The white wolf and the pup – a review of the comic book “The Witcher. ronin”

The Witcher’s piercing cold
travels the path of
Loneliness and blood

 

There are all sorts of fan mods in video games. Usually, they are used to improve some elements of the gameplay, increase the quality of graphics or place additional equipment. However, there are also projects that completely change the original, changing the setting, for example. The Witcher comic . Ronin is an example of transferring the idea of ​​total conversion mod to the medium of graphic stories. Many elements from the Wild Hunt are borrowed here (like previous stories from Dark Horse, this title refers more to games than books by Andrzej Sapkowski) , but the story takes place in a different reality.

Think global

Well, instead of climates, erm, “Slavic”, i.e. European dark fantasy , The Witcher. Ronin takes Geralt to a world inspired by Edo-era feudal Japan. The target of the White Wolf’s quest is yuki onna , the mysterious lady of the snow. However, before the meeting takes place, yokai and oni from eastern legends such as kappa and tengu stand in the way of the ronin .

You could say that Ronin is a global project. It was created for an American publisher, written by a Pole – Rafał Jaki (with the help of Bartosz Sztybor), and illustrated by an artist using the pseudonym Hataya. The involvement of the Japanese illustrator gives the whole a more authentic dimension, you can even be tempted to say that it is a manga. Anyway, the creators want us to treat this comic book as such, because it is read from right to left. Jaki cooperated with CD Projekt Red for many years, e.g. with gaming Witchers . He is credited as a co-creator of the standalone Gwent , and as a writer/showrunner for the Cyberpunk: Edgerunners anime . Anyway, Japanese topics are not alien to him, because he studied Japanese.

White ronin

The team creating this unusual spinoff is therefore more than competent. So how should the end result be assessed? More as an experiment, just a curiosity, than as a full-fledged work. The most problematic is that the comic book is too closely related to the game. As a result, the plot does not stand on its own feet, but rewrites some elements of the Wild Huntto another ground. Hence, there is no introduction here, no explanation of how the alternative world functions in relation to the original. For example, everyone addresses Geralt as ronin, but this implies that the witcher once had a master and for some reason lost his status – but there is no explanation for this state of affairs. The structure of the plot is also relatively simple, even typically gaming. Each adventure follows the same pattern: The White Wolf goes from one place to another, and then a confrontation ensues. Maybe that was the intention of the creators, but what works as a quest in the game does not quite fit in the comic book. It’s possible that this manga would sound better if it was longer – but 128 pages is not enough in this case, because before the action starts, it’s over.

Hmmm

As I mentioned, the Japanese girl, Hataya, is responsible for the graphics. However, if someone expects a “typical” manga with a big-eyed Geralt, they will be disappointed. The artist’s style is a resultant of eastern and western influences. Hataya’s line is minimalist, reminiscent of traditional Japanese painting. Sometimes the simplifications go very far and, for example, the characters in the background are often devoid of any facial features. I also have to admit that I’ve never seen such badly drawn butts before, which are almost hewn here. And since this is a story about a witcher, of course Geralt shows his qualities, e.g. in the onsen. Although watching his bony buttocks in this case is not an aesthetic experience. Nevertheless, the asceticism of the line works great in the case of Geralt’s adventures – I definitely prefer the artistic direction of this album than the previous ones from Dark Horse. It is also in vain to look for black and white typical for manga –The Ronin has been colored. The colors used are very faded and subdued, almost monochromatic, which gives the whole a unique character.

I didn’t pay attention to it myself, but in the “Comic Without Borders” group, Unka Odya rightly noticed that the speech bubbles in Ronin were very poorly thought out. Dialogues often conflict with the graphics instead of complementing them. I ignored it the first time I read it, but now I can’t unsee it.

Geraruto-san

On the one hand, Jaki’s comic was a pleasant read, but at the same time I expected more from it. On the cover there is information that The Witcher. Ronin is the first volume of the series, although I haven’t been able to find anything about the creation of the next parts. There is certainly more potential in this idea than what has been presented so far.