Dragon Quest: The Mark of Erdrick – Volume 4 Review
We left the previous chapter with our heroes (minus “Swordlord” Kira who went on a journey of self-discovery in his homeland) on the open sea where an evil entity known as Leviathan had been unleashed against them. At the same time. our main hero/protagonist Arus, his trusted “Fistlord” Yao and the clumsy clowning Poron (whom we the readers know is actually Magelord-in-waiting Norop) along with a few other hangers-on, find a girl called Pearl stranded in the waves. Pearl soon recognises the murderous mound of jelly on the horizon as Leviathan, but reveals it was once a humanoid man and God of the Seas as well as her lover but he was cursed by Dark Lord Imagine and swallowed by an evil parasite, one that is at the centre of the killer mucus that has literally devoured entire islands. Arus and Yao try to combat Leviathan via traditional sword and Ki moves but this does little to nothing against a foe so large and squidgy, so Pearl creates a barrier that allows their ship to sink into the centre and confront the parasite.
Inside the belly of the beast, they find Leviathan himself, who manages to break free long enough to realise the horrible actions his power has been used for and wants nothing more than death at the hands of the hero Arus, but our kind-hearted lead character can’t bring himself to kill an innocent man, even with the pleading of both Leviathan and Pearl… To avoid spoiling the end of this segment too much, I’ll say the next story arc is a smaller one focusing on Kira returning to the village of his birth to find out more about his family and brother he never knew he had (who previously turned out to be a villain corrupted by an evil sword that Kira cut down…). While he’s there, he falls under a spell where he finds himself in a world where he lives a normal life with his birth parents and brother, and most importantly, learns special sword techniques from his father. He eventually fights his way out of the vision and, due to the training, has become a fully-fledged Swordlord.
The third arc of the book then switches focus to Poron, where the truth behind how he’s simultaneously the Magelord and a bit of an idiot is revealed and he too has no choice but to accept his role, meaning that in Volume 5 the hero’s party will be fully assembled, as was foretold… and, you know, really obvious.
Once again the artwork is top-notch and the volume is full with coloured pages, notes from the author and some concept/unused artwork.
Dragon Quest: The Mark of Erdrick continues to be a really fun read. It fully embraces all the JRPG tropes and while it doesn’t do anything that you’d call a departure from the norm, it does it all with such flare and clear passion for the source material that as long as you like Dragon Quest or JRPG tales in general, you’ll be reading it with a knowing smile. Volume 5 is due out from Square Enix Manga in October.
Read a free extract at the publisher’s website here.
Our review copy from Square Enix Manga was supplied by Turnaround Comics (Turnaround Publisher Services).
