The Guild is about Cyd, a wall flower that has no self-worth and is completely taken advantage of by her rock star wannabe boyfriend. She has a job as a violinist for an orchestra and talks to her webcam as part of her therapy. Cyd is, well shy, but that doesn’t stop her boyfriend from making her go from business to business posting flyers for his band performance. One of the places she ends up in is a video game store. She promises to buy something if they’ll let her hang up the flyer in the store. Being a video game store clerk, of course, he holds her to this. She picks up a Massively Multiplayer Online fantasy game. After being dumped by her loser boyfriend, she dives into the game.
The book is based off of the hit web show of the same name is written by the creator/main actress Felicia Day (Dollhouse) and drawn by Jim Rugg (Plain Janes). The book acts as a precursor to the web show. It could be viewed as an origin story of sorts. The question at this point remains: What if you’ve never viewed the show? Is the book still readable? Yes, it is. The book stands alone and does not actually mention the series in any way. 
Felicia Day’s writing is very well paced and she’s able to build the character of Cyd into someone you’ll be able to identify with. She writes what she knows and it shows. There’s no corny video game sounds written in, and “gamers” are never talked about in a degrading manner. Jim Rugg’s art is just perfect for the book. Really, no one else could give this book the look and feel that it has. He’s able to pack a lot into the background that gives the world a sense of realism, but without it being cluttered or distracting from the characters. Dan Jackson’s, the colorist, compliments the art with his solid color scheme during the “real world” pages and the softer, looser tones for the “video game world.”
The book has a great knack of balancing fantasy and realism. Good fantasy comics seem far and between, so it’s really great to see the story treat video games and fantasy with respect. The only down fall of the issue is that it ends. It’s a rare thing that a single issue of a comic can leave you thinking about it for days after reading it. But that’s exactly what The Guild did. Felicia Day and her team have laid down the ground works for a successful ongoing series and found a strong home at Dark Horse Comics.
Story – 9.5
Art – 9.5
Color – 9.0
Overall – 9.3
