I don't know what hardcore fans of Brandon Sanderson may think of this, but since I haven't read any other of his books and I know they are real bricks, I gave this a try to catch a glimpse of his writing and imagination. Loooved it! It was a lot but it was coherent, it was creative, the writing quality was top notch and it was the perfect example of a comic that easily puts "real" books to shame (for all those commenters saying comic books aren't books). Can't wait to dive into his other works!

Dark One is a graphic novel with some interesting twists on the portal fantasy and dark one tropes. I don’t think that fans of Brandon Sanderson will be disappointed by this new world. In the first volume we are introduced to some complex characters, an interesting world, and an interesting magic system.

The story follows a boy from our world, who is pulled into another world where the coming of a dark one and savior is prophesied.

The received this graphic novel from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The graphic novel opens on a scene of destruction, but without providing more information or context beyond the name Mirandus it switches to seventeen-year-old Paul on a therapist’s couch, avoiding telling his therapist about the scenes of destruction that he sees and the invisible/alien/ghost(?) girl hanging around, talking to him. Without this very vital information, his therapist decides he’s just dealing with a lot of anxiety. (This is why you should not lie to your therapist.) He is also designing a video game that is about making everybody happy. His mom’s law partner seems to be able to travel between worlds with magic, where he is known as the white wizard Illarion. And he thinks Paul might be the next Dark One, so he sends an assassin who fails and Paul ends up in Mirandus. (By the way, that lack of context from the first scene? When you get it, it’s powerful stuff.)

This graphic novel is another instance of Sanderson examining and thwarting the expectations of the Chosen One/Dark One narrative (as he did with Mistborn), this time focusing on the rise of the Dark One. Particularly the sort of tongue-in-cheek discussion of The Narrative, which plays out every generation on Mirandus. There’s still some parts that are confusing to me, as far as Paul’s father and his role in past Mirandus events, and in Paul’s world, but perhaps that will become clear in future volumes, if they happen. There’s some resemblance to the Stormlight Archive, between the Drull and the Parshendi, and their relative places in the world they inhabit alongside humans.

Not much to say about the art. Pretty standard comic book fare. It’s a shame Sanderson never seems to get really excellent artists.

Brandon Sanderson never fails to amaze me.
It took some time to get into the book and get used to the comic format, but halfway through I was hooked.
I think one the reasons why I it took me a while to familarise with world is.... I went into it blind and some aspects of the world building would confuse me bt at the end I was left surprised and yearning to get my hands on volume 2.

4 stars

Review Really enjoyed this. The story is fast paced and pretty easy to follow. Brandon Sanderson is one of my favorite authors, zo i had not doubts that i would enjoy his graphic novel story as well. In knocked the rating 1 star, since I am not the biggest fan of the art style. Overall a fast and enjoyabled read. I will be reading sequels when they are published.

summary spoilers ahead
Paul is a depressed kid and goes to therapy because his mother thinks it will make him better. Paul is accompanies by a ghost like apparition of Nikka, who claims to be his sister. They get transported into a different world, by a knight who tries to kill Paul.

In this new world Paul meets the princess and the Drull. The drull have some similarities to the Orc in the Lord of the rings. The are born from the earth and follow the dark one. In this case Paul, from earth. Who has no idea why he is the Dark One and why the drull follow him.

Paul grows into his role as the Dark one andrewrites the narative by battling the army of light and the princess.

This was so great! I really loved it. I went into it with average expectations, because Sanderson’s White Sands was kind of… a lot for me. Very wordy. This felt more like what I personally want from a comic. It was imaginative, concise, not confusing, and beautifully illustrated. And the ending left me craving more! This is definitely a series I will follow to the end, I can’t wait to see where it goes from here.

Brandon Sanderson is a master at world creation, and this beginning of a series is no different. He crafts a parallel world that encompasses narrative with fate while mirroring the "real-world." It is a fantastic read fraught with confusion, intrigue, and unknown.

'Dark One Volume 1' by Brandon Sanderson, Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, Nathan C. Gooden and Kurt Michael Russell is an graphic novel based on original material by Brandon Sanderson.

When we meet Paul Tanasin, he is in therapy for the visions of a dark world he has and the invisible woman talking to him who claims to be his sister. One day, he finds himself in that world, and learns that he has a part to play in the mysterious 'narrative,' but it's not a part he wants to necessarily play.

