This is a story about a young boy that becomes responsible for a dragon egg. A story about dragons! There are some nice political themes, and themes on tradition and what your duties are.

The art style is very beautiful! Sometimes it wasn't my favorite but it is a stylistic choice and nicely done.

Overall it's a nice quick read but I wasn't the biggest fan of the story or the characters. I just knew right away that this wasn't for me. We also barely got anything from the character this story is named after. White Claw. But as I said the conflict between clans and the characters were just not my thing.

Thank you to Netgalley for providing a copy in exchange for an honest review.

"The White Claw" is a rather boring story. It's very predictable and rather uninteresting due to that. I wish there were more interesting characters.

The lovely artwork drew me in quickly. It did drag on a bit. Despite the lack of time spent on showing the characters personalities I felt tension in the quest to protect the egg.

'White Claw 1. The Egg of the Dragon Queen' by Serge Le Tendre with art by Olivier TaDuc is an adventure comic set in a fantasy version of China with dragons.

The story quickly introduces us to Taho-the-Quick, a poacher. He finds himself in possession of a dragon's egg. Then he finds himself in the midst of a clan war. He meets up with White Claw, who is a very good warrior. The chapter ends with an encounter involving the egg, and what may become Taho's fate.

I really liked the art. The story is about average. I think as it builds, it might be more interesting. I actually liked the White Claw character more than Taho and wished that had been the focal character. Still, it was not a bad adventure story.

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

Taho-the-Quick has learned how to kill dragons, but that earns him the task of transporting a royal dragon's egg to the mountains. After being captured by the army, he and the female warrior, White Claw, manage to rescue their ruler from her enemies. And in the end, Taho sees the murder's of his parents. Who knows what adventures the next volume holds!

If Brienne of Tarth was super hot, living in ancient China and teaming up with a dragon poacher, she would be White Claw.
Unfortunately, the story isn't really about her at all. It's about the dragon poacher, Taho and his goal to get a dragon egg back to its clan before it hatches. There's not really much story to this story - but the art is pretty nice, and hey, dragons!

High fantasy martial arts epic? Yeah, I’ll definitely give that a try! Which is exactly what led me to reading the first volume of White Claw, just recently translated into English for the first time by digital-only publisher Europe Comics.
Taho-the-Quick is out to kill all the dragons he can find, hoping to find the Dragon Queen and kill her as an act of revenge against the people who view her as a totem. When he succeeds, he is presented with the Dragon Queen’s egg, and tasked with protecting it. Captured by the army and sentenced to death, he becomes tied up in a much greater conflict between nations, and finds himself travelling with the mysterious warrior known as White Claw.
This first volume starts pretty slowly, and I struggled to get into it at first. I found Taho-the-Quick to be a pretty unappealing protagonist, and the dialogue to be quite flat. Thankfully, this shifted after the story transitioned from the set-up and two the main story, featuring much more of White Claw than Taho-the-Quick. From that point on, the story became much more gripping, with the dramatic conflicts, perilous fights, and engaging adventure taking center stage.
This ended up being a really fun start to an action-oriented fantasy adventure. I am looking forward to exploring future volumes of this series. Recommended for fans of martial arts action and high fantasy settings.
WORD OF NOTE: I have seen a number of complaints about the lettering in this volume. I can confirm that the font choice is not a great one, and on a number of occasions I had to zoom way in to make sure I was getting the right letters and words. Hopefully this is corrected in future editions.

NOTE: review will be available at provided link on 2/28/19.

While I really liked the art style of this I wasn't as enthralled as I thought I would be when I read the blurb. It just didn't hold my attention sadly. I would read the next volume though as it might get better for me, I sometimes find it hard to connect with first volumes of comics.

Hmmm… Not as much of a success as it should be, this. It starts well with a teenaged upstart boasting about his dragon-killing abilities, only to be burdened with a difficult task as a result, by a royal dragon itself no less. It then goes right downhill fast, into a Sino-soap with this clan against that people against that tribe, because this happened to them then and was followed by that. Yawn. The artwork is quite accomplished, but I doubt I'll return – the muddled allegiances are beyond me, and the title character didn't grab me nearly as much as Dragon Lad.

I should probably stop requesting books based on their covers. I thought this would have a female protagonist. That said, I did enjoy this. The main character is a brave young warrior with a bit of comedy and the dragon is gorgeous, kudos to the artist.
You do seem to be dropped right into the story, not a lot of backstory or beginning.
Yes, there is a strong female character!
Ohhh, I like the protector power. Please team up with the strong female character. Yasssss, they do!!
Not quite a 4 star read but very close, I wanted more.
ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful art but ultimately the story was a little thin for my liking. I know simplistic can bw the way to go in graphic novellas but even as unexpert as I am, I feel that the dialogue should be less exposition heavy. No reason there couldn't be little snatches of story narrative instead of relying entirely on speech or thought. Still many graphic novel enthusiasts will love this.

Beautiful art.

Really, this has beautiful art.

