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My stats so high-- a review of The Guild #1

As you grow up, you're supposed to figure out who you are supposed to be.  That's kind of the whole point of "growing up" but no one ever really tells you how to do it.  Sure, your parents and family may try to tell you but their advice is never any good and just does not work for you.  No one can tell you how to be the person you're supposed to be.  And that's probably because no one knows other than you.  No one knows how to be the recluse you are, or the comedian that you are or the caring person that you are.  That's the problem that Cyd has; she does not think she likes who she is but she does not know how to be anyone else.  With a rock-star-wannabe boyfriend that walks all over her, Cyd sees her future as an old maid, stuck as a violinist ("not first violinist, but I've got a seat in the back.  Er, way back,") making fun of the oboists, playing Beethhoven's Fifth twelve hundred times.  That's not really the future that she wants.  She quickly finds out what she does not want.  The question then becomes what does she want?

After three seasons, Felicia Day takes her webseriesThe Guild off the net and writes about the secret origin of Codex (Cyd,) Day's lead character who has as much trouble navigating the world of online gaming as she does the real world.  The Guild #1 is the secret origin of Codex, healer for The Knights of Good, an online gaming guild.  The Guild #1 is actually much more about Cyd than the webseries is.  Day writes about Cyd's pre-Guild life, a life where she's unsure about who she is and who she wants to be.  Cyd, like so many of us, is an outcast in a world full of outcasts.  She's searching for someplace to belong, whether it's in a relationship or in our her work or even in her therapist's office (her dad's making her go.)  Cyd is an uncomfortably familiar character because in her own needy way, she's like so many of us who just want someplace or someone to belong to.

Jim Rugg, who recently wowed the world with his Aphrodisiac, draws Day's story.  While Rugg can pull off the outrageous like he does on Aphrodisiac and Street Angel, he can also do down-to-earth, honest and charming looking stuff like The Plain Janes and now The Guild.  Here Rugg's artwork nicely walks the line between reality and cartoons.  He manages to perfectly capture Cyd, from the way she stares into her webcam for approval to the delight he finds creating Codex in her game.  The character spilling her guts out to us in the comic is the exact same as the character who spills her guts out in the webseries.  Thanks to Day, Cyd has the same voice in both but Rugg makes us believe that there's absolutely no difference between actually seeing Day as Cyd and reading a comic book featuring a slightly cartoony version of her.

The only thing lacking in The Guild #1 is the actual guild.  While we get to see cameos by three members of the guild, there's just not enough of them.  While Codex is easily the main character of the series, Zaboo, Bladezz, Vork, Clara and Tinkerballa are a huge part of the webseries and their absence in the comic is understandable but their presence is hugely missed.  Alone, without the guild, Cyd seems like a lonely, sad girl.  With the Guild, she's sad but, even when she doesn't realize it, she's not lonely.  Her guildmates in the webseries are what give her her unrealized strength.  At least the final pages of The Guild #1 provide hope that we'll see all of her fellow gamers in the next issue of this series. 

For a comic (and a webseries) about gamers and gaming, The Guild #1 isn't a gaming comic; it's a strong book about identity and individualism.  Felicia Day and Jim Rugg take the honesty of the webseries and have created a good story about the basic insecurities we all face, no matter who we are or what we like. 

The Guild #1
Written by: Felicia Day
Drawn by: Jim Rugg
Colored by: Dan Jackson
Lettered by: Nate Piekos