New Comics! (HERE BE SPOILERS!)

Dungeon & Dragons:  Forgotten Realms #2:  Although this issue is a moderate improvement over the first issue, I'm still not entirely sure what's happening and I still don't really like the characters all that much.  (Not exactly a ringing endorsement, I know.)

Last issue, we were introduced to Randral and Torn, two hooligans who, if I remember correctly, decided to kidnap Lady Talandra Roaringhorn after hearing another group of hooligans discussing its plans to do so.  Talandra was somehow involved with this group, participating in her own kidnapping, for reasons that I don't quite remember (if they were ever made clear in the first place).  However, something went wrong when a different group kidnapped her instead, for reasons that I again don't quite remember.  The head of Talandra's guard detail is killed by this other group, who show that it's playing for keeps, and he places a curse on Randral and Torn that will activate if they don't rescue her.  Greenwood also implied that Talandra's father's chief advisor, Malric, who I believe is his brother, is somehow involved with the kidnapping, but it was pretty unclear.

This issue sheds some light on the subject, but not all that much:

Randral and Torn manage to find Talandra just as the Watch and Lord Roaringhorn's own personal guard force converge on their location.  (I can't remember how Randral and Torn found her or how the Watch and Roaringhorn's force knew where to go.  Given the fact that kidnappers generally don't advertise their location, everyone seemed to get wind of the location conveniently quickly.)  Randral and Torn take Talandra, who's now realized that something has gone wrong, and escape via the rooftops.  Just as they're getting ready to take Talandra home, she spies Maurit, the head of one of the kidnapping groups, though I can't remember if it was the one that she essentially hired herself or if it's the one that she didn't expect to arrive.  For reasons that aren't explained, she takes off after Maurit, with Randral and Torn at her heels, and the trio follow him into the sewers.  Meanwhile, someone named Glasgerd schemes with a wizard of some sort to whom he owes a group of "sinister wizards" and, elsewhere, Roaringhorn's wife convinces him to allow her to lay a trap for Malric to see if he's on their side or not.  The Watch follows our group into the sewers, but they're waylaid by a team of mercenaries that we previously saw Malric dispatch earlier.  We learn that Malric sent the mercenaries under the orders Glasgerd, who also seemingly sent Maurit into the sewers to lead Talandra to a certain place.  All these actions have something to do with his larger scheme of causing the fall of the House of Roaringhorn, but we're not given any motives yet.  The trio come to a dead end and, realizing that Maurit has escaped, they (conveniently) find a secret door that leads them to a magical gate that leads them to a landing where they're attacked by a guy with swords.  (Follow that?  Yeah, it happened pretty quickly.  I'm assuming that it's what Glasgerd wanted to happen and why he had Maurit lead them to that gate.)

As you can see, we're still lacking a lot of information.  My two main complaints last issue was that Greenwood didn't really give us a likeable character here and that he juggled way too many characters.  Both still hold true.  Randral and Torn aren't loveable scoundrels, but dimwitted hooligans, and Talandra is a spoiled brat.  I can see where Greenwood might eventually develop them into something more, but it seems far in the distant future.  The main problem continues to be the excessive number of characters and the unclear status of motives.  We still don't know why Talandra tried to fake her own kidnapping.  I'm pretty sure that we also don't know why the other group of kidnappers appeared, though I'm left to assume that Glasgerd sent them.  (I think we're supposed to believe that Glasgerd engineered everything just to get Talandra through that gate, though it's pretty hard to believe.  Also, if he just wanted her through the gate to be killed, why not just kill her in the first place?)  We don't know why Malric is working with Glasgerd, or why Glasgerd is on the hook to provide "sinister wizards" to his cohort.  We also don't know why Glasgerd chose House Roaringhorn to topple.  On top of all these questions, Greenwood also has a separate subplot on the back burner, since Roaringhorn's son has apparently gone missing, something for which his wife blames Malric.  Again, I can see where Greenwood will eventually get there in explaining what's happening, but it also seems a long way in the distance.

So, basically, after this issue, I'm left with the hope that, at some point, I'll like the characters and the story will make sense.  You'd think that would be the real problem.  It's not, though.  The real problem is that this book just isn't fun.  The beauty of Rogers' "Dungeons and Dragons" book was that it was full of LOL humor and great characterization.  Sure, the plots occasionally got a little hard to follow, but you'd eventually figure out where Rogers was going with.  But, while you waited to get the answers, you were having a good time.  Greenwood really fails to inject that sort of spark into this series.  At this point, I'm keeping it on my pull list just in case Rogers' book suddenly re-appears with little notice.  We'll see how long that merits $3.99 a month.