Looking for group

The comic was created under the explicit influence of such literary works as the cycle “ Sword of Truth ” by Terry Goodkind , “ Wheel of Time ” by Robert Jordan , “ Song of Ice and Flame ” by George R. R. Martin , and also, not least, MMORPG World of Warcraft . The latter is also referred to by the title of the comic book - Looking for Group - literally translated as “group search”, a special system from World of Warcraft , which allows the player to search for fellow raid members - and the main characters themselves, each of which belongs to one of the main Horde races. Although the creators of the comic book originally conceived it as a parody of World of Warcraft , in the end it turned into an independent narrative in its own, little connected with World of Warcraft universe. The main plot eventually parodies the events of the books of Goodkayd (which themselves are diverse to the point of absurdity). Considering that in one of the books of the original source the protagonist "overthrows communism", the events of Looking for Group do not seem ridiculous and in many ways quite accurately quote the source. At the same time, the DnD system is ridiculed (Richard spitting at the dragon rolls a dice, and after 20 points fell, the dragon still does not react, it starts to lament about the unusual 4th edition, which really relieves the players from such curiosities), Lord of the Rings (they are cruelly murdered (trampled to a state of pasta) Frodo and Sam, just passing by, Richard hinting at the fact that those who are in "such relationships" still end up badly) Beauty and the Beast (Richard is cursed and sees a flower in the book of innocence Roses, he The only person to whom the book gives an image is not able to speak), films about Shaolin (Cal grows in a monastery and a mentor trains him, ordering other students to beat him with sticks), Star Wars (here is a multi-stage and rather complicated allusion, Cal as a part of the Order cannot marry however secretly doing this (Skywalker and Amidala), however, the mentor persuades Cal's wife for implicit betrayal (Obi-Wan convinces Amidala to fly to Mustafar), and then completely kills her (Vader and Amidala)), Dune (sandworm eats Cal), quite clearly hint dissolved in ice cycle and Flame - Cal blades and literally work.

Cal'Enon

Cal'Enon ( born Calé'Anon ) - a young, exorbitantly naive and enthusiastic Blood Elf - a trailblazer , a walking parody of the legitimate-good worldview and of positive fantasy heroes in general. His image strongly resembles Drizzt Do'Urden , a dark but noble drow elf from the books of Robert Salvatore . Ryan Somer noted that he did not know anything about Drizzt Do'Urden when he created the image of Cal'Enon, and the parody came out unintentionally.

Cal'Enon belongs to the cruel and arrogant race of the Blood Elves , but he is kind , keeps the laws and tries to save all the weak and oppressed, which often puts the company in a foolish position. The first Looking for Group strip begins with a meeting with Kel'Enon and Richard , during which the warlock tries to convince the young elf that he should, like his fellow men, do evil , and fails - Kel'Enon declares: “I will be kind at heart! A lone noble wolf in abandoned and devastated lands! Defender of the people ! " ^[1] . These noble speeches immediately end with the murder (by chance and not without the participation of Richard) of a passer-by of a woodcutter .

During the entire comic, Cal'Enon, having the most lofty intentions, constantly creates inadvertent evil, just like Richard, regardless of his evil intentions, endlessly does good deeds. Despite the monstrous naivete and perverse ideas about the world, Cal'Enon is an unexpectedly strong and skilled fighter. He is equally good at archery and beating a pair of swords. Those who are unfamiliar with the elven people — and their specific feminine appearance — Benny and Crunch first regard Kel'Enon as a woman . In one of the comic arches it says that all the evils through which Kel'Enon must pass are trials on the way to the throne of the elven kingdom, Ketenesia. ^[2]

The name of the protagonist (as well as all the main characters), is an obvious reference to the Sword of Truth cycle. Cal himself is an obvious allusion to the main character of Goodcade - Richard, and the name Cal'Enon is a mimicry of the name of Kaylen - the heroine of the same work. Thus, the characters of the Sword, changing their characters, changed their names: Richard - Cal'Enon (Kaylen), Kaylen - Guide (wizard Zed), Zed - Richard (the only one who kept the full name).

Sub

Cal'Enon owns a panther named Suba ( eng. Sooba ), which he can invoke at will, and in other free time she is not clear where. This is a clear reference to Drizzt Do'Urden’s companion, the magical panther Guenhwyvar . True, Suba, in contrast to Guenhwyvar, is not a magical creature and very simply throws away the trolls' shamans who cannot be harmed by any magic.

When summoned, Suba is on the battlefield immediately. It should also be noted that the panther is one of the most popular hunting animals in the game World of Warcraft, as it combines a beautiful and inconspicuous color with useful features of the cat class. All hunter pets can be recruited at will, even during combat, while they simply materialize next to the hunter.

Cal'Enon has no control over her, and Suba can pounce on him with the same probability as on enemies. But Suba loves Richard very much and willingly obeys him: in one of the episodes, Richard even rides it.