I didn't like this story until I realized that it was just the first part. The ending of this one is so bleak that it felt defeating, but that's a good spot for a sequel. The art is pretty good and there are some nice double page spreads with lots of detail.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Vault Comics, Diamond Book Distributors, and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

Sanderson has always been a great world builder. That trend continues here. There's this fantasy world of light and dark. Both sides have always followed <i>The Narrative</i>. killing one another each generation as new chosen ones rise. Partly the story is about leaving the path laid out before you. Partly it's about embracing your destiny. The fantasy world is also connected to our world somehow. Anyway, the art's good. The story is intriguing. I'm in. Looking forward to reading the rest of this story.

I love Brandon Sanderson's work so much that I couldn't not request this graphic novel and it genuinely didn't disappoint. Sanderson didn't lose any of his amazing writing and seeing the characters brought to life in a visual format was absolutely divine.

Dark One (Volume 1). By Brandon Sanderson, Writers: Jackson Lanzing & Collin Kelly, Illustrators: Nathan Gooden, Kurt Michael Russell & Andworld Design. 2021. Vault Comics (ARC eBook).

In Mirandus, there is the Narrative—an unending cycle of light versus dark. In every generation a fated evil arises and a destined champion emerges to defeat it. This has never, and will never, change. Or so the Narrative says. In New York City, teenager Paul Tanasin is being haunted by a sister he doesn’t remember and seeing visions of dark spiraling towers in the sky. But when a menacing, mounted, knight pursues him through the streets, Paul discovers that his delusions are real and he’s about to bring a bit of chaos to Mirandus.

Sanderson is a very good worldbuilder and I thought volume one did a good job of getting our feet wet in Mirandus and the Narrative. The strong black lines and color pallets was very complimentary for the settings and tone, while also evoking a nice retro throw-back vibe.

Paul is your average teenager - living alone, going to therapy, dealing with hallucinations of a girl, Nikka, who claims to be his sister. When a hallucination comes mid-therapy session and pulls him into a different world, Paul starts to learn the truth. His fate unravels so much about his own history, as well as his family's. He learns about Nikka and how she ties into all that is happening. Most importantly, he learns what he has to do and who he must become.

The Dark One is a wonderful graphic novel by Brandon Sanderson, Jackson Lanzing, and Collin Kelly. The book had me guessing and on the edge of my seat through so much of it. The characters are quite enjoyable and develop well in the short span of the graphic novel. The art and settings are also quite beautiful and complimented the story really well. Altogether, this is a really great graphic novel and I can't wait to read more of Paul's journey.

The Dark One is a new series of graphic novels by Brandon Sanderson - as someone who has thoroughly enjoyed Sanderson's works (after prodding by some good friends... looking at you Brandon) I was really excited to pick up this graphic novel.
Sanderson's chosen one explores the "Chosen One" trope with a new twist - the Chosen One being chosen to be the bad guy instead - an interesting twist that refreshes this trope and gives it new life.
Volume 1 stars with us right in the thick of an already chaotic/action sequence and does not slow down, definitely keeping he readers interest throughout the entire story. We follow our main character, Paul, in his rise to become the dark one in what doesn't feel like a drawn out or empty story, but rather an extremely well developed one. At no point did I think the story was dragging on and at no point too short (though the epilogue at the end scared me they were wrapping it up too early... but it IS just volume one), but we are left with a huge surprise at the end leaving me yearning for volume two!
This is a seamless adaptation into a graphic novel and the artwork is stunning so there's a lot to be missed if you pass on Dark One, especially if you're a Sanderson fan already.
**Thank you to Vault Comics, Brandon Sanderson, Jackson Lanzing, and Collin Kelly for the review copy of Dark one in exchange for an honest review**

Paul Tanasin is haunted by visions of a girl who claims to be his sister. He is sent to therapy but he can’t explain what is going on. One day he is captured and brought to a fantasy world, Mirandus, where he is destined to be the Dark One. Meanwhile, his mother is a attorney representing a serial killer. This murderer has an unusual request that she hasn’t seen before, but she must do her best to give him what he wants. Both Paul and his mother must face their demons in the real world and in Mirandus.

