Ironwolf Clan Series
Published from 2016-2020, these comics and graphic novels were written around the Ironwolf Clan guild on Bleeding Hollow (originally Andorhol). While I no longer have any affiliation with Ironwolf Clan (though it was a blast up until the end) I’m pleased to host my creative works under Section Platform and Game-Specific Features, D.4 of the EULA.
The Post That Launched a Thousand Panels
Shadow of the Legion was my accidental foray into the world of comics. It began with a post in 2015 in the guild Facebook channel as a joke. I drew up a design inspired from an old 70s marvel comic book with a teaser between Vol’jin and the guild leader.
I received overwhelming response and had grossly underestimated the popularity of comics in mainstream media. This was also at a time when Marvel’s movies were peaking in popularity. I decided to start writing and eventually came up with 105 page story that echoed the crisis in American politics at the time. The comic was very successful and was highly entertaining for guild members to tune in each week for another Cliffhanger or twist in the story. I also decided to have it professionally printed in a small run of 65 copies (which judging by the smiles, people enjoyed immensely):
That post would start a journey of five years and a thousand panels ranging from several graphic novels to children’s books to videos and an unfinished cookbook. Many of the concepts were ahead of their time and some may perhaps have influenced things at Blizzard. There was at least one contact at Blizzard in Austin, TX who passed around copies of the first comic and a copy was rumored in the reference library at Irvine, CA.
The amazement of actually finishing a multi-month project and the elation of so much positive feedback was met with the deafening echo of silence when it was over. There was an emptiness – a sense of aimlessness in me. I went to a friend who was an aspiring writer and explained this confusion. He looked at me sadly and said, “The only way to cure that feeling is to write another story.” I stared back at him knowing somehow he was right. I let six months go by and came up with a short story – Origins of the Ironwolf Clan.
Origins was a smaller project and mainly an attempt to make a children’s book in verse. With a much smaller narrative, it was finished by the end of 2016 along with an animated audio version in time for Christmas.
On the heels of that I made a younger children’s bookcalled Zuggy’s Big Adventure – a thick board book for toddlers (made in mind knowing that Blizzard had a daycare so why not start ’em young). My contact at Blizzard said people liked it but wanted to see an Alliance version as well.
Now getting comfortable with the creative process, I wanted an epic story and began to write the Wonder Works in 2017 – the second major graphic novel. It featured the destruction of Dalaran by the powers of the Void and the Legion (only to be brought out seven years later in The War Within).
For this I needed to work with TWO guilds and found Gnomeregan Forever to be exceptionally welcoming. After some discussions with their GM, Forbidra, and the GM of Ironwolf Clan to make sure both sides were comfortable.
When the Battle for Azeroth graphics were shown, gnomes were curiously absent. Wonder Works turned that around by featuring several gnomes as selfless and heroic champions.
The Wonder Works took over a year to write and design with several hundred panels. It was printed in early 2018 immediately selling out and almost required a second printing. Sadly, the GM of Gnomeregan Forever passed away suddenly before the printing was finished. Up to that point Forbidra had been a champion for gnome representation in the game as a positive force. Up to that point blizzard had used gnomes as well as goblins as comic relief and not anything noble or heroic.
Shortly after Wonder Works had been published, Blizzard released a cut scene where Mekkatorque, leader of the gnomes takes a heroic and sacrificial act to cripple the Zandalari fleet at the battle of Dazar’alor. There are an in-game funeral was held attended by over 100 people from both factions. It was done with all of the respect and dignity that a real funeral would have.
I remember noticing a curiously named gnome in attendance; it was Terran Gregory, Cinematic Director for Blizzard.
I introduced myself and thanked him for coming. To my surprise he knew who I was. It was a bittersweet conclusion to The Wonder Works.
The Wonder Works had also gained attention elsewhere in the community as two articles were written about it:
MMORPG “For the Love of the Game”
GuiasWow “Marvel-style Warcraft Comic”
One major community site didn’t want to post articles about the comic and privately emailed me that while they loved it they had concerns that Blizzard might shut me down, or worse, push them from their good graces (there had been an incident that year with a voice acted plugin for WoWs quests which got a cease & desist as well as a warning for featuring it).
a few years before they were put in the game.
The Wonder Works featured a goblin and gnome weapons factory/amusement park set on a remote island – which I built in Blender to render background art. Battle for Azeroth came out in August about six months later and featured a new goblin dungeon, The Motherlode, that was almost identical to the Wonder Works, including the monorail.
This epic 176-page graphic novel is set between Warlords of Draenor and Legion. A bizarre murder on the eve of war with the returning Legion threatens to burn down the fragile truce between the Horde and the Alliance. Sensing the Legion’s hand at work, Khadgar forces two elite guilds – the Ironwolf Clan and Gnomeregan Forever. Can the Horde overcome their suspicion and hatred to stop the to find the assassin and stop the Legion from gaining a powerful artifact?
