Comic Book Adaptation / Western Animation

• Bongo Comics was founded by Matt Groening and friends in 1993 largely to publish their own comic book adaptation of The Simpsons. Naturally, they've also published a Futurama comic as well (which notably continued publication after the cancellations of both the original FOX run and the Comedy Central run and lasted 83 issues, the last two only being available digitally through the Futuramaland app), and have even crossed the two series over.
• Gargoyles has several comic book tie-ins.
  • The first was a comic published by Marvel while the show was still in production. It lasted eleven issues, portrayed Xanatos as an over-the-top evil villain and featured a romantic subplot between Goliath and a cloned amalgam of his own DNA combined with Elisa's. Needless to say, this wasn't canon at all.
  • Nine years after the show ended its run, there was a short-lived comic by Slave Labor Graphics that was written by the cartoon's original creator Greg Weisman, which continued the series by beginning with an adaptation of "The Journey" (the one episode of the third season The Goliath Chronicles that isn't Canon Discontinuity) before going on with completely original stories. There was also a spin-off miniseries titled Gargoyles: Bad Guys, which served as a Redemption Quest for several of the show's villains. Unfortunately, both comics were cancelled after the main series' eighth issue and the Bad Guys spin-off's fourth issue due to Disney imposing higher licensing fees on Slave Labor Graphics, which resulted in the last four issues of the former and the last two issues of the latter never being published individually and only being available in the now out-of-print trade paperback editions.
  • In 2022, Dynamite Entertainment obtained the comic book license and have announced their intention to reprint the Marvel and Slave Labor Graphics comics as well as commission a new comic serving as a continuation of the Slave Labor Graphics series. A prequel miniseries titled Gargoyles: Dark Ages is also in the works.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles:
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987) had a comic series by Archie titled Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Adventures, which started out as a straight adaptation with the original three-issue Heroes in a Half-Shell miniseries and the first four issues of the ongoing series being adapted from the first seven episodes of the cartoon, before establishing its own continuity.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003) had a short-lived comic book adaptation by Dreamwave, which, like the 1987 cartoon comic adaptation before it, initially adapted episodes of the actual show before moving on with original stories.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) had three comic adaptations to its name, one featured in a magazine published by Panini and two by IDW Publishing (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: New Animated Adventures and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Amazing Adventures).
  • Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles had a comic book tie-in by IDW as well, which is intended to be completely canon to the animated series it is based on.
• Teen Titans Go!: Originally a tie-in book to the 2003 TV show, had A-name talents like J. Torres, Todd Nauck, and Sean Galloway working on it. After the show ended, the series continued a few of its unresolved story lines. When the 2013 series, Teen Titans Go! began showing, it likewise got a comic book adaptation of the shows. As you can imagine this threw some confusion for most fans mistaking the first series based on the 2003 show. DC eventually labeled the '03 based comics as "Vol 1".
• Most Disney movies and cartoons usually have some form of comic book adaptation. This includes DuckTales (1987), which was already an Animated Adaptation of Carl Barks' comic stories.
• The Powerpuff Girls had several comic books published by DC Comics and IDW Publishing, either based on the 1998 or 2016 series, with most of the stories being original. Although, four of the 1998 series' episodes directly or indirectly distilled from stories from DC's comic book, with one story also being a direct adaptation of an episode.
  • "Squirrely Burly" (issue #1, reprinted in #70) became Season 4 episode "Stray Bullet."
  • Issue #7's "Remote Controlled" was initially written as a Season 1 episode, but the staff feared a lawsuit from Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers' Neighborhood), so they gave the outline to DC to do as the comic. The story would eventually re-surface to the series as one of its last episodes, "Neighbor Hood."
  • Issue #21's "Big Fish Story" would be tweaked as the episode "Lying Around the House."
  • Issue #46's "See You Later, Narrator" would see TV as "Simian Says," though the episode was produced and screened elsewhere before it aired in the United States and before the comic story was published.
  • The adaptation of The Powerpuff Girls Movie was put on sale the same day as the movie release (July 3, 2002).
  • An unmade episode, "Deja View", was published as issue #50 of the comic as well.
• Since the original days of Tom and Jerry, various Hanna-Barbera cartoons have had comic books made based on them, published by different companies over the years (Dell, Gold Key, Whitman, Charlton, Harvey Comics, Marvel Comics, Archie Comics, and most recently, DC Comics). Currently, though, Scooby-Doo is the only one that still has a comic running. In the Gold Key run, Scooby-Doo had the gang going from solving mysteries as a hobby to being ghost breakers for hire. And Scooby Snacks were used only in the first issue.