I like it when fantasy stories begin in the real world and then transport the characters to a fantasy land. There were some hints that something greater was going on in Paul’s life when he was haunted by a girl claiming to be his sister. He was destined to fulfill his role in the “narrative” that the people of Mirandus had to follow.

This story had the narrative trope of the “chosen one.” When Paul reached Mirandus, he was told that he was meant to play a particular role there. It didn’t take long for Paul to start to fill in that role, even though he didn’t want to at first. If someone is told that they are something enough times, they start to believe it, whether it’s good or bad.

This graphic novel finished on a cliffhanger so I’ll have to read the next one!

Thank you Vault Comics for providing a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

When I saw “epilogue” at the end, I was really scared that it was going to be the end of the book but, thankfully, it then said “end of book 1”. I got scared for a minute.
I think it is a really promising graphic novel. It is not the most original at the beginning but the way it’s turning around is. I was sometimes a little bit confused as to what was happening but it was really easy to get back in the story. It’s quite intense, and difficult to know who to root for. They all have a part of bad and good in them.
I can’t wait to see what happens in the next volume.
I recommend to fans of dark fantasy.
3.5/5

I'm feeling very conflicted about Dark One. On the one hand, I love a story that subverts the classic fantasy dark vs light binary. In this fantasy world, every generation, the fated champions of each side rise up and war against one another until the light is victorious. These destinies seemingly offer no choice, no deviation, no altered outcome. However, several characters in this story have their own agendas to mess with the system. Chaos ensues, and I admit I'm curious to see what direction it takes.

Despite this potential for something really clever, the first installment didn't blow me away. The characters are ok but mostly flat so far. The most interesting to me was protagonist Paul's mom, Lin. Her side plot was weird, and she doesn't seem to be great in the mothering department, but at least she has layers.

Essentially, there were some good Sanderson™ twists that make me intrigued enough to come back for more, but I'm not sold on the characters or the overall plot yet. I think I won't know for sure how to feel on the latter until I'm clear on its messaging. So far, the trajectory is too shrouded in mystery for me to get a clear read on what the author is trying to say.

I'm a huge fan of Sanderson's published works, so even though I'm not typically a graphic novel reader, I jumped at the chance to read this one. I've long followed Sanderson's idea of a person prophesied to be the Dark One instead of the Hero and really think this idea had a lot of potential. Unfortunately I had a lot of issues with the execution.
The story starts fairly abruptly and continues that way. We don't get real transitions but just quick moves into the plot it's trying to convey. The beginning especially felt disjointed with both the scenes following Paul and the scenes following his mother not feeling connected. While there is a connection drawn at the end, the lack of fleshing out really kept this from being a satisfying story for me.
I realize that being a graphic novel there are definitely limitations on how much can really be fit into a 200 page story, but I think telling a simpler narrative may have helped with this. The story as it's presented tends to get a bit convoluted as it's trying to fit in way too much content in way too short of a time.
I will say I did quite like some of the artwork; they style was unique and there were some cool visuals. At the same time, there were several sections where the panels of art would vary wildly in quality. Some straight up looked like they were a rough draft. I'm not sure if this was intentional and is maybe something that's common for graphic novels, but it really stood out to me here.
While I'm still a massive fan of Sanderson, I do not think I will continue with reading his graphic novels. As I stated above, part of this is just the fact that I very much prefer to read prose versions of stories, but the story and art also had some serious issues.

Our main character Paul is introduced to us as going to therapy to help him to not hurt others. He see’s a ghost that is a bit like an imaginary friend who talks to him, as well as a strange alien evil world. I enjoyed how his development throughout the book shows that these aren’t hallucinations but a genuine different world which he gets sucked into. This kind of changes him as a person, with a focus on him leaning into the prophecy.

Out of the other characters I enjoyed the personalities which were on show for Nikka and Feotora – both strong women who help Paul. On top of them, Mr Caligo is drawn truly creepily and the artwork works to show off the feeling within the frame. On Earth when we’re following Mr Caligo and Paul’s mother where Mr Caligo is on trial for multiple murders, it feels like a very different story but I loved the final connection to Paul.

