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Dungeons and Dragons in comics
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10 posts in this topic

Howdy!

I'm wondering about Dungeons and Dragons in comics, and the game's influence on comics, so I'm trying to figure out what some of the earlier mentions or appearances of the game are.

I've read the D&D wiki article about licensed comics. The first official D&D comics were one page ads on the back covers of some issues starting in 1981. There were different short stories in different versions of the ads, kind of like the Hostess ads. The first full length licensed comic was apparently in Spanish in 1985, and adaptation of the cartoon, and then in America DC got the license and starting putting out a number of licensed TSR comics around 87.

 

But there are a couple other categories of D&D comics I'm interested in tracking down as well, which are a bit harder to get information on. 

 

First, there were a ton of comics that were directly inspired by D&D in the 80's, especially in the indie and self published arena. I've got a bunch of examples, like Dungeoneers and The Adventurers among others. But it's those "among others" I'm curious about. Anyone collect these, or have some kind of list? Others I have copies of are things like Empire Lanes, Dark Regions, and Tales of the Realm. 

The second category is comics that actually reference D&D or some non-trademark version of the game. The earliest of these I'm aware of is Warlord #35, which came out in 1980, and which so far is the earliest reference to D&D in comics I've found (though I suspect there must be earlier ones). I also have a vague memory of someone, maybe Doug Ramsey, playing D&D in an issue of New Mutants in the mid-80's. But there have to be more I don't know about.

 

Finally, I think the earliest D&D comics probably all appeared in Dragon magazine in the 70's. I've read that some appeared even in the very early issues in the mid-late 70's, but those magazines are hard to come by so I don't have much firsthand knowledge of them.

 

Anyone collect these and know anything about them? Thanks! 

 

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I believe the first comic strip in Dragon is the first 6-panel appearance of Wormy by David Trampier, in #9 (September 1977). I would be amazed if there were not earlier comics in the various D&D fanzines that rapidly appeared in the mid-'70s. Many of these are remarkably difficult to locate, however, and I'm aware of no comprehensive index to their content.

EDIT: NOPE! This was wrong; see below.

Edited by Qalyar
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All I remember is that Bill Willingham did those comics in Marvel Comics in the early 80's.  Willingham had also been one of the "better" TSR artists having drawn the illustrations for modules like S3.  And, of course, soon after went on to launch the Elementals.  Wish one of those would pop up, but believe they are all buried.  

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3 minutes ago, Qalyar said:

I believe the first comic strip in Dragon is the first 6-panel appearance of Wormy by David Trampier, in #9 (September 1977). I would be amazed if there were not earlier comics in the various D&D fanzines that rapidly appeared in the mid-'70s. Many of these are remarkably difficult to locate, however, and I'm aware of no comprehensive index to their content.

I'm very wrong. A comic strip, after a fashion, titled Dirt and merely credited to "jake" appears on page 6 of Dragon #1.

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And pushing back a little further, Dirt appears to have debuted in Strategic Review #7 (v2 #2). Issues #5 and #6 had single-panel illustrations that are clearly the predecessors to actual D&D comic strips, but didn't make any effort at a continuing continuity. I still bet there's earlier fanzine material (also, Dirt is not exactly the pinnacle of art in the medium, shall we say...).

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On 3/13/2021 at 12:44 PM, Crimebuster said:

First, there were a ton of comics that were directly inspired by D&D in the 80's, especially in the indie and self published arena. I've got a bunch of examples, like Dungeoneers and The Adventurers among others. But it's those "among others" I'm curious about. Anyone collect these, or have some kind of list? Others I have copies of are things like Empire Lanes, Dark Regions, and Tales of the Realm.

In my mind, it was hard to separate the books that were influenced by the Lord of the Rings from those that grew out of D&D... in most cases, there was a fair bit of overlap, especially in the post-Elfquest black and white boom of the 1980s. Every other book seemed to feature elves (or trolls or halflings) fighting goblins and evil wizards.

A lot of these series had weaker art that - stylistically, at least - was heavily influenced by things like the Monster Manual.

I do remember being particularly fond of Empire Lanes, though, and trying (and failing) to follow it through multiple publishers and distributors.

I don't know of any sort of genre-specific comprehensive list, but this site is making an effort at a general one: http://jimcripps.com/collections/comicbooks/80sBlackAndWhites.html

 

Edited by Brock
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11 hours ago, Silver said:

Adventurers was a lot of fun.

And it was far more "D&D" than any of the crap series put out by DC. I was so disappointed by those.

Actually, any time Dungeons & Dragons was adapted for another medium, the 80s animated series, DC comic books, movies, I've been hugely disappointed. 

Edited by Jeffro.
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