Dragons and Dungeons

PS238 #39

Alec Kent used to be a normal kid with a talent for art and mathematics, but after taking a trip to another universe a couple issues ago, he emerged with the ability to draw pictures and patterns that have magical properties. As a result, he gets introduced to the metahuman kids at PS238, where he’ll soon be enrolled as a student. Tyler Marlocke takes him on a short tour — he points out spellcasting teacher Vashti Imperia’s office, which has been blocked off by a magical brick wall ever since her mysterious disappearance. Unfortunately, Alec draws one of his teleportation patterns on the brick wall and goes after her — Tyler follows, after putting on his Moon Shadow costume. What they find on the other side is a magical fantasy world of castles and adventurers and witches and a very large, angry dragon. They also run into a little girl named Vashti Imperia — not a de-aged Vashti, but her actual younger self — Alec and Moon Shadow have traveled in time to a magic-based “Heroic Age.”

Of course, they run into the older Vashti Imperia, disguised as a wicked witch, but they also run into some unexpected guest stars: the fantasy misadventurers from PS238 creator Aaron Williams’ other humor comic, “Nodwick.” Besides the big-schnozzed, sensible, and frequently-killed henchman Nodwick, they include Yeager the musclebound fighter, Atrax, a wizard with an outrageous mustache, Rowan, a hyper-aggressive ranger, and the bespectacled cleric Piffany.

Alec and Moon Shadow have to keep from getting shish-kebabed by Nodwick’s trigger-happy crew, get Ms. Imperia back to the school, and make sure the younger Vashti gets properly rescued… all while avoiding the aforementioned very large, angry dragon.

Verdict: Thumbs up. A great introductory story for Alec, a great return for Vashti Imperia, and a pretty cool crossover for Nodwick and his crew. The big climax of the story is actually pretty epic and dramatic — big props for Aaron Williams’ artistic and storytelling skills. This one is hard to find, but it’s worth the effort for you to track it down.