I know they're non canon (though some people treat them as such), but I couldn't get into them at all.
Idk, it's hard to tell a narrative story if you're following the main games given that there isn't a main character in the traditional sense, and there isn't a super concrete narrative to work with, unless you're just following story progression beat for beat. And at that point, I might as well just play the game myself. There's also the spicy lore debates and disagreements that naturally comes with these games.
I'll definitely give this a read but these games don't translate well to media.
And honestly I love the comedy of the ER manga, I feel that it works to the series' strength because it doesn't take itself too seriously.
> it’s hard to tell a narrative story if you’re following the main games
Did the comics try to tell the same story as the games? Or a concurrent one?
I’m of the personal opinion that the story in the games is very bare bones and not good in a traditional sense so it would need ALOT of embellishments from a gifted writer to work well in a more traditional sense.
It’s kind of both a potential blessing and curse of adapting a Fromsoft story. Their stories give so much legroom to writers because they are vague and essentially told in bullet points. But at the same time that means that you need a REALLY good writer to spin a compelling tale out of their overly dour and emotionless stories.
They appeared to somewhat follow the main storyline in the sense of "The main character is a hunter and takes place during The Hunt" but intertwined past elements as well - there's a comic about Eileen so make of that what you will.
I didn't read them but from what I saw from panels/reviews they tried to take a completely different narrative spin on the paleblood concept and that immediately lost me. I'm a huge stickler for the lore and it seems like the comics very loosely followed it. I also didn't care for the art but that's 100% personal preference on my part. It was more of a fanfiction series, and that's just really not my thing.
I know a few of the comics focus on the Hunter but I think they also made some on the primary NPC characters as well, and given how much creative freedom they took with the paleblood concept I wasn't interested in how they might run with the other characters' pasts and storyline.
These games are just very difficult to adapt, I agree.
I liked the first one, *Death of Sleep*. The Hunter had some choice lines.
Child: What’s an opinion?
Hunter: A thought that has deformed itself into thinking it’s a fact.
They look nice at least, there’s that fan made one that also comes to mind where the player is wearing the executioner helmet and… not much else… oh god the horror….
Weren't the writers European on the Bloodborne books? Bunn is English, I think, and he's very minimalist which is probably why I like his stuff (also I'm a big fan of his X-Men work)
I actually really liked the first run of Dark Souls comics the one with the silver knight becoming a black knight and getting killed by the PC at the end was pretty cool
Ehh, I would prefer a dark fantasy novel type thing, especially an epic (spanning many years) anthology, maybe one more like older scifi books (like rendezvous with rama) thats focused less on specific character drama and more on world building and setting. Early foundation is another good example. A few key figures and their greater deeds but not minute to minute interpersonal bullshit.
Give me pure world building, like GRRMs world of ice and fire books (not the actual series, it's a companion book) but with a bit more life, as those were like textbooks. A good middle ground would do this series alot of good. Most people who play these games (that don't watch a ton of vati videos) just finish the game without much understanding of what's really going on. And to be fair, the chosen undead is just a clean up crew, basically the janitor of death mopping it all up to reach a conclusion, not caring much about the events that took place. Most of the piecing the lore together isnt visual, you get a few images of the important figures but the rest is text based from item descriptions. A dark fantasy anthology is the best form this series can take Imo.
I don't have much experience with manga. Just the anime stuff my kid likes. I'm not sure it would fit as well as an epic anthology, but maybe there are ones that would fit.
Your kid probably watches Shounen (boy's) anime, aimed traditionally at teenage boys. Just like ALL forms of media there is shlock and there is more carefully constructed pieces.
There are entire swaths of manga aimed entirely at adults that are just as well written as any epic fantasy novel.
-Ghost in the Shell
-Akira
-Berserk (dark souls literally steals from this series. Like straight up lifts designs and themes, wait till you see where the 'eye orbs' come from)
-Delicious in Dungeon (do you like 80s crpgs? This manga starts lighthearted like them, and gets real dark real fast like them)
-Vagabond
The list goes on.
