Review: The Guild – The Official Companion
When Titan Books approached us about reviewing The Guild: The Official Companion book, I chuckled, because who would have ever thought a web series required a companion guide? I signed up and said yes, because sure, I had watched several of the seasons (admittedly, not the last two), but it had usually made me chuckle, and I figured it would be a fun quick read. After reading it through, i’ve found that this book is entirely masturbatory in talking about what an awesome thing these people made, which made it feel a little long to read through cover to cover (i’d recommend skipping to sections you might be interested in), and made me entirely envious.
The Guild
If you’re not familiar with The Guild, it’s worth checking out. The story of a guild in World of Warcraft that meet IRL, and the shenanigans that would come from meeting the people you find on the net (with their personalities magnified ten fold because, well… it’s entertaining!). What makes this sort of thing believable is like how Reuben mentioned just yesterday in his article about how his guild meet every single year – 9 years running now!
This book is 160 pages long, and slapped cover to cover with big pictures from behind the scenes, on scene, comic book frames and authors notes covering topics from individual characters, costuming, writing, stunts and more. If you love the series and want a ton of behind the scenes information on how it was made and lift the veil of disbelief – you’ll love this book. (Not that anyone that is uninterested in the show or web series’ in general would pick up this book, but i’d say it’s not something to buy for someone if you don’t know if they dig this show or not!)
Here is what really struck me though about The Guild The Official Companion – Yes the book is about the particular web series The Guild, but as an aspiring creator of content on the web, this book was inspirational. Think about it… how many talented people do you know, that have always tossed around ‘yeah, we should try that!’ for some really cool fun ideas, but they never follow up on them? This book starts with Felicia Day discussing how The Guild truly got off the ground because she was in a women’s group of support who said her idea was good, and helped her do it. I will never be Felicia Day, but I want to be part of the group that succeeds her in blazing a trail of new creations on the web.
If you’re looking to geek out some more about The Guild, this book is for you. If you’re looking for something to flip through as a reminder that amazing things can happen on the web – this book is SUPER for you.
