''King of RPGs'' is an American

graphic novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

about roleplaying written by Jason Thompson and drawn by Victor Hao.

Development

Thompson first submitted the idea to

Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed ...

's ''

Rising Stars of Manga ''Rising Stars of Manga'' (RSoM) was an English-language comic anthology published by TOKYOPOP from 2002 to 2008, and a contest held by the same company. It was originally semi-annual, but switched to annual beginning with the 6th volume. Each vo ...

'' contest in 2004, and was inspired by ''

Hikaru no Go is a Japanese manga series based on the board game Go, written by Yumi Hotta and illustrated by Takeshi Obata. The production of the series' Go games was supervised by Go professional Yukari Umezawa. It was serialized in Shueisha's ''Week ...

'' and ''

Knights of the Dinner Table ''Knights of the Dinner Table'' (''KoDT'') is a comic book/strip created by Jolly R. Blackburn and published by Kenzer & Company. It primarily focuses on a group of role playing gamers and their actions at the gaming table, which often result in ...

''. Hao's artistic influences are '' Dragon Ball'', ''

Slam Dunk A slam dunk, also simply known as dunk, is a type of basketball shot that is performed when a player jumps in the air, controls the ball above the horizontal plane of the rim, and scores by shoving the ball directly through the basket with one ...

'', and role-playing video games from the

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in ...

era.

Reception

Carlo Santos, writing for Anime News Network, enjoyed the writing and "passion" that Thompson brought to the work, and the diversity of the characters. Melinda Beasi felt the characters, while over-the-top, were "grounded in just enough reality to ring true". Joanna Draper Carlson compared the graphic novel with '' Penny Arcade'' and found the “zany adventure” plot "didn't work for er. Carlson felt that there was too much tone being used in the art and that the layout was confusing. Michael Lorah felt that if he was a fan of RPGs, he would understand the book better, but enjoyed the "enthusiasm" of the work. He found the art confusing, especially when characters are reacting with extreme emotion. Nick Smith, writing for ICv2, felt the lead character exhibited signs of "multiple personality disorder" due to his roleplaying. Smith also found it "isn't always funny" when "relatively innocent individuals" are hurt as part of the story.

References

{{reflist American graphic novels 2010 graphic novels Original English-language manga