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Screen-Shot-2019-01-06-at-12.19.29-AM.png" alt="white claw" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4877" />

<img src="https://g2comm.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Screen-Shot-2019-01-06-at-12.21.45-AM.png" alt="WHITE Claw" class="alignnone size-full wp-image-4876" />

The story drops you into the middle of things, but stories often do that. It is hard to care about anyone except Taho-the-Quick, who does not so much steal a dragons egg, but is forced to take it.

As for the White Claw, the woman warrior, we get to see her fight, towards the end, and she is kick-ass and all that, but we learn very little about her.

For a first volume, this is a little light on the main character.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book avialble for an honest review.

The artwork and story and I found intriguing and creative. It draws you in and creates an awesome world. And then it abruptly ends without resolution of any conflict. I assume it will continue in the next book, but since there was absolutely no sense of closure, I am not inclined to read the next installment. Frustrating reading experience.

I think that this comic is a bit boring. It wasn't my style and sadly and I din't enjoy the graphics.
The story could be better, have more action and the background should be explained.
I am disapointed.

This is a fine story about a dragon but also about a young boy you finds himself responsible for an egg. I’m not entirely sure why it is called White Claw as the title character doesn’t play a huge role in this introductory volume, though she is nicely kick ass.
It reminds me quite strongly of the movie Red Cliff or the Korean dramas that I use to watch.
It is a good fantasy with some political overtones. But it also touches on the importance of tradition and duty.

I was immediately drawn to White Claw Vol. 1 thanks to the striking cover it had. I loved the white on white elements shown, as well as the art style in general. From there the description really captured my attention. A dragon queen, a poacher, and an attempt to save all their people? It sounds perfect.
I was so excited for this graphic novel when I saw it. Between the art style and the description it left me anticipating something like Dragon Heart. Not in plot, of course, but in the tone and feeling. I didn’t quite get what I was hoping for, but that’s probably my fault.
I feel like this graphic novel had so much potential. Maybe that’s why I was ultimately left feeling a little let down by it? There was an interesting plot to be had here – it just got a little muddy during points. The characters had potential – they just needed better introductions and maybe a little strengthening. Any one of those issues would probably have been fine on their own, but when combined it left the series feeling somewhat lackluster.
That’s not to say that there wasn’t interesting points in this graphic novel. There were points where I really did find myself invested in what I was reading. It just wasn’t a consistent feeling. I think the best way I could put it is to say that it felt like I was reading two or three graphic novels at the same time, rather than one cohesive thought.
I’ll be curious to see if there will be a second volume or not, and if so if they’ll resolve some of these issues. The artwork really was quite beautiful, and for that alone I’d be tempted to give any sequel another chance.

Um, no.

Great cover, but the art inside isn't the same. I don't like this particular style of artwork and I won't have requested it if I knew. The dragons seem more European but the setting is Asian. The story had potential but I'm somewhat confused by the lengthy story of what turned out to be a secondary character, or at least, the main character of this first issue. The dialogue and writing needed more work. Not sure if this is a translation issue.

This ARC is courtesy of NetGalley.

White Claw is as beautiful on the inside as the cover promises, with this watercolor-like coloring and distinctly traditional Chinese-like art style. The story flows from one page to another, excepting the occasional moments where we get a sudden jump not only from one group to another, but from one event to another, like we get to see A and C happen, but B was skipped over along the way. However, that does not hinder the flow of the story, merely helps push it along so it can be told in the space it is given.

Of note, however, is that the description is not very accurate: yes there is a story of Taho having to team up with people not his own to return a dragon egg to its people, but the manner in which he teams up is not at all as indicated – it is of convenience, and does not involve an overcoming of differences to work together with someone else as we might expect from such a situation. Furthermore, we see more of Taho and the story seems like it should be following him primarily, should be named after him. This is more of a story about how against a backdrop and primary story of a power struggle between soon-to-be-at-war nations, Taho must return a dragon egg to the dragons, a storyline which is tied up all too quickly, which leads the reader to assume that the story was never supposed to be about him or the dragons in the first place.

Furthermore, it is named after the woman White Claw, a woman whose past and whose current mission do not get any clearer as the story unfolds. After the character introductions and scene-setting, the main plot focus ends up being on the rising conflict between the Wolf and Dragon peoples, with the female warrior White Claw thrown into the mix. She is clearly supposed to play a central role, as she is the titular character, but she really just flits along the edges and offers a good sword thrust to make a point when needed. She ends up being left as a figurehead for a strong female warrior, playing a decidedly more passive role than one would expect for a titular character.

So, while this volume promised a strong start to an intriguing story, it cops out by the end to give us a nicely wrapped story and uncertainty if the next volume will go ahead and continue the Wolf vs Dragon clan conflict or go in an entirely new direction, if White Claw will take a more active role, if Taho will stick around… it is entirely too open-ended as a result of the confusing switching of plot focus in this volume.

Full(er) Goodreads review link included.

Absolutely enjoyed the art direction, aesthetics and the whole atmosphere of the comic. Writing dragged in the beginning (started on the wrong foot with unnecessary explanations and info-dumping) but towards the end it hooked me. Looking forward to the future installments.

I'm giving this graphic novel a 2.5/5 stars. The art style was simplistic and the story wasnt nearly long enough. It felt very rushed and not flushed out. It could have been really good if there was more plot.