Throughout the story the world switches from Earth and Mirandus. Mirandus is a fantasy realm with giant lizards, fantasy castles and other aspects found in the fantasy genre. This is definitely Sanderson’s comfort zone, but I liked the originiality of this place.. Mirandus awaits the Destined One who can edit the words written by the narrative, and the Dark One can unwrite them.

The overarching plot is that the Dark One rises in cycles, in a prophetic way where the Destined One must also rise to defeat him. The story follows the literal “narrative” which is like a religion in Mirandus, and there’s an almost 4 wall breaking feeling that the characters kind of know they’re in a book but not quite.

The Idea of the Dark One is not unique in fantasy, but I liked the spin Sanderson put on this Dark One. He’s not quite the fully evil person you expect, and there’s a sense of two sides of the story being vastly different. I also liked the internal conflict as the narrative forces people to be something that maybe, just maybe, they’re not.

Overall I found some parts to be a bit wordy, and it made me question whether this was an adaptation of a bigger novel from Sanderson. There’s a lot of characters included who are there to tell us as a reader things through dialogue with Paul. Different characters explain the world to Paul, even Fetora is told a lot by other characters. This made the book feel longer and slower to read although it’s not too different to an average graphic novel length.

I'm a huge fan of Brandon Sanderson's books in general, but especially his Cosmere stories. When I heard The Dark One was going to be published as a series of graphic novels, I was pretty excited. This was a cool way to read the story and would go much faster than some of the door stop-sized Cosmere novels that can take a while to get through. Even better, when I found out I had an opportunity to preview this graphic novel, I jumped at the chance.

One of the first things that drew me to Sanderson's books was his often new and/or unique approach to fantasy tropes. In this case, what if the traditional "chosen one" was actually chosen to be the great bad guy? This may have done before, but I can't say that I know of any books with this premise. Couple this with Sanderson's writing style and the greater Cosmere stories he is telling and I'm all in on The Dark One.

A quick summary: Paul Tanasin is a young man (late teens/early 20's) who sees a psychologist regularly. You see, Paul has nightmares where he is destroying people and creatures. However, his dreams seem to take place in another realm rather than the modern city he lives in. Additionally, he has a "friend" that only he can see, one who claims she is his sister. Paul's mother, a high powered defense lawyer, is about to take on an unwinnable case, defending a confessed serial killer. She doesn't have time to deal with Paul's hallucinations and dreams.

Meanwhile, in the magical realm of Mirandus, rumors that the next Dark One is rising reach the Kingdoms of Light and the Chronicle King. The wizard Illarion has a plan: when the Dark One rises, the Narrative answers by calling a Destined One. And Illarion has been training him for years. Additionally, the Chronicle King's daughter Feotora fancies herself the kingdom's savior as well. Illarion sends a Chronicle Knight to destroy the Dark One before he has ascended, and things go sideways from there.

The Dark One Volume 1 begins in the middle of the action and only picks up from there. I found Sanderson's story very engaging. Paul is a very interesting character and his journey to Mirandus and his ascent to become the Dark One is well thought out. Illarion and Feotora, the heroes in this type of story, may not be exactly heroic. And just as this volume closes, a huge surprise is revealed.

The denizens of Mirandus constantly refer to the Narrative (capital N every time) when referencing events in the past, present, and future. I found this approach to a guiding force unique, almost meta. It's very clever having characters in a story refer to the overarching events in their lives as the Narrative, talking about the roles they play, and how their world is very cyclical. Its a nod to the reader and the tropes of the fantasy genre.

Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly have taken Sanderson's story and adapted it to the graphic novel format. I think they've done a terrific job. Nathan Gooden's artwork really fits the story and reminds me a little of Jae Lee's art.

I really enjoyed The Dark One by Brandon Sanderson and others. I read it (200+ pages) in two sittings and now I'm anxiously awaiting the next volume to see what happens next. I highly recommend it for fans of fantasy stories and any fan of Brandon Sanderson. This is well worth the time spent reading.

I received a preview copy of this book from Vault Comics and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

To be honest I think Brandon Sanderson best writes novels and not graphic novels. I feel like he always just has so much to tell and explore that fitting it within this format wasn't my favourite thing. The artwork for this one wasn't my favourite either but I still recommend picking this one up as the story was really interesting and fun.