Review:
The Guild #1

Apparently I missed the boat on this one. The Guild - a comedic web-series based around a group of online gamers and their zany antics - has become an internet phenomenon. Like all budding franchises, someone had the bright idea to diversify into different mediums. This is a fairly common practice in a capitalistic society to maximize profit. It’s also fairly common for this practice to backfire.

The complete and utter failure of Starbucks in Australia (the vast majority of its stores were shut down in 2008) is an example of this. Starbucks assumed that because Americans loved their brand of coffee culture it was a sure-fire bet that the Aussies would respond similarly. What Starbucks failed to take into account was the pre-existing urban café culture in Australia, which I’m told serves better coffee anyways.

The result was a cut and dry case of not understanding ones target demographic and assuming what works in one medium would automatically work in another.

I fear The Guild #1 finds itself sailing similar waters. Comedic comics (which from here on out I will be referring to as the Funnies because comedic comics burns my eyes) as a general thing are relegated either to small strips in newspapers (Garfield, Peanuts, Dilbert) or single panel/page webisodes (Penny Arcade, Looking For Group, Darths and Droids). There’s a reason for that, that reason being not wearing out the joke.

Unfortunately, the problems with The Guild are more systemic than a simple case of out-living the joke. The story itself is extremely stereotypical and bland. A college kid with a jerk of a boyfriend in a rock band who’s depressed and seeing a shrink. We’ve seen this before folks. If it follows the stereotype we even have a fairly good idea of where it will end thus stripping the reader of any sense of suspense and urgency. Still, even if it diverges from the stereotype; we’re following the life of a fairly typical college student in a medium that’s famed for its eccentric billionaires who fight criminals dressed as flying rodents, starship captains who practice cowboy diplomacy and savage barbarians who war with frightening demons and other supernatural elements.