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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Comic Review: (ARC) The Legend of Zelda - Hyrule Historia

THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: HYRULE HISTORIA HC
Genre: Fantasy, Action/Adventure
Publication Date:January 29, 2013
Format: FC, 276 pages; HC, 9" x 12"
Age range: 8+
ISBN-10:1-61655-041-4
ISBN-13:978-1-61655-041-7

Dark Horse Books and Nintendo® bring you The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia, containing an unparalleled collection of historical information on The Legend of Zelda™ franchise. This handsome hardcover contains never-before-seen concept art, the full history of Hyrule, the official chronology of the games, and much more! Starting with an insightful introduction by the legendary producer and video-game designer of Donkey Kong™, Mario™, and The Legend of Zelda™, Shigeru Miyamoto, this book is crammed full of information about the storied history of Link’s adventures from the creators themselves! As a bonus, The Legend of Zelda: Hyrule Historia includes an exclusive comic by the foremost creator of The Legend of Zelda manga—Akira Himekawa!


Wow.

I will admit I have never played a Legend of Zelda video game and I have only glanced through my daughter’s Zelda manga collection, but I have a vast appreciation for manga and graphic novel media. Even though I don’t play any video games, I love the rich stories and worlds created for them and a long-running series like Legend of Zelda has an incredibly deep and complex mythology. Translating the games into a graphic novel format gives the artists and creators a chance to show off all the amazing material they couldn’t fit into the finished project.

This special edition is crammed full of information and details from the creative teams behind this flagstaff franchise for Nintendo. They talk about everything from the clothing choices, character naming, and world building and then pair this with breath taking artwork, some never seen before, which creates an extraordinary aesthetic experience.

My favorite part, aside from the artwork, was the bonus exclusive comic by Akira Himekawa the creator of The Legend of Zelda manga. They even published it backwards like most manga. According to Akira Himekawa, it concludes “the very first Zelda tale” and is the first time they have drawn grown-up Link in manga in 12 years. And he is looking quite smexy if I do say so myself ;). (Kalpar: Ow....my brain just broke.) We find out how Link met the White Goddess Hylia, Loftwing, the evil Demon King and the creation of Skyloft.


This is book will thrill and impress the most avid fan as well as the casually curious. Happy 25th Anniversary Legend of Zelda! Here’s too many more.

5 Sheep



Sharon Stogner (edit by Kalpar)











4 comments:

  1. Wow, I'm pretty jealous you got this. I remember playing the game on my NES when I was a kid. I even got Zelda (Twilight Princess) for my Wii this Christmas as a gift. I'm really glad to you hear you loved the artwork. That's always what makes or breaks a graphic novel for me.

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    1. Dark Horse is very proud of this! I only got a digital ARC, but plan on buying a print copy. It is just so pretty! and $20 isn't a bad price. Thanks for stopping by!

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  2. I am impressed! Like Kristin, I played when I was a girl but this comic looks stellar! I'm about to totally nerd out and grab this! :)

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