The Damned Meanderers
Chapter Three: All One Wants
By Tom McGrane
DamnedMeanderers.com
Release Date: December 19, 2013
Cover Price: $3.99

Continuing our look into the multimedia motion comic experience called The Damned Meanderers, we enter the third chapter of the journey. While the first two issues make a fine establishment of setting and introduce some key characters, the third issue is unfortunately more filler material than anything of substance, exposing the characters on their journey back from the fight with the orcs to the return to the main camp.

The plot behind Chapter Three is quite simplified, beginning with a funeral for the fallen dwarf who died in the battle in the previous issue. From here the small group, including main protagonist Mage Dazanorl, journey back to their main camp, but stumble across the remnants of another battle that bring Gillo and Greer clues as to who the main nemesis is – hinting at the Sovrin we encountered in issue one.

The Damned Meanderers
Chapter Two: Gillo and Greer
By Tom McGrane
DamnedMeanderers.com
Release Date: December 1, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

The second installment of multimedia comic The Damned Meanderers is a smaller one than the first, but a huge step in the right direction with a lot more pace and adventure, helping to move the tale along a little – and somewhat unexpectedly too. Where Chapter One was very slowly paced and demanding to read/enjoy, Chapter Two is the "surprise" of the series – that hits like a mace to the nuts.

In the first issue, we were introduced to the world of Avani’Ni, suffering from the almost eternal scoring of ancient warfare. An old line of elite warriors, perceived as evil and known as The Sovrin, have returned in the form of one individual who reminded me of a Sith Lord version of the main character from Assassin’s Creed. No, truly, it did, it was pretty bad ass!

The Damned Meanderers
Chapter One: A Ghost From Days Gone By
By Tom McGrane
DamnedMeanderers.com
Release Date: November 14, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Things are certainly going to change. I never really fell along with the motion comic thing when it first came out. Call me a purist, but, for me, there was something special about the frozen panes in a comic book – particularly in analog print format that came with the fragrance of the pages and the tactile comfort of turning the page. That and I have an obsessive affinity with those crappy ads that Marvel used to print in the 1970s and 1980s. Goddamn I love those Twinkie comic commercials.

So, call me a cobwebbed purist in a rocking chair telling digital media to get off my lawn. And though I never got into the motion comic push, The Damned Meanderers is a tale that has taken the concept and moved it along further. The next convincing revolutionary generation of comic book concepts has not appeared yet – but The Damned Meanderers is most certainly a huge step in that direction – a direction that, while I still gravitate to the "traditional" comic book format, I am interested in seeing how it evolves from this point.