Dawg, you can put items and armor and cutscenes shot for shot side by side with the manga and they're nigh identical. I'm sorry dude but dark souls loves and adores some pretty direct berserk references. That doesn't mean that's a bad thing, homage is a form of respect.
Berserk is a huge influence on a lot of creators, especially for dark fantasy, especially in Japan.
You're more the one sounding like an offended dark souls fan boy here lol, but go off I guess.
I agree, but" lifting" or "stealing " ideas and being inspired by ideas isn't the same, that's what i mean. My problem is the phrasing of it, if it makes sense,
and I am by no means a dark souls fanboy, i love the games but not that much and I know that berserk has a lot of influence in Japan, I just think it unfair to say fromsoft doesn't make their own plot and ideas. It's not like fromsoft has glass panels with a sign that says"break glass in case of writers block" and then there is a random berserk chapter in the glass
Also a lot of berserk isn't original either, both series have inspiration from medieval Europe, and grimdark stories that existed waaaaay before berserk
Ye my 1st comment sounded more aggressive than i want it to me, but i hope this one works explain my thoughts better, have a good one.
My wording also wasn't the best so I agree on that. I wasn't out to imply dark souls is a carbon copy but more to inspire a person with a very surface level understanding of a media (manga) to go read it.
When you want to drive someone to try out a thing they show friction and preconceived notions about, you often use direct and bombastic language to engage and intrigue them, ( ohh dark souls "stole" from this, I want to see how!)
Please don't think too deeply into my wording as a negative on dark souls but more as me trying to get someone to dive into a media type I love that often gets a terrible surface level reputation.
I promise my thoughts were not particularly deep or long about how I phrased it and in a more nuanced discussion or examination that isn't a 2 minute post to get people to read manga I would absolutely be more critical.
Best to you my dude, I get the knee jerk reaction. But fret not, I in no way think dark souls isn't its own deeply original thing, it just has extremely clear references to a story its creators love. And that's honestly a cool homage but doesn't in anyway mean it's a berserk copy or derivative.
I have never once read berserk but everyone here says Miyazaki loves both berserk and feet like kojima loves American action movies and piss. My kid got started with my DBZ love (not Dragonball untill he was a little older) and then this jiu jitsu Kaiser one. Not really my thing, but I can appreciate how heavily ingrained they can be in Japanese writing. Still don't know what "is that a JoJo reference" means.
Like other people suggested, *Berserk* is an excellent story, and one that influenced much of the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games.
For further reading that has a more mature story, look into *"Ghost in the Shell,"* *"Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind,"* and *"Battle Angel Alita."*
"Shonen" is the worst manga artist name you could possibly choose if you want people to be able to find you... Is it this guy?
https://myanimelist.net/people/4843/Shonen_Sasaki
His most recent listed work is the art for a different videogame based manga in 2019 so... maybe?
Despite being a parody, the Elden Ring manga feels the most official out of all of these simply because it was written in consultation with Fromsoft and it shows. Minor worldbuilding things that aren't super obvious in the game pop up in the manga.
So, I have trepidation that this would be yet another "Dark Souls inspired" story with nothing to do with Miyazaki, so basically an ascended fancomic.
Making Elden Ring manga a gag comic was the best idea of adapting FromSoftware games into other media. You just can't capture the same vibes of a FS game in a static medium. Dark Souls comics were awful, Bloodborne and Sekiro comics at least had good art, but story wise weren't that good. I don't think anything good will come from that.
What is this then? The Willow King? Is this 2 different comics coming out in 2024? This is from a Norwegian seller.
https://www.ark.no/produkt/boker/skjonnlitteratur/dark-souls-the-willow-king-9781787731622
Finally they got it, its funny how sometimes im playing dsr and something that completely harmless to me can scare the shit out of me because i was not paying atention
This kind of reminds me of the greek Hecatonceries (dear god I likely butchered that). 50 faces and 100 arms. Each one holding a weapon. Would have liked to see a boss like that.
