Gamemasters: The Comic Book History of Roleplaying Games
I’ve been a fan of Fred Van Lente since the first black-and-white Action Philosopher comics. Produced with artist Ryan Dunlavey, the series examined the thoughts and lives of history’s greatest thinkers with a humorist twist. Since then, the two have gone on to produce other educational and hilarious comics about American presidents, the history of animation, and a comic book on the history of comic books among others.
Gamemasters: The Comic Book History of Roleplaying Games is the latest entry into that curriculum. However, this time Van Lente is teamed with Canadian cartoonist Tom Fowler and colorist Bill Crabtree. It is worth noting that all three creators are avid gamers and have worked in the RPG industry. Van Lente’s first published work was a Call of Cthulhu supplement, Fowler started out doing art for RPG books, and Crabtree is the artist behind the RPG webcomic Table Titans.
Eight chapters unfold the history in rough chronological order. However, there are divergences as appropriate within certain areas of focus. For instance, the fifth chapter is devoted entirely to the Satanic Panic phenomena of the 1980s and goes into the 21st century in discussing the final fates of the various players behind the drive against Dungeons and Dragons. The following chapter, “Taking Sides,” jumps back to the early 1980s and Gary Gygax’s efforts to sell D&D in Hollywood.
Van Lente is as scrupulous an archivist as ever and there is an extensive works cited section in the back for those who want to “read more about it.” He does not hold back in attacking the sacred cows of the industry or in elevating the unsung heroes. Suffice it to say there are some who will take offense at the image of Dave Arneson chained to writing desk as Gary Gygax brandishes a whip and commands him to write faster.
However, Van Lente also honors Gygax’s work ethic, with facts like how he supported his family doing in-home shoe repair during the lean years. Moreover, while roughly half the book is devoted to the influence of D&D, it also offers an exhaustive look at the other major RPGs that influenced different subgenres. Van Lente also does not hesitate to acknowledge that while the war game Gettysburg played a major role in paving the way for the first RPGs, there’s still a disturbing number of people obsessed with “What if the South had won the Civil War?” simulations.
The artwork is equally irreverent but never unfair. There are several Easter eggs for old school gamers, such as one of a group of live-action role-players being dressed as Diana the Acrobat from the Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. There is also an image of a young Tom Hanks, dressed as his LARPer character from the Satanic Panic scare movie Mazes and Monsters, asking Wilson the volleyball which tunnel he should go down.
Clover Press does not offer an age rating for Gamemasters: The Comic Book History of Roleplaying Games. I would suggest it is appropriate for teen audiences and up. There is no overt nudity, but a few figures, male and female, in skimpy fantasy armor. There are also a few Playboy bunnies, as the narrative notes a Playboy Club opened in Lake Geneva around the time of the first GenCon.
Violence is a little more intense, but largely cartoonish, with animated chess pieces stabbing each other and a smiling severed head in a pool of blood declaring he regrets nothing. The notable exception to this is the final panel of Chapter Five, which notes the tragic suicide of James Dallas Egbert III; the young man whose disappearance kicked off the whole Satanic Panic movement. This scene is not played for laughs and the text notes the cruel irony that Egbert never got the psychological treatment he needed because people were more concerned with fantasy problems than facing reality.
Gamemasters: The Comic Book History of Roleplaying Games
By Fred Van Lente
Art by Tom Fowler, Bill Crabtree
Clover Press, 2025
ISBN: 9781951757267
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
Creator Representation: Canadian
the waning slasher genre, but it also serves as a blueprint as to how a movie can still entertain audiences while explaining the tropes it uses. Since the premier of Scream and its multiple sequels, horror movies have been given permission to give audience members well-versed in horror permission to get a good look behind the blood-streaked curtain. This has, in fact, become a trope in itself, one that has been adopted by Murder Kingdom, a garish, grim, and gory tale written by Fred Van Lente and illustrated by Chris Panda. Not only does this story stick the knife into the slasher genre, but it also eviscerates the notorious magical theme park down in Florida.
