Two lights shine down from the sky. Their story passes through reality. His song fills their hearts.
The world fights back.
Music: “Voidfish (Plural) by Rachel Rose Mitchell - https://rachelrosemitchell.bandcamp.com/
Our heroes’ memories have returned. At the end of everything, will they stand together against the encroaching darkness? Or will their past sins leave them irrevocably driven apart?
Our heroes’ long, forgotten journey comes to an end.
Music: “Relic” by Reeder - https://iamreeder.bandcamp.com/
The Hunger pursues, and our heroes escape. They’ve been keeping up the chase for decades now, evading without fail. But the Hunger’s getting faster. The journey’s getting harder. The team must take drastic steps, just to stay afloat. We’re nearly caught up, now. Merle writes his story. Magnus breaks his bonds. Taako plans a very good day.
On The Adventure Zone Graphic Novel, Blue Taako, and Representation
Yesterday, we revealed some pages for our graphic novel adaptation of the first Adventure Zone arc, and received some criticism of the direction we went with for Taako’s coloring. This artwork reveal came some months after the first reveal of some of our characters, for which we also received criticism of our three leads, all of whom were white in these initial designs. Us and the graphic novel team realized that, yes, that is extremely bad, went back to the drawing board, and had several long discussions about how to best rectify this situation, resulting in the artwork revealed yesterday.
More or less all of the criticism we’ve received centers on Taako, whose skin is a pale blue color in these designs. What we’ve heard most is disappointment that Taako is not realized in these pages as a person of color — or, to be more specific, a Latinx or explicitly Mexican character. There was concern we had failed to follow through on an opportunity to get better representation for Latinx listeners, instead opting to take a safe route, and make Taako a fantasy color without any kind of real-world connection. Much of the criticism also focuses on how that color (or, to be more specific, green skin) has anti-semitic connotations.
This conversation was happening in certain corners of our fandom long before the graphic novel art reveal took place yesterday. We’ve heard criticism from some folks over our policy of not having canonical visual representations of any of our characters — a policy that has resulted in a genuinely humbling ocean of fan art, but also some instances of in-fighting between members of the community who take umbrage with one another’s disparate interpretations of these characters. Another criticism of that policy is that it inherently does not foster good representation, and in fact represents a noncommittal way of handling racial representation on this show.
Here’s the truth of the matter: I think all of this comes from this underlying friction between where The Adventure Zone and us, its creators, were when we started doing the podcast, and where we, the show, and you, the community, are at now.
Our heroes find themselves in a strange world where artists compete for national pride, submitting their works to a mountain that can make them known throughout the land. Can the team create satisfactory masterpieces before their year is up? Merle gets academic. Taako borrows some pearls of widsom. Magnus meets a fateful friend.
We’re fairly deep into our trip down memory lane, but our heroes are no closer to figuring out how to stop the ever-evolving force that’s pursuing them. With few other options, they’ll have to adopt a new, remarkably costly strategy. Magnus helps out some Losers. Taako eats a fateful meal. Merle makes a powerful new friend.
Our heroes have earned a break, don’t you think? Merle finds a place to settle down. Magnus keeps ‘em on their toes. Taako dispenses some beach wisdom.
Our heroes find themselves crossing between strange, deadly, beautiful worlds, pursued by a foe they cannot comprehend. Can they grow strong enough to defeat their cosmic enemy? Or will their journey take them down a road from which they can never return? Magnus leads an expedition. Taako is tempted. Merle leads his congregation.
We’re nearly at our journey’s end – but before we can truly understand what lies ahead, we must first return to this story’s true beginning. What brought our heroes together to the crisis they face today? What happened to the memories of their dear, forgotten friends? And just how long have they been running away? Taako learns a new language. Merle eats some beans. Magnus trains under an unlikely teacher.