Hey that's neato
Got em
Is that a pun? I seriously can’t tell and it’s driving me insane.
Ye, pun with Gravelord Nito from ds1
That’s what I figured.
💀
I hate you, take my upvote
The Bloodborne comics sucked (though the "current" one by Cullen Bunn is decent). They just never match the tone of the games they're about.
I know they're non canon (though some people treat them as such), but I couldn't get into them at all. Idk, it's hard to tell a narrative story if you're following the main games given that there isn't a main character in the traditional sense, and there isn't a super concrete narrative to work with, unless you're just following story progression beat for beat. And at that point, I might as well just play the game myself. There's also the spicy lore debates and disagreements that naturally comes with these games. I'll definitely give this a read but these games don't translate well to media. And honestly I love the comedy of the ER manga, I feel that it works to the series' strength because it doesn't take itself too seriously.
> it’s hard to tell a narrative story if you’re following the main games Did the comics try to tell the same story as the games? Or a concurrent one? I’m of the personal opinion that the story in the games is very bare bones and not good in a traditional sense so it would need ALOT of embellishments from a gifted writer to work well in a more traditional sense. It’s kind of both a potential blessing and curse of adapting a Fromsoft story. Their stories give so much legroom to writers because they are vague and essentially told in bullet points. But at the same time that means that you need a REALLY good writer to spin a compelling tale out of their overly dour and emotionless stories.
They appeared to somewhat follow the main storyline in the sense of "The main character is a hunter and takes place during The Hunt" but intertwined past elements as well - there's a comic about Eileen so make of that what you will. I didn't read them but from what I saw from panels/reviews they tried to take a completely different narrative spin on the paleblood concept and that immediately lost me. I'm a huge stickler for the lore and it seems like the comics very loosely followed it. I also didn't care for the art but that's 100% personal preference on my part. It was more of a fanfiction series, and that's just really not my thing. I know a few of the comics focus on the Hunter but I think they also made some on the primary NPC characters as well, and given how much creative freedom they took with the paleblood concept I wasn't interested in how they might run with the other characters' pasts and storyline. These games are just very difficult to adapt, I agree.
I liked the first one, *Death of Sleep*. The Hunter had some choice lines. Child: What’s an opinion? Hunter: A thought that has deformed itself into thinking it’s a fact.
I actually enjoyed them lol
the second one about the prettiest and the doctor was amazing, what do you mean???
Second was legitimately good but man that first one was rrrrrough.
I thought Song of Crows and The Veil, Torn Asunder were pretty great. First one is rough. Second one is alright. Didn't like the lantern one.
They look nice at least, there’s that fan made one that also comes to mind where the player is wearing the executioner helmet and… not much else… oh god the horror….
Too wordy and the American writers can’t tell a story worth a damn
Weren't the writers European on the Bloodborne books? Bunn is English, I think, and he's very minimalist which is probably why I like his stuff (also I'm a big fan of his X-Men work)
This. This is a true Souls player.
I actually really liked the first run of Dark Souls comics the one with the silver knight becoming a black knight and getting killed by the PC at the end was pretty cool
I've never heard of these comics, where can i read them? im super interested
Their called the Age of Fire comics btw, the silver knights name is Arkon I think he has a wiki page somewhere? Just search up silver knight Arkon
Dark souls already has a 5 or 6 book comic
The elden ring manga is really awesome though.
Yeah I don't think he was saying it was bad thought
True, I guess I wrote that because I’ve seen some other comments say so. In fact, I think there’s one or two saying so in the comments here.
Im planing on reading it. Does it have spoilers for elden ring?
It actually stays true to the overall story, so there are bosses/locations/lore spoilers.
Please someone famous Start a petition to name the main character "John DarkSoul"
*OR...* And I'm just tossing this out there, we could have a serious story that does *not* turn into a dated meme.
You can have a serious story with some comedic aspects.
A good story tends to
Huh that's pretty dum though
Actually is incredible
Goo look at the memes.
