreed to suicidally die there and then with simply an ageless countenance for the worms to marvel at.

The regular cover art of "DUNGEONS & DRAGONS: RAVENLOFT CARAVAN OF CURSES" #1 by Sarah Stern