Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is launching in 2023 and fans continue to hotly anticipate the release. For the Dungeons & Dragons franchise though, there’s a lot more happening on the page, with Critical Role’s Vox Machina series heading into its third volume. For audiences waiting to dive into these areas of the franchises, there are plenty of other comics to explore.
Whether they are directly inspired by the series, or perhaps influenced in some way by the narratives of the tabletop experience, these D&D-infused comics are sure to touch upon the same themes, tropes, and character archetypes, to get readers in the mood for further campaigns.
Amazing Fantasy (2021-2022)
Amazing Fantasy has been a significant title in Marvel’s history, but it was reimagined by Kaare Kyle Andrews to become a genuine fantasy series, as opposed to another outlet for superhero antics. The result took some of Marvel’s most famous characters and placed them in another realm.
With traditional technology out the window, many of the storytelling components, including a quest and a faction war between the likes of goblins and man, felt directly inspired by Dungeons & Dragons itself. Fans of the game will spot plenty of links between this miniseries and their campaigns.
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (1988-1991)
While plenty of D&D fans are used to their Dungeon Master playing all manner of tricks, for Advanced Dungeons & Dragons it was DC Comics pulling the strings, with a range of creatives contributing to this ongoing saga officially set within the D&D landscape.
It’s a retro classic of the franchise now, with a larger arc featuring a party traveling across the Forgotten Realms, broken up by a series of smaller arcs that boasted familiar monsters, and magical conflict. It contains all the vital aspects of D&D that players love and produces a succinct and beautifully drawn story.
Elric: The Balance Lost (2012)
Elric is a character created by Michael Moorcock and has featured across novels and comics as a sword and sandal protagonist, with some direct links to Dungeons & Dragons itself. There are too many fantastic runs to name, but The Balance Lost from BOOM! Studios is a real standout.
Written by Chris Roberson and illustrated by Francesco Biagini, the story saw several eternal champions chosen to protect the multiverse itself, the reader is taken through several realms as Elric is among this group fated to make a difference. The building blocks of a classic campaign are all there, including an array of strange character backstories.
Chronicles Of Conan (2003-2017)
Conan the Barbarian holds a special place in Dungeons & Dragons history as he is one of the characters from a separate fantasy franchise who has been included within official D&D media and genuine campaigns. Conan’s role in the sword and sandal genre is legendary.
Of all his comics, Chronicles of Conan from Dark Horse Comics is one of the character’s most formative. While other publishing houses have taken their turn with the hero, it’s this run that manages to sum up the essence of Conan, taking this protagonist into the modern era through expert narrative construction.
Critical Role: Vox Machina Origins (2017-)
Critical Role will be no stranger to D&D fans, with the team having produced plenty of quality campaigns that have been told via their podcasts and highly-popular quest episodes. The Critical Role franchise has continued to grow and Vox Machina Origins is an example of their influence in comics.
Acting as a prequel to the web series, the comic was published by Dark Horse Comics who has a rich history with D&D and was created by Matthew Mercer, with the run getting produced by a range of talents. The D&D-inspired series is hilarious, emotionally compelling, and interacts perfectly with the characters from Critical Role.
The Defenders (2021-2022)
While this is not a tie-in to Dungeons & Dragons with no classic monsters or campaigns included, the most recent runs of The Defenders have been overhauled and influenced by D&D. The team itself is now comprised of different classes, summed up by their abilities and chosen via a pack of cards.
The team explores the realms on a quest of their own, it just happens to have a Marvel backdrop. Created by Al Ewing and artist Javier Rodriguez, there are plenty of surprises in store for this band of misfits, as they attempt to please fate and reverse the oncoming wrath of the Galactus family.
Stranger Things And Dungeons & Dragons (2020-2021)
D&D has been entrenched within the lore of Stranger Things since the very first season. The characters of the show continue to operate their campaigns, with their quests mirroring the real-world adventure they end up going on. The tabletop game has embraced this connection.
With a Dungeons & Dragon expansion pack that includes Stranger Things, IDW Publishing has teamed up with D&D to publish a comic to go alongside this. The miniseries transforms the characters into the heroes they imagine themselves to be, with the writing of Jody Houser, and Jim Zub and the art of Diego Galindo bringing these two worlds together.
Rick And Morty Vs. Dungeons & Dragons (2018-2019)
In regards to IDW Publishing, they have not stopped with the surprise crossovers and Rick and Morty has also gotten into the mix. The show has previously hosted an episode that paralleled the tabletop experience and Rick and Morty Vs. Dungeons & Dragons attempt to take the concept a step further.
The original run was so popular that a sequel has also been released, with a game expansion also accompanying it. Writers Patrick Rothfuss and Jim Zub and artist Troy Little, teamed up to forge a narrative that involves the Smith family getting pulled into a simulation of a D&D campaign.
Dungeons & Dragons: Fell’s Five (2010-2012)
Whether it’s tragic player backstories, odd monstrous beings, magical cults, or a traditional questing party, the Dungeons & Dragons comics of IDW Publishing have managed to encapsulate everything audiences love about this fantasy gaming franchise.
Among them is Fell’s Five, one of the initial comics that IDW launched that has since expanded into multiple other titles. A party including a dwarf, an elf and a halfling embark on a mission that boasts narrative-twisting secrets and hilarious conflicts, with the series created by writer John Rogers and supported by a huge team of artists across the 15-issue run.
DIE (2018-2021)
Very few comics have embraced the genre of game that D&D falls under, but DIE from Kieron Gillen and illustrated by Stephanie Hans does just that, with a group of players getting drawn into the role-playing title they enjoyed within their younger years, as they try to rescue a friend that was previously left behind.
Part sci-fi and fantasy, part horror, there is an accompanying campaign that players can get involved with. The 20-issue run from Image Comics is fascinating in its portrayal of this D&D-esque universe, with the realm itself shaped like a 20-sides dice. The comic includes many of the structures of Dungeons & Dragons from an inn to the dungeons themselves.
