10 TV Shows You Didn't Know Had Accompanying Comic Books
Many TV fans know that the likes of The Flash, The Umbrella Academy and The Walking Dead are based on beloved comic book series. But many popular shows have also spawned their own comic book adaptions that either run concurrently to the TV series they are based on or pick up where it left off.
From True Blood and Dexter to even I Love Lucy, find out more about the shows that have seen their stories become comics, so you can read them for yourself.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a TV show that has been widely adapted in comic book form. Some comics were written by Josh Whedon and other writers from the show and published while the series was still on the air. However, this doesn't mean that all of them are canonical, as some of them feature characters never seen on Buffy.
After the end of Buffy, Dark Horse Comics started publishing new seasons of the show in the form of comics. Seasons Eight, Nine and 10, along with many spin-offs, are a continuation of the TV series and considered canon. There are also comic books based on the TV show Angel and a reboot Buffy series by BOOM! Studios began publication in 2019.
Following the success of the HBO series True Blood, IDW Publishing set out to release a comic book series designed to complement the original show. The first issue came out in 2010 and was co-written by True Blood series creator Alan Ball, as well as David Tischman and Mariah Huehner, with art by David Messina.
The series features six comic books but is not the only one that's part of the True Blood expanded universe, as four other story arcs around the show were also developed.
The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina TV show might be over for Netflix, and Sabrina herself might be stopping by Riverdale for a moment, but that doesn't mean the story is over. Indeed, Archie Comics is bringing the teenage witch back to her original home: the comic book world.
Although Chilling Adventures of Sabrina was the adaptation of a comic book series of the same name, fans of the show will get to pick up where season four left off in The Occult World of Sabrina, a new comic book series from Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa with art from Audrey Mok. No release date has been announced yet, but fans can expect to be reunited with the Spellmans and to find out what they plan to do about the death of Sabrina.
On Castle, Nathan Fillion's character, Richard Castle, was a best-selling author of crime novels, which were subsequently written and published as a tie-in to the show via Hyperion Books. Ten novels featuring Castle's Nikki Heat character were released in the real world.
But it's another character from Richard Castle's fictional mind that has come alive in comic book form. Indeed, Marvel Comics published in 2016 Castle: Richard Castle's Deadly Storm, a graphic novel that adapts the books written by Castle in the TV show, featuring Derrick Storm and co-written by Brian Michael Bendis and Kelly Sue DeConnick. In total, four Derrick Storm graphic novels were released.
TV's favorite serial killer also got the comic book treatment. Initially based on crime novels by Jeff Lindsay, Dexter became a comic book in 2013 thanks to Marvel Comics. The five-issue limited comic book series was also written by Lindsay and illustrated by Dalibor Talajic.
The comics received mixed reviews yet, in 2014, Marvel added to Dexter's kill count by releasing another limited series Dexter comic, Dexter: Down Under. Helmed by the same creative team, these comics take Dexter Morgan all the way to Australia, where he learns more about the predators of the Outback.
The sci-fi series Fringe aired on Fox from 2008 to 2013 and saw several comic books being published during its run. The first, a prequel, was written by Zack Whedon and published by DC Comics under the WildStorm imprint. It was a six-issue limited series that was designed to be part of the mythology of the show.
Tales from the Fringe is another limited series that came out in 2010, and in June 2011, DC published the first issue of Beyond the Fringe, another comic book series which had its first story, titled "Peter and the Machine," written by none other than Fringe star Joshua Jackson.
A classic for many TV lovers, I Love Lucy is a sitcom that greatly influenced the TV landscape and originally aired on CBS from 1951 to 1957. It followed the New York City lives of Lucy Ricardo, her husband Ricky and their best friends, Ethel and Fred. Between 1954 and 1962, Dell Comics published 35 issues of an I Love Lucy comic book.
Each issue of the comics featured several stories following similar plot lines as the TV show. Additionally, King Features syndicated a comic strip to 132 newspapers from 1952 to 1955, which was written by Lawrence Nadel and drawn by Bob Oskner (credited as Bob Lawrence).
A comic book adaptation of Rick and Morty began in 2015. The first issues of the comics were written by Zac Gorman, and this adaptation has been keeping true to the TV show's canon without disrupting it.
In 2018, a four-issue crossover comic of the Rick and Morty and Dungeons & Dragons worlds came out, as well as a sequel. The first title, Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons was co-written by Jim Zub and Patrick Rothfuss, and penciled by Troy Little, while Rick and Morty vs. Dungeons & Dragons: Chapter II: Painscape, while still drawn by Little, was written by Jim Zub and Sarah Stern.
Following the success of Stranger Things on Netflix, Dark Horse Comics announced a partnership with the streaming giant to publish several comics taking place in the Stranger Things world. The first installment was a four-issue miniseries taking place during the event of the first season and relating Will's experience in The Upside Down. It was written by Jody Houser and illustrated by Stefano Martino and came out in 2018.
Since then, other four-part miniseries, one-shots and graphic novels around the expanded universe of Stranger Things have been released, including one set after the Battle of Starcourt Mall depicted in the show's third season. A new graphic novel titled Stranger Things: Erica the Great! is scheduled for release this upcoming November.
The original V miniseries aired in 1983 and was followed in 1984 by a three-part miniseries and a show known amongst fans as V: The Series. It told the story of an alien invasion of Earth by a carnivorous race of reptilians called "Visitors" and was created by Kenneth Johnson. Following the success of the franchise on NBC, novels and comic books were published.
DC Comics released, concurrently with the TV series, 18 issues of the V comic book. Written and penciled for the most part by Cary Bates and Carmine Infantino, the comics tried to stay true to the TV series while taking a few liberties and ended a few months after the show was no longer on the air.