Pathfinder No.1 A Rare Gem

Pathfinder No. 1 Aug.2012 cover by Erik Jones

There is no question about it: Dynamite's Pathfinder #1 is definitely intended as a vehicle to mobilize readers toward purchasing and playing the immensely popular table-top RPG by Paizo based on D&D 3.5 rules.

For today's "Throwback Tuesday" we take a look at this intriguing comic which came in multiple cover flavors. The one at right is one of my favorites and also the one I purchased at the back-issue bin. While it's kind of a stretch to call a comic book that is not even a year old a throwback, it does semantically qualify and since I have been in an RPG frame of mind of late, why the heck not??


It was nearly $4 cover price when new and if you paid that for it then you did get a lot of bang for your buck including an entire section of the "Pathfinder Chronicles" which details the setting of Sandpoint, the rustic and prosperous town in which the story is set in. There are some adventure hooks including a setting based on Junk Beach and a nifty one page map detailing all of the setting's places of interest.

It's also cool that the characters in the comic book's story, Seoni the female human sorcerer, Valeros the male human fighter, Ezren the middle-aged human wizard and Merisiel the female elf rogue, are given descriptions in the book along with their backstory and stats, which can easily be transplanted and used by a GM to a table top campaign, which is of course, what Paizo was banking on with this comic book, to drum up more interest for the game.

In spite of this, the story found between the book's cover is pretty darned fun to read. It's pure D&D fantasy stuff of course, a group of adventurers walk into town and are recruited to an adventure dealing with a group of overpowered goblins. Nothing out of the norm here, but there are shades and nuances to the characters within the fantasy tropes. Seoni is the leader of the group "an exotically beautiful Varisian who keeps her emotions tightly bottled and her schemes secret." That's a good way to describe her as there is a maternal aspect to her as well. "I'll keep an eye on the children" she tells the Wizard before a night of reveling and bar brawling at the inn before they head off on an adventure. Ah, there's always an inn in every fantasy adventure is there not?

The comic is beautifully rendered and colored by the artistic chops of Andrew Huerta and Ross Campbell. A good addition to any fantasy lover's collection.