Review: Stranger Things and Dungeons & Dragons #1Â
[Editor’s Note: This review may contain spoilers]
Writer: Jim Zub, Jody Houser
Artist: Diego Galindo
Letters: Nate Piekos
Colors: MSASSYK
Reviewed by: Carl Bryan
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Summary
“Yes…It’s the coolest thing I have ever seen! ” – Lucas describing D&D to Will.
Follow the crew from Hawkins, Indiana, as they discover the legendary monsters and epic adventures of the Dungeons & Dragons tabletop role-playing game together.
Long before the dreaded Demogorgon took one of them to the Upside Down, watch Mike, Lucas, and Will bond with Dustin for the first time over the game that would define their childhood.
See the party come together as a team through communal stories and perilous quests to learn important lessons about friendship and find the courage to stand up to the bullies that challenge their everyday.
Positives
Dark Horse provides a Stranger Things prequel in this comic where we see the origin of where Mike, Lucas, and Will bond with Dustin just three weeks before the events of the Stranger Things Season One series began.
Writers Jim Zub and Jody Houser  do a solid job of writing a bully battling story that sets the cast up as typical 1980s outcasts that will eventually encounter Demogorgons, Eleven, and other Hawkins Lab anomalies.Â
Artist Diego Galindo does a commendable job of reproducing the actors that depict these character. We buy into Hawkins Indiana as he makes it all come alive for this 1980s series. Â
Negatives
No negative as it is a safe and readable story that really is along the lines of friendship and coming together to defeat bullies. It’s a feel good story and doesn’t resonate of hard core Stranger Things endangerment.
Verdict
As a safe and feel good story that includes the Stranger Things characters, its solid. It goes a bit too long and is a bit formulaic. However, as a parent, it is a safe Stranger Things story to introduce your kids to, however, things get complicated pretty fast for this foursome.
