Ya know Riot, if we get more of these comics, would you consider selling physical copies?

SaltyToplaneGoat··25 votes·903 views

Because if the other stories all turn out to be just as awesome and well made as the Darius comic I'm gonna buy the hell out of all the volumes with collected stories.

At least, I hope we get more of them, mostly because I see a LOT of potential here. The american comic market has truly seen better days, especially in the fantastical/superhero department, that often clings to things that made them great in the last century, but fail to truly translate into modern times. And now Riot opens up this entire new and rich world full of potential, with interesting characters, interesting storylines in all dimensions (from the apokalyptic threat of a Void Invasion to the moral implications of using poison gas on the battlefield from the viewpoint of a normal soldier), and - and that's the biggest advantage towards today's Marvel - massive crossover potential in storylines and character encounters without it being too overbearing thanks to the world pretty much still being medival.

Let's be real, in modern hero comics you can't really exclude any big characters because they are all globally connected. And when a villain shows up we got at least three (or four already? five?) different avenger teams with constantly changing members ready to jump in - no reader wants to keep track of all that! <_<'

Meanwhile in Runeterra you can say: "Well folks, he's about 100 miles away and the fastest form of transporation that we have is a horse. So OF COURSE he's not there. That's just how it is.", which makes the entire thing a lot more relaxed and prevents a character overload where it's not directly and explicitly desired.

And if all fails and we really need a character somewhere specific, we even got our very own portal-creating Deus Ex Machina: Bard , which adds just another possible storyline about the dude himself.

We have a rich, "un-used" world (not the same old tolkien/high fantasy thing), and a gigantic cast of interesting characters who very often have "main character" potential given their nature as a "champion". And to add on that these characters are all in very distinct and diverse cultures that Riot is right now in the process of fleshing out or did that already with the Bilgewater/Harrowing thing or the big lore updates of Piltover, Zaun, and Demacia.

I have said it before and I will say it again: what Riot sits on here has massive cultural potential that might go far, FAR beyond mere geek culture. Blizzard tried to step into the mainstream with their Warcraft movie, but the brand is already too famous for being for "nerds" (you can thank the early reputation of WoW by non-gamers for this) to really make even as much as a tiny wave in our mainstream culture. But with what Riot has here... there I see potential. Not just with the comics and stories, but also with other forms of media - comics and stories are just a bit cheaper to make than something animated after all, so maybe you should stick to that first to build your "basis".

But imagine some champions of LoL sitting at a level of popularity with the general population like some Marvel heroes, people completly geeking out about Runeterra lore, and it being SOMEHOW COMPLETLY NORMAL? Imagine LoL being an so elementary part in western culture people write publications about it, like it is with Star Trek or Dr. Who for instance? (Ok now we are getting really speculative assuming a success that spans over generations, but who knows what can all be possible, no? Back in the day none suspected Star Wars: A New Hope would ever be a success and yet here we are today...)

At least that's the potential I see, but that's just my humble opinion as a Media Studies B.A. (soon M.A. tho - If I pass that is...), who might not know everything in this field, but feels knownledgeable enough to make such a statement.

7 Comments

Krabohod4 votes

But imagine some champions of LoL sitting at a level of popularity with the general population like some Marvel heroes, people completly geeking out about Runeterra lore, and it being SOMEHOW COMPLETLY NORMAL?

THis would be fine day for us. For us who've been here before the big popularity

SaltyToplaneGoat3 votes

I don't really want to be a hipster, but a fandom elder however, who is not publically deemed a weird for that... yeah, THAT would have something for it...

ArbiterOfTruth1 votes

I agree with this. I also play Warframe and they came up with a comic and it looks fantastic. Can't wait to see more from League and Warframe. I Think they have some great potential.

SaltyToplaneGoat1 votes

The thing with Warframe is that it's a bit weird to approach. Because in the end Riot here says "well, this is a world mostly in the end of the middle ages, one region is already a but further technically bit still in the 19th century. Oh and there's a bit of magic." That's something most people have no problem accepting as the setting.

Meanwhile Warframe is like: "ROBOT NINJAS IN SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE!!!!!"

Don't get me wrong, that's still awesome, but a bit too niche to achieve true mass appeal...

ArbiterOfTruth1 votes

I get that. DE has actually been doing some great lore building and giving players more info on who the Tenno are. I'm just excited that we're getting lore in the form of comics.

SaltyToplaneGoat1 votes

I think Warframe's biggest problems is that they lack iconic personalities. I mean, just look at the Overwatch fandom: since the day it launched countless fancomics, fanfictions, doodles, and not to mention memes and shitposts starring these characters have been flying around, often also spilling onto non-gaming related sites.

And that mostly works because the characters in Overwatch are ofte iconic archetypes. Like, I don't need to know who Junkrat is. I see that guy next to a bomb and put one and one together to guess what personality he represents. Same thing with Roadhog. Or Tracer. Or Reinhard. Or most of their other characters.

With Warframe however... well the last time I played it was early open beta, but if you just show me an image of a random warframe in a situation I doubt anyone could deduce any personality from that, especially when the one seeing it has no idea how that warframe's playstyle is. I'm not saying that Warframe has no community as that would be far from the truth, but it cannot compare to others in this area...

Placentas1 votes

Would definitely appreciate this and I would purchase one.

Hell even just a collection of the comics in a big book would be great too.

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