I used to spend the summers of my youth playing board games with the other kids on the street.
Inside the living room or outside on the backyard patio, single games of Monopoly would last for days, The Game of Life would last for hours, and games of Connect Four would be quick and energetic fancies in-between (although we sometimes turned them into larger, multiple-win tournaments).
But the game that would stay with me though my childhood days and nights, the game that would morph into mysterious DIY role-playing games, and cross boundaries and technology into VCR-led playing, movies, books and video games, was the murder-mystery game of Clue.
And for the first time ever, that Hasbro-published classic is making the jump into comic books!
As comic book lovers, now we can sleuth the sequential art mystery, beginning in today’s release of Clue #1!
Clue #1
Written By: Paul Allor
Illustrated By: Nelson Daniel
Published By: IDW
The internationally recognized classic board game of Clue was first published in England in 1950 under the name Cluedo – a clever play between English and Latin languages. I didn’t know it as a kid, but that origin makes complete sense given the historical setting of the murder-mystery game: a stately and stuffy English mansion where characters have decidedly British-sounding names and titles.
Clue has a rather interesting post-war history, if you’re into such things, which can be read on its Wikipedia page.
Written by Paul Allor (Guardians of the Galaxy, G.I. Joe) and illustrated by Nelson Daniel (Dungeons and Dragons, The Cape), this particular Clue is a five-issue miniseries that is every bit a partnership between IDW Publishing and board-game company Hasbro.
As previously mentioned, this is the first time Clue has found itself in comic book form. The premise is the same as the iconic Clue board game: My. Boddy turns up dead at his own dinner party and (of course!) everyone is a suspect! But the characters of this Clue have been completely re-designed by artist Daniel, while still maintaining their familiar faces and names. You’ll find the well-studied Professor Plum here, along with the sultry Ms. Scarlet and adventure-hardened Colonel Mustard to name only a few of the classic characters.
But it’ll be up to the reader to decipher if the instrument of Mr. Boddy’s death was the wrench, revolver, candlestick, or rope – as well as the room the incident took place in! Of course, the dastardly murderer needs to be named as well! Allor’s script brings a new, fresh comedic aspect to Clue.
But the most fun thing about this new Clue?
You readers (or you sleuths!) will be a part of the storytelling process and will need to piece together the mystery full of truths, lies, red herrings and alternate endings. The first issue itself features three different covers – each one ending differently than the other two!
It looks to be like more summer fun on the backyard patio this year!
Test your detective skills against a bonkers-fun classic mystery tale! Make the run to your local comic book shop today and pick up Clue #1…in all three cover formats, of course – you need all the clues to help your investigation!
Reblogged this on JP Fallavollita.