Richard

Richard ( born Richard ) - the main comic character of this comic. The immortal sorcerer, magician and necromancer — a treacherous, angry and cruel psychopath and sadist — the exact opposite of his friend Cal'Enon. If an elf is a typical representative of a lawful and good worldview, then the necromancer is certainly chaotically evil .

This is, in essence, a parody of various fantasy villains. He just likes to kill, torture and manipulate people. Unfortunately, Richard's sinister plans often end in a completely unexpected way for him - for example, they turn out to be very good (however, given the comic’s general black humor , he doesn’t do good less than Kel'Enon’s evil). Nevertheless, it is rather strange that his companions meekly demolish his wild antics, and he, respectively, their good - albeit infrequent - actions. It also turns out that many of his “evil” deeds are in fact exaggerated. So it seems that he constantly tortured and tortured the inhabitants of his village. However, as it turned out, all the inhabitants of the village are undead, not feeling pain.

Richard is very concerned about his short and non-awe-inspiring name and reacts very painfully to the abbreviation Dick, as Cal'Enon calls him. He compensates for the lack of impressiveness of the name with a mass of titles, in particular - the Supreme Warlock of the Brotherhood of Darkness, the Lord of the Thirteen Circles of Hell, the Lord of Bones, the Emperor of Darkness, the Lord of the Undead and the mayor of a small village on the coast, where "it is very beautiful in spring . " During the events of the comic, he adds a few more to his titles - "Lord of the Dance" and "Lady Magma . "

At one time, Richard had a familiar - an imp named Acus Jaakl ( Eng. Hctib Elttil - reading from right to left both English and Russian names, we know that). Imp from Richard escaped, and suddenly became the Lord of the demons. In one of the episodes Acus tries to revenge his former master, but he gives him a kick. Richard himself now gets along well with Suba, sometimes using it as a saddle and, unlike an elf, knows how to direct it to enemies. In addition, Richard is able to call a freakish pet - a huge demonic fire-breathing rabbit .

Since Richard is a lich , he calmly suffers the most terrible injuries and injuries without much damage to himself and even without a sense of pain. Although Richard practices black and elemental magic (in particular, fire and ice ), he suddenly becomes a skillful and dangerous melee fighter without magic, able to kill a whole troop of trolls or orcs with his bare hands. He himself explains it this way: "I somehow drank the soul of a monk - it tasted like chocolate . " ^[3]

The motives of Richard, wandering along with the company, are not entirely clear. He joins Cal'Enon from boredom, and then simply takes all the advantages of the opportunities to kill, kill and kill once more during the journey, sowing only horror and destruction in his path. However, he has some goals of his own. Spirit Fares declares to Richard that he sees some other entity under cover of darkness, to which Richard proudly declares: “I am very deep!” Later it turned out that his meeting with Cal was far from accidental. Sending Cal to the big world, his mentor, who just killed Cal's wife, says that he takes him to the care of his interlocutor, who is not visible. To which he responds with a voice, a replica of which is indicated in red (Richard's trademark). ^[four]

In the last episodes of the comic (starting with 420th), the authors apparently seem to hint that Richard is not a person at all. So, during the fight with the monster in the womb's womb (ep. 420-421), after hitting the mask with Richard flies. When Cal'Enon asks if everything is in order, he replies: "Yes, everything is fine ...", but now his reply does not have a black background, only a red border. When Cal'Enon sees the face of the warlock, he says in shock: "He ... He's not dead!" (He ... He is not a dead man!), To which Richard, already wearing a mask, answers him: "You didn ' t see anything "(you didn’t see anything), and his lines again have a black background. ^[5] Episode 452 is an image of Richard before the attack on the Capital. Warlock sits on a stone and smears the skin with silver cream. At the same time, the areas of the skin that have not yet been covered with cream have the usual flesh color. ^[6] During the fight in the Capital (Ep. 470-476) Richard is wounded by an arrow in the thigh and he is bleeding, to which he remarks: "Not a good time for this" (Not the best time for this ... ). ^[7] A few minutes later, he kills several civilians and soldiers rush at him. When a soldier pierces him through the sword with a sword, Richard, drawing his sword, examines it and, not finding blood on it, thoughtfully says: "Much better ..." (Much better ...), killing civilians here can be seen as a sacrifice. Also, after trying to destroy the Innocent (a book with all the knowledge of the world) in the volcano, he takes off his glove and shows his companions the usual human hand (ep. 590). ^[eight]

Benny

Benn'Joun ( Eng. Benn'Joon ), or simply Benny ( Eng. Benni ) - a young and relatively beautiful green-skinned priestess, the race is not an orc , not a troll . Her race is unknown not only to the reader, but in particular to her companions, so Richard calls her "a woman of unknown origin . "

Richard and Cal'Enon meet Benny when they search for at least some healer for Kal'Enon turned into a pile of ashes, and as a result, they get into her conflict with the Imperial Legion. Benny is very bloodthirsty and prone to violence; although she is a priestess by profession, Benny prefers to engage in mercenarism - she can stand up for herself in battle, but she has some problems with healing. Benny and the tauren Crunch are old friends, since Crunch at one time picked her up from the ruins of the village and, having regretted, took her on education. Subsequently, it turns out that Benny is actually the daughter of Crunch and Captain Ta'vraai (ep. 559-562) and what she herself guesses about later (ep. 610). Crunch often calls her "Zelenok" ( English Gid ) - from the words "green" and "child."