After the Wonder Works I was both drained and exhilarated. I turned towards some of the characters in it, namely Xiaoyin Xu, a Pandaren warlock.
As a sidenote, Wonder Works predicted a few new racial/classes in WoW: Kul Tiran Shamans with the metal band Songhammer and Pandaren Warlocks. These would be available almost 2 expansions later from the Warlords of Draenor pre-expansion event for Legion.
I was looking into movies and videos as a new dimension for writing stories. I wrote a background story for the fall of Yesheng Cloudbrew, who later becomes Xiaoyin Xu, and began to assemble a cast of voice actors. Preliminary work was done on the opening scenes, but the person I had tasked to get some key talent fell through and the project stopped.
With the Wonder Works story concluded they really didn’t seem to be a new direction. I’m mulled about a new story that picked up where Wonder Works left off but really didn’t feel It had the same momentum.
I began to focus on some short teaser videos about major characters in the guild and their backgrounds. The first was about how the two guild leaders met and was a throwback to vanilla wow. It also built some continuity from the first story as a sort of prequel.
I also tried to get a job at Blizzard as a quest writer and, when Blizzard was doing comics, as a comic book editor. Fortunately, those opportunities never materialized as most of those positions were acted when Blizzard cut several hundred employees later in February 2019.
Work on the Trial of Wolf’s Burden started in late fall and by Christmas 2018 a new teaser video was created. Trial of Wolf’s Burden was done in early 2019. I moved immediately to the next story which was on the character known as Poisonsword. His story was one of a blade master who had lost faith in the institution that he had served so many years in. This paralleled changes that were happening both in the country as well as in the guild.
North Barrens Drifter was released in the summer of 2019. At this point comic writing was a part-time job spending most of my free time at night and into the early morning doing.
A lone warrior roams as a vagrant across the dry lands of Durotar. His travels cross paths with the Burning Blade, a splinter faction of orcs obsessed with demonic power and oppressing their kin who try to start a new life. The Horde faces a nascent challenge for its own legitimacy – can they prove that strength and honor is more than words or is it forged in blood and sacrifice?
The end of 2019, rumors were breaking out in China about a virus that was spreading And I was thinking of an origin story for another character in the guild, Wickedmama.
From 2019 to 2020 I watched along with the rest of the world the inevitable progression of a pandemic. The story echoed the madness of fighting a seemingly unstoppable plague (the Scourge) and the attitudes that came with it (fear, division, hostility).
I worked on Shade of Honor for about six months total as lockdowns and concerns about the pandemic, began to occupy more of my time. If the pandemic wasn’t bad enough, a personal crisis rose in the fall of 2019 That also influenced some of the story. The transformation of Lily into Wickedmama cost her family, even though inside she was still the same. I wanted to parallel the shock and disconnect when someone whom you loved and trusted becomes a stranger and a threat.
Unfortunately, that crisis became a full out disaster and I had to stop working on comics (understandably).
The origin story for Wickedmama, set during the time of the Scourge and the Scarlet Crusade; timely in that it was written during the 2019-2021 pandemic. A secret meeting with the new Warchief leads to intrigue as she sends Wickedmama on a secretive quest for an artifact tied to undeath. Her audience probes Wickedmama’s past, whether to question her loyalty or something more, leading her to question whether Sylvanas has darker plans.
Shado Pan Series
An unfinished pilot called The Whisperer in the Wilds was drafted and a short story of the same name was made as a prelude. It was planned to be a mystery/horror story from the perspective of two Shado Pan officers investigating a gang-related murder which leads to rumors of a Pandaren warlock cult known as the Jing Xi.
An official audio drama was completed in time for Halloween 2021 as an exercise in writing a horror short story. It follows the last moments of the victims who foolishly wandered into the Krasarang Jungle and ignored the rumors of a forest demon that haunted it.
Epilogue
The final blow came with some drama that transcended the game into real life issues within the guild which I won’t get into. Such was the case with both leaders of the guild.
The real world effects of that left me where I could no longer be a part of the brand.
The net result was the shattering of community into at least three smaller groups; several longstanding players quit the game entirely. I myself took a break from WoW for almost a year.
At the same time, WoW had been hemorrhaging subscribers to the point that it was very noticeable in game.
Greywolfcomics was a five year chunk of my life that I was very proud of. I think the biggest thing was that I actually finished the project that I sent out to do.
Another thing was that the effort made a lot of people happy and that’s not to be understated. Part of being a community is having a positive impact on others and I can definitely say that GreyWolfComics did that. From cameos to minor characters, a lot of people were blown away when they saw their character come to life in a comic book. And honestly, that’s quite magical to watch somebody experience that. And if you happen to be one of those people, the honor and the pleasure was all mine.
Will I go back and finish some of my stories? Who knows maybe I’ll have some free time that I can touch a page too or at least publish the rest of the story even if it isn’t drawn.
If you’ve made it this far, I want to say thank you. Thanks for reading and sharing my story and with that I will conclude as I always have:
Until Next Time!
Greywolf Comics & Media 