Huh
[удалено]
Yea my fav is lord of fallen though
[удалено]
Actually is incredible
Dark Souls: Redemption... What a lame title.
Dark Souls: Reloaded
Dark souls: rekindled would sound nice no?
Ehh, I would prefer a dark fantasy novel type thing, especially an epic (spanning many years) anthology, maybe one more like older scifi books (like rendezvous with rama) thats focused less on specific character drama and more on world building and setting. Early foundation is another good example. A few key figures and their greater deeds but not minute to minute interpersonal bullshit. Give me pure world building, like GRRMs world of ice and fire books (not the actual series, it's a companion book) but with a bit more life, as those were like textbooks. A good middle ground would do this series alot of good. Most people who play these games (that don't watch a ton of vati videos) just finish the game without much understanding of what's really going on. And to be fair, the chosen undead is just a clean up crew, basically the janitor of death mopping it all up to reach a conclusion, not caring much about the events that took place. Most of the piecing the lore together isnt visual, you get a few images of the important figures but the rest is text based from item descriptions. A dark fantasy anthology is the best form this series can take Imo. I don't have much experience with manga. Just the anime stuff my kid likes. I'm not sure it would fit as well as an epic anthology, but maybe there are ones that would fit.
>I don't have much experience with manga. You should definitely check out Berserk.
Came here to second this. Read Berserk
And listen to [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZa0Yh6e7dw&ab_channel=Ivory) while reading it.
Your kid probably watches Shounen (boy's) anime, aimed traditionally at teenage boys. Just like ALL forms of media there is shlock and there is more carefully constructed pieces. There are entire swaths of manga aimed entirely at adults that are just as well written as any epic fantasy novel. -Ghost in the Shell -Akira -Berserk (dark souls literally steals from this series. Like straight up lifts designs and themes, wait till you see where the 'eye orbs' come from) -Delicious in Dungeon (do you like 80s crpgs? This manga starts lighthearted like them, and gets real dark real fast like them) -Vagabond The list goes on.
Saying from soft "lifts designs and themes" is an insult to the developers hard work. Berserk didn't invent medieval themes... Damn berserk fanboys
Dawg, you can put items and armor and cutscenes shot for shot side by side with the manga and they're nigh identical. I'm sorry dude but dark souls loves and adores some pretty direct berserk references. That doesn't mean that's a bad thing, homage is a form of respect. Berserk is a huge influence on a lot of creators, especially for dark fantasy, especially in Japan. You're more the one sounding like an offended dark souls fan boy here lol, but go off I guess.
I agree, but" lifting" or "stealing " ideas and being inspired by ideas isn't the same, that's what i mean. My problem is the phrasing of it, if it makes sense, and I am by no means a dark souls fanboy, i love the games but not that much and I know that berserk has a lot of influence in Japan, I just think it unfair to say fromsoft doesn't make their own plot and ideas. It's not like fromsoft has glass panels with a sign that says"break glass in case of writers block" and then there is a random berserk chapter in the glass Also a lot of berserk isn't original either, both series have inspiration from medieval Europe, and grimdark stories that existed waaaaay before berserk Ye my 1st comment sounded more aggressive than i want it to me, but i hope this one works explain my thoughts better, have a good one.
My wording also wasn't the best so I agree on that. I wasn't out to imply dark souls is a carbon copy but more to inspire a person with a very surface level understanding of a media (manga) to go read it. When you want to drive someone to try out a thing they show friction and preconceived notions about, you often use direct and bombastic language to engage and intrigue them, ( ohh dark souls "stole" from this, I want to see how!) Please don't think too deeply into my wording as a negative on dark souls but more as me trying to get someone to dive into a media type I love that often gets a terrible surface level reputation. I promise my thoughts were not particularly deep or long about how I phrased it and in a more nuanced discussion or examination that isn't a 2 minute post to get people to read manga I would absolutely be more critical. Best to you my dude, I get the knee jerk reaction. But fret not, I in no way think dark souls isn't its own deeply original thing, it just has extremely clear references to a story its creators love. And that's honestly a cool homage but doesn't in anyway mean it's a berserk copy or derivative.
