The Forest of Doom: The Obligatory Introduction

THE FOREST OF DOOM

     I'd complain about the title, but somewhere down the line is Space Assassin, so let's just count our blessings. The Forest of Doom, The Citadel of Chaos... so far The Warlock of Firetop Mountain is the most unique. I do think there's a certain sense to naming these books after the setting. You seldom see the Warlock, after all, but you see plenty of Firetop Mountain and the Citadel of Chaos. I won't deny The Forest of Doom is a fun thing to say in a succession of sinister voices. Somehow, that seems more important than the title being unique or impressive.

     The Forest of DOOM! Doom... DOOM... doom... this bit doesn't really work in text. We're still in 1983, by the way. Once they started, Fighting Fantasy churned these things out like nobody's business! Or, I guess, like their own business. 

     So, I've got a drill by now. Covers.

     Here's my scan:

There is a book that spends little time in the library.

      And the back title calls the reader foolhardy. They do this a lot. At least I'm racing against time instead of straight up assassinating a wizard this time.

     Right, covers. Early editions seem to just be slight colorations of this.

Better 1?

Better 2?

     I'll admit, I don't know which I prefer. Probably the second. Colors stand out better, so the image is clearer. The first does have this dark ruddiness to it that makes it more foreboding, though. Either way, I dig this weird ragged lizard person and their full Yu-Gi-Oh hair hiding under their cowl. 

     The forest seems pretty pleasant though. Hardly doom-y at all.

But where are MY breastsssssss, mammal?

      It appears Wizard Publishing went with an update of the same character making aggressive gang signs. This is so much less interesting. The bizarre gesticulation combined with the in your face attitude makes it feel like a mugging. The original sneaky snake person feels like a sinister vagabond you've met in a quiet glade. He's beckoning with old gnarled fingers, and his deep set eyes are watching you. Maybe he's hoping you'll pass on by. Maybe he'll eat your face if you get close. But maybe, just maybe, he'll trade information or hiss an ancient secret in your ear.

     The Wizard lizard wants your stuff, and what are you going to do about it, reader? Threatening, sure, but hardly sinister or intriguing

Eh, who needs backgrounds?

     Oh, but you flip them round to the other side? Yeah, now they sell it!

     Scholastics decided that what was wrong with the Wizard version was that he wasn't aggressive enough, so they decided to use a Spider-Man villain. I do like the way his cape flares out like a blaze of flaming wings, but it's not an atmosphere of doom so much as a Halloween prank at the moment someone either screams or punches the prankster in the schnoz.

     Oh, well, that's all my problems addressed. We're good now.

     So, props to the original art. Ithink it could have done more to make the forest sinister and doom-y, but it does more than any of the later installments in that department. Props to Ian McCaig. I don't have a trophy for this, but I guess you can draw your own.

     Now, turn Over...

     Oh, no, I daren't enter. Those depths are too eerie for me!

     So, our next book in the series is Starship Traveller. Judging by the cover, it's about some kind of space lacrosse. 

Go space robots!

      I kid, I kid. If I skip Forest of Doom I won't be able to use up all these Into the Woods references I can pretend are jokes.

So we're going with capitalized Dwarfs, the real world plural, and not the fantasy plural of dwarves?

     So... is the hammer made of a stone bridge? Was the stone bridge made with the hammer? Am I a Dwarf?

     Onomastics 101: pick two nouns and stick them together and you've got a new fantasy name. Doomhammer, Rockymountains, Snakeriver, etc.

     Yeah, just including this part of the page for completion. Here on in it's the same character creation from The Warlock of Firetop Mountain. Spells are gone, and there's nothing new. Except, and this is important, provisions can now be eaten anytime outside combat and not only when the book says so.

     

     Okay, I really liked the dedication in the first book. I missed the dedication in the last one becasue it was tucked at the top of the copyright page. But this? A whole blank page with a dull and unevocative dedication? Come on, Livingstone, you're a word-layer by trade! Make the love felt!

     Whatever, let's just make fun of the opening image to close us out.

Lookit that... bird...

     Or it won't be funny... 

    So, we're out of the grasp of Russ Nicholson's art for this adventure. Instead we have the pen of Malcolm Barter. I'm not going tos ay Barter is perfect, that bird is weirdly lacking in details beneath the head and the sign post it's resting on appears to be screaming at me, but his artwork does have the advantage of not having quite so many lines, so it scans better. I do think Barter's work is an improvement, though it lacks some of the raw personality Nicholson delivers. That's only a flip through, though. Maybe the book will prove it otherwise.

     So... yeah... that crow sure is white?

      I got nothing.