7 Comics & Graphic Novels That Expand the Worlds of Our Favorite Sci-Fi & Fantasy Books

Fans of V.E. Schwab’s Shades of Magic series, which began with 2015’s A Darker Shade of Magic and triumphantly concluded with last year’s A Conjuring of Light, just got some good news: Schwab is creating a prequel comic series beginning in October. Shades of Magic: The Steel Prince will tell the story of Prince Maxim Maresh, adoptive father of series lead Kell and future king of Red London. He’s been ordered by his father to put down a revolt in a distant port city on the Blood Coast, and encounters lawless soldiers and a pirate queen. It’ll be a brand-new story from Schwab, with art by Andrea Olimpieri, expanding a universe we love and doling out an intriguing bit of backstory.
This isn’t the first time a novel has jumped to a new medium to explore its world’s more distant corners. Here are 7 more comics that have provided original or expanded stories rather than simply adapting their source material—often with the participation of the original author (at least, where death didn’t make that impossible).

The Expanse: Origins, by James S. A. Corey, Hallie Lambert, Georgia Lee, Huang Danlan, Triona Farrell, and Juan Useche
We’re firmly in prequel territory with this new collection of stories diving into the backstories of the crew of the Rocinante. Fortunately, we’re not going as far back as childhood, so there’s no chance of discovering that our badass team were annoying, snot-nosed kids (also, in one particular case, that childhood backstory would be so dark, we’d need to lock ourselves in the bathroom for a week). The stories tell of Holden as a lieutenant in Earth’s Navy, while we also spend some time with Alex as a soldier in service to Mars. We witness Naomi Nagata’s first meeting with Amos Burton. Detective Miller gets a spotlight as well, and there’s a wild trip through Amos Burton’s unconscious following an injury on board a Belter ship. The art depicts the characters as they appear in the TV series, but the stories dovetail with both the show and the novels.

Red Rising: Sons of Ares, by Pierce Brown, Rik Hoskin, Eli Powell, and Jordan Boyd
With the the initial trilogy wrapped as of 2016, Pierce Brown’s Red Rising series goes in two different directions this year: the recent prose novel Iron Gold continues the story of Darrow and Virginia leading a new Solar Republic 10 years out from the previous book, while the Sons of Ares graphic novel goes back in time with a prequel that serves as an origin story for the titular terrorist faction. When a Gold falls in love with a lowColor Red, it sets the stage for the end of the oppressive regime. Brown himself came up with the story alongside scriptor Rik Hoskin; artists Eli Powell and Jordan Boyd bring it to life on the page.

Marvel’s The Dark Tower, by Stephen King, Peter David, Robin Furth, Jae Lee, and Richard Isanove
Spanning 17 (and counting) miniseries, Marvel’s Dark Tower comics have gone a long way toward expanding the universe of Stephen King’s already pretty darn vast novel series. Or are they telling the story of  similar, parallel universe, much like the recent movie version? It’s easy to get confused: initially, the series (beginning with The Gunslinger Born) chronicled the backstory of gunslinger Roland Deschain, whose origins have been teased in flashbacks throughout the novel series (including a whole book of them, Wizard and Glass). Following the conclusion of that run, the comics continued as, seemingly, more straightforward adaptions of the novels with expanded material. But—inconsistencies between the worlds of the comics and novels lead King’s research assistant and series writer Robin Furth to suggest that the graphic version might be offering up a glimpse into one a world running parallel to the books. Is it a prequel? Adaption? Expansion? Reboot? Uhm…yes.

Jim Butcher’s The Dresden Files, by Jim Butcher, Mark Powers, Joseph Cooper, and Adrian Syaf
As with The Dark Tower, the graphic novels related to long-running Jim Butcher’s urban fantasy series The Dresden Files have taken a few different forms. Initially, and while under Dabel Brothers publishing, the series was largely intended to adapt Jim Butcher’s novels, adding in an exclusive storyline (Welcome to the Jungle) set prior to the first book. Since moving over to Dynamite, the stories (beginning with Ghoul Goblin and continuing, most recently, with Dog Men) have all been original tales set within series continuity, in and around the novels proper. Jim Butcher has either a writer or co-writer credit on each.

Rivers of London, by Ben Aaronovitch, Andrew Cartmel, Lee Sullivan, and Luis Guerrero
Still solidly in urban fantasy terrain, Ben Aaronovitch’s Rivers of London series follows London Metropolitan Police officer Peter Grant who unexpectedly encounters a ghost while on duty and is subsequently recruited into a division of the Met specializing in the supernatural. It’s like CSI, but in London. And with ghosts, monsters, and squabbling gods. Since 2016’s Body Work, Aaronovitch has joined co-writer Andrew Cartmel and artists Lee Sullivan and Luis Guerrero to tell a series of original Peter Grant stories exclusively as graphic novels. The next in the series, Cry Fox, is due in June.

The Exile: An Outlander Graphic Novel, by Diana Gabaldon and Hoang Nguyen
Diana Gabaldon’s genre-defying series of sexy time-travel historical romances got a new twist with Exile, a graphic novel written by the author, with art from Hoang Nguyen. The prose novels are told largely from the point-of-view of time-displaced WWII-era nurse and Sassenach Claire Randall, who finds herself lost in 1743 Scotland with only Scottish warrior Jamie Fraser (inspired by 60s-era Doctor Who companion Jamie McCrimmon)  to help her navigate the past. While not an entirely new story, Exile takes the premise of the first novel in the series and provides a backstory for Jamie, before retelling some of the events of that story from the POV of the highlander, who finds himself dealing with the resourceful, if confused, nurse.

Dark Horse’s Conan, by Kurt Busiek, Cary Nord, Greg Ruth, Brian Wood, Cullenn Bun, and Becky Cloonan
There have been a lot of Conan comics, by Crom, and a lot of them quite good—but here we’re talking specifically about the Dark Horse run that began in 2004 and has continued in a few different forms ever since. Robert E. Howard’s original stories about the Cimmerian destined to become king took place at seemingly random points in the barbarian’s Hyborian Age career. Thief, reaver, slayer, pirate, mercenary, ruler, etc.: Conan did it all, and Howard wasn’t worried about jumping around in the timeline. What the Dark Horse series has added is a chronology: the series starts before Conan’s earliest adventure and progresses through his life from that point, making the occasional detour to explore a different chapter in his childhood. The series also fills gaps between the stories, creating a coherent narrative out of Howard’s more episodic short stories. Neither approach is necessarily superior, but the Dark Horse books offer up a great deal of added context (alongside a truly impressive roster of talent).
What’s your favorite graphic novel tie-in?