Benny still has in no way an unresolved conflict with the Imperial Legion, so the Legion commander Tenmet Aelun is following her, promising to give up only if she brings him the Sword of Truth, which ultimately results in a journey of four.

Crunch Bloodride

Crunch Bloodrage is a tauren of enormous growth and monstrous power from the Blood Wrath clan, a foster father and friend of Benny, whom he picked up as a child and raised.

He is prohibitively strong and able to cope with hand-to-hand combat even with the dragon - in fact, at the first appearance he saves Cal'Enon, Richard and Benny from the clutches of the dragon, breaking his right paw. To this, Richard immediately declares to Cal'Enon: “Bad news, Cal. I am afraid that I must give you the resignation from the post of my closest and dearest friend and give it to the guy who just slammed the dragon. ”

With all this, Cranch, oddly enough, is the book worm itself , capable of unexpectedly stumbling into any interesting book at the height of the battle, as it is well-educated and therefore speaks many different languages.

He has a brother Rayd'Bul ( born Rayd Bool ), who, unlike Crunch, is a real warrior. From the dialogue with the leader of the trolls, Stoll, it becomes known that Crunch's father was an associate of the trolls and sincerely believed in their “imperial” conquest. However, since Crunch immediately kills Stoll, he hardly shares the views of his father.

If Cal'Enon and Richard are representatives of a lawful, good, and chaotic evil worldview, Crunch, respectively, is most likely true neutral , he prefers not to give too much odds to either good or evil. He is extremely rational and is guided in all the principles of common sense - perhaps the most sensible hero in the whole four, and Benny tries to resort to his advice more often, while Cal'Enon and Richard are more often guided by their own categories of good and evil. However, he has a clear drawback - Crunch is terribly afraid of water and tries to avoid contact with the rivers, lakes and seas that fall into the path of the heroes, alas, more often than he wanted.

Killed in battle for the capital of the Empire in battle with her master. After his death, he tried to resurrect Benny, but to no avail.

Pella

Pella ( English Pella ) is a young dwarf of the Brim clan, who is a fighter from Ketenesia and also the youngest child and only daughter of the general of the Royal Guard Ketenesia. After the death of his brother in the war against Wooley, Pella was given the opportunity to choose - which way she should follow: in the footsteps of a warrior or a bard. Pella decided that she liked both.

Some time later, when Cal and friends were sent to Caentencia to bring up to the present, Pellet was assigned to accompany them to the city’s catacombs under the command of the Archmage. She helped the heroes, resisting Vuli and freeing the city, dropping its “temporary anchor”. Then she decided to travel with the four. Pella has since remained on the sidelines, ostensibly she "has nowhere else to go."

Some time later, she learned that her clan, the Brim clan, fell before the evil, renaming itself the Black Dwarves and becoming the king of Lehar in the role of builders. Since then, it turned out that she is in fact an agent and guardian, therefore the Archmage of Ketenesia, who foresaw Cal for his arrival and his purpose in the future. Pella was secretly recruited by the Archmage to be Cal's bodyguard, so that she could protect the elf from enemies and his friends. She is an exceptional exterminator, and also, having the singer's enthusiasm, Pella, as you know, sings love songs to her enemies while killing them. Later, in order to force Toika and the dwarves to abandon the Sword of Truth and see that Ketenesia did not fall.

On August 6, 2007, Ryan Somer posted on his blog, where Acting for Group itself and their other with Desuzoy comics Least I Could Do were posted on a video file that was later uploaded to Youtube .

Video after its placement on Youtube very quickly gained immense popularity and gained a total of more than two and a half million views. It was a music video with the necromancer Richard in the lead role (voiced by actor Dave B. Mitchell ). During the clip, Richard destroyed a small town and brutally killed its inhabitants, while performing the song Slaughter your World - a parody of the song Part of Your World from the Walt Disney Studio movie The Little Mermaid .

At the end of the clip was the following statement from its creators, confirmed in their blog: this clip is a trailer for the upcoming full-length cartoon based on the comic. The working title of the cartoon is “ The Origins of Dick ”, and it will be dedicated mainly to Richard.

Somer and Desouza promised to release the film in late 2008. ^[9]

Richard's collection figurines - an extremely limited game, no more than 500 copies and only for 24 hours - were put up for sale on November 15, 2007 and were sold out almost instantly.

• Looking for Group website
• Site about Looking for Group, where you can read a comic in Russian (Russian)