DPS Only!

by Velinxi

Genres: Graphic Novels
Pages: 426
Rating:

Synopsis:

Vicky Tan is a meek school girl with social anxiety who always introduces herself as an attachment to her confident, genius brother, Virgil, who has made a name for himself as one of the most popular competitors and streamers for the world famous "Xenith Orion" game.

Despite having aspirations of her own to compete and stream, Vic fears that she will open herself to the hate, doubt, harassment significant women gamers receive every day. She instead opts to stay in the background, acting as her brother’s assistant and manager. However, when opportunity arises in the form of a local competition, Vicky knows she can't stay away. Donning a disguise, she enters the esports scene under the moniker, "Aegis."

I grabbed DPS Only! on Comics Plus when I realised that it was written/drawn by Velinxi (Xiao Tong Kong), the artist who illustrated the English-language version of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System. No surprises then that I liked the art and character designs a lot. The colours were great, too.

The story’s a bit of a coming-of-age thing, essentially: Vicky’s brother Virgil is a pro-gamer, competing in esports leagues, and he’s used the money to formally adopt her and get her away from their parents. She loves him, but he’s overprotective and sometimes infantalising, and he doesn’t really seem to see her. He has no idea, for instance, that she plays too…

It’s inevitable that the story ends with the two of them going toe-to-toe, but it takes a while to get there, exploring Vicky’s growing confidence, her growing interest in revealing herself after an initial reluctance to compete. I enjoyed that her team includes an older guy — games can bring such different age groups together, and some very disparate people, and I love how supportive Eric is with his slightly different perspective.

There was an obvious ending to this story, and I’m glad it didn’t fully go there, on reflection. Vicky’s still got a long way to go. But she’s on her way, and now Virgil has her back, properly. It’s lovely.

Rating: 4/5 (“really liked it”)