Warcraft Legends Vol. 3 Preview

Blizzplanet acquired 30 preview scans of Warcraft Legends Vol. 3 courtesy of Blizzard Entertainment and Tokyopop. You can view them after my impressions.

Warcraft Legends Vol. 3 will be available at bookstores on Tue 10 March 2009. A manga composed of four stories based on the Warcraft fantasy setting. Tokyopop provided me with an advance copy of this book. The manga has stories based on World of Warcraft quests and the Wrath of the Lich King expansion.

The first story Fiend—by Richard A. Knaak (writer) and Hae-Hwan Kim (artist)—is about Trag Highmountain (from the pages of Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy). Trag has risen with the curse of undead unable to control his mind and will. Seeking help in Kalimdor he is betrayed by his people. Only with the help of Thrall, he regains his free will and departs to Borean Tundra to pursue a special goal. To enact vengeance against Arthas the Lich King. He meets the Taunka’le Village inhabitants and protects them from the Anub’ar. That’s one of the quests you face in the expansion. Seeking a powerful weapon to face the Lich King, Trag accompanies a Taunka to Galakrond’s resting place. Galakrond has not been digged out by the Scourge yet in Dragonblight at this point. Volume 3 and 4 will be a must-have for fans who wish to learn this new lore, and to find out how the story will affect the Arthas the Lich King dungeon event.

The second story titled Crusader’s Blood—by Dan Jolley (writer) and Heinz Furukawa (artist)—is a very cool tie-in with the early Horde quest in classic World of Warcraft … Fields of Grief. After reading the story, I found similarities with a quest from the Brill Inn. Upon visit of the premises in the game, the main character is the Innkeeper Renee. The deathstalker, the Captive Scarlet Zealot and Captive Mountaneer from this story are the same found in the basement. The story remarks the cycle of hatred and vengeance the Scarlet Crusade was victim of by the likes of its true master: Dreadlord Balnazzar, and much more.

The third story titled I Got What Yule Need—by Christie Golden (writer) and Carlos Olivares (artist)—doesn’t necessarily fits the lore; but it is a refreshing story with elements of the game such as the Feast of the Winter Veil celebrated in Ironforge. It can’t be told without spoiling the purpose of the story. It has a very touching message. Those who are used to Christie’s Warcraft novels know her writting style when it comes to emotional situations.

The last story titled The Thrill of the Hunt—by Troy Lewter (writer) and Qing Ping Mui (artist)—let’s us explore a bit of Hemet Nesingwary’s background. At an Inn, Hemet overhears a hunter who brags about a questionable kill before his friends. Hemet tells his personal experience to teach the amateur hunter a lesson.

Overall this manga is entertaining and some of the stories can be considered canon. I certainly liked the ones that tie-in with the MMO, and show promise to reveal more of upcoming MMO content. Below you can take a look at the preview scans of each of the four stories within Warcraft Legends Vol. 3 and its art. Pre-order Warcraft Legends Vol. 3 on sale March 10.

If you question the canonity of the Tokyopop Warcraft mangas, I recommend to watch our video interview with Chris Metzen (Blizzard Senior VP of Creative Development) and Micky Neilson (Senior Writer & Voice Director) who confirm they are involved in the project and make sure that the manga, comic books, and novels tie-in with the game and are canon.

FEAR

The exciting Warcraft: Legends adventure continues with this latest installment of stories set in the Warcraft universe. From the critically acclaimed team of Richard Knaak and Jae-Hwan Kim (Warcraft: The Sunwell Trilogy) comes part three in the continuing adventures of Trag Highmountain, the heroic tauren reborn as one of the undead.