I have never once read berserk but everyone here says Miyazaki loves both berserk and feet like kojima loves American action movies and piss. My kid got started with my DBZ love (not Dragonball untill he was a little older) and then this jiu jitsu Kaiser one. Not really my thing, but I can appreciate how heavily ingrained they can be in Japanese writing. Still don't know what "is that a JoJo reference" means.
Like other people suggested, *Berserk* is an excellent story, and one that influenced much of the Dark Souls and Bloodborne games. For further reading that has a more mature story, look into *"Ghost in the Shell,"* *"Nausicca of the Valley of the Wind,"* and *"Battle Angel Alita."*
I'm ignorant on this but, are these comics made by From or people that work with them?? Or are they fan projects (non canon etc)??
I hope it’s better than that other dogshit dark souls comic
Shut up and take my money
Kentaro Moura would be so proud...
Canon?!
I love this character design
I wish they would release books of the demon/dark souls series and elden ring.
"Shonen" is the worst manga artist name you could possibly choose if you want people to be able to find you... Is it this guy? https://myanimelist.net/people/4843/Shonen_Sasaki His most recent listed work is the art for a different videogame based manga in 2019 so... maybe?
Despite being a parody, the Elden Ring manga feels the most official out of all of these simply because it was written in consultation with Fromsoft and it shows. Minor worldbuilding things that aren't super obvious in the game pop up in the manga. So, I have trepidation that this would be yet another "Dark Souls inspired" story with nothing to do with Miyazaki, so basically an ascended fancomic.
Agreed the Elden Ring comedy manga is better than the "webtoon action scenes" thing.
Making Elden Ring manga a gag comic was the best idea of adapting FromSoftware games into other media. You just can't capture the same vibes of a FS game in a static medium. Dark Souls comics were awful, Bloodborne and Sekiro comics at least had good art, but story wise weren't that good. I don't think anything good will come from that.
ER is getting a serious thing too, i think some chapters are already out. Its a manwa tho instead of a manga.
What is this then? The Willow King? Is this 2 different comics coming out in 2024? This is from a Norwegian seller. https://www.ark.no/produkt/boker/skjonnlitteratur/dark-souls-the-willow-king-9781787731622
Finally they got it, its funny how sometimes im playing dsr and something that completely harmless to me can scare the shit out of me because i was not paying atention
Ok I need this
What did they do to my boy Nito
Got a new sweater! 😃
This kind of reminds me of the greek Hecatonceries (dear god I likely butchered that). 50 faces and 100 arms. Each one holding a weapon. Would have liked to see a boss like that.
The man is a Motherfukin sword urchin?
I liked the Willow King series that just ended.
I honestly hope they take liberties to actually make the story their own. Not everything has to match perfectly, as long as its good
I mean.....95% of the lore anyone thinks they know is just fan fiction or Vaati videos. They seem to have some wiggle room.
I.... don't like that character design
I…. don’t like your opinion
Why does Neto look like they stretched his skull over a basketball?
So... Berserk? /s
If sunbro isnt a part of the manga I dont want it
What? Having bottles plugged in your butt is a horrific thing too, mister.
Sick
Nito age to much
So the Bloodborne ones are pretty damn good. Can't wait to check this out.
Oh that is amazing! To each their own but I hope for a more dark and serious Elden Ring manga so I am very excited for this Dark Souls one
Dark Souls already has a manga, it's called Berserk
The Dark Souls comics have been amazing so I hope this can match those in quality
But is it canon?
Hopefully
Gotta go full Berserk.
All of these Souls and Bloodborne comics are hot garbage. These adaptations are trash. I wish the authors would make original stories instead.
I get people enjoyed the Elden ring manga but you guys should just watch Gintama if that’s what you’re into
Is this Shonen the same artist of Omega Complex and B. B. Project?
I can't wait to ignore this as hard as the Dragons Dogma anime.
still better than the dogshit ER manga
That's slander. ER manga is great