• During the original run of The Real Ghostbusters, a comic book series was also published by the now defunct NOW Comics that lasted 28 issues. A couple of annual issues also came out after the show ended.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender had comics featured in Nickelodeon Magazine, the show's DVD sets and standalone stories in Free Comic Book Day one-shots, all of which were collected along with new stories in the collected volumes The Lost Adventures and Team Avatar Tales. There were also a series of graphic novel trilogies serving to bridge the gap between the original series and The Legend of Korra, consisting of "The Promise," "The Search" (which notably resolves the issue of the whereabouts of Zuko and Azula's mother) "The Rift," "Smoke and Shadow", "North and South", and "Imbalace", in addition to three singular graphic novels in Anachronic Order consisting of Katara and the Pirate's Silver (taking place after the show's episode "Bitter Work"), Toph Beifong's Metalbending Academy (set between the graphic novel trilogies The Rift and Smoke and Shadow) and Suki, Alone (which is a prequel to the episode "The Boiling Rock").
  • The Legend of Korra had its own comic book tie-ins, once more consisting of Free Comic Book Day one-shots as well as two graphic novel trilogies set after the series titled "Turf Wars" and "Ruins of the Empire" and a one-shot anthology titled "Patterns in Time".
• The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan had four volumes published by Gold Key and drawn by Warren Tufts. They were adaptations of episodes 1, 2, 3, 5 and 11 plus a new adventure not seen in the cartoon.
• In addition to the above, pretty much every major animated TV series of the late 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s saw comic book adaptations published by Dell Comics, Gold Key Comics, and Charlton Comics (now all defunct), with Marvel Comics taking a stab at Hanna-Barbera's stable of characters in the late 1970s; the H-B characters were also later licensed by Archie Comics and Harvey Comics.
• In The '90s Marvel put out comic books of several shows, including:
  • The Ren & Stimpy Show (1992-96, 44 issues)
  • Beavis and Butt-Head (1994-96, 28 issues)
  • Rocko's Modern Life (1994; 7 issues)
• Dexter's Laboratory had a comic book through DC Comics (1999-2003; 34 issues). After that more stories were made for Cartoon Network Block Party (2004-2009), also from DC.
• DC Comics put out five comics based on Cartoon Network:
  • From 1997 to 1999, Cartoon Network Presents had stories based on old Hanna-Barbera characters, but included their original series Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Dexter's Laboratory, and Cow and Chicken. Five issues were branded as Toonami, which featured stories about the old Hanna-Barbera action characters like The Herculoids and The Galaxy Trio with Moltar commenting in between.
  • After two years, it was replaced with Cartoon Network Starring, which dropped the old cartoons and added The Powerpuff Girls (1998) and Johnny Bravo. It also dropped the Toonami-themed issues as that block shifted its focus to anime properties DC didn't have the rights to.
  • In early 2001 it was replaced with Cartoon Cartoons, and added I Am Weasel, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Sheep in the Big City, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, and Codename: Kids Next Door.
  • In 2004 it was replaced again with Cartoon Network Block Party. It dropped some of the older stuff but added Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Camp Lazlo, My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, and Chowder. Some of those shows continued to have comics long after they were cancelled from the network and taken off regular time-slot. It finally ended in 2009.
  • In 2006 another comic, Cartoon Network Action Pack, began. It focused on more action oriented shows like Megas XLR, Generator Rex, Samurai Jack, Ben 10 (which was subsequently replaced with comics based on Ben 10: Alien Force and Ben 10: Ultimate Alien), The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, and The Secret Saturdays. Codename: Kids Next Door and The Powerpuff Girls (1998) appeared both here and in Cartoon Network Block Party. It ended in 2012.
• Adventure Time was given one in 2012. Curiously, it acts as a Alternate Continuity to the TV show. There's also Adventure Time: Season 11, which tells events after the Grand Finale of the series. The comics based on fellow Cartoon Network shows Steven Universe and The Amazing World of Gumball also tell side-stories.
• Naturally with its major popularity, My Little Pony Friendship is Magic was given a comic book. Which later got spin-offs in the form of a Micro-Series (focusing on single characters) and later Friends Forever which puts the spotlight on two characters from the show interacting with each other.
• Gravity Falls: Lost Legends is a compilation of four side-stories written by Gravity Falls showrunner Alex Hirsch.
• Failed prime-time cartoon Calvin and the Colonel had two issues put out by Dell in 1962.
• SpongeBob SquarePants had several comics published in Nickelodeon Magazine until it went under. Eventually got its own title in 2011 through its production company, United Plankton Pictures, with Bongo Comics handling the publishing.
• A lot of animated works were adapted for newspaper comics. These include:
  • Mickey Mouse (1930-1994)
  • Donald Duck (1939-1990)
  • Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist (1997-1999)
  • Winnie the Pooh (1978-1988)
  • Rugrats (1998-2003)
  • The Flintstones (1961-1988)
  • Wallace & Gromit (2010-2013)
• During the height of his popularity (about the 40s until the 60s)), Woody Woodpecker had a comic series that frequently co-starred other Walter Lantz characters, including Andy Panda, Chilly Willy, and Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
• Ultimate Spider-Man had a comic book tie-in. Annoyingly, it's titled Ultimate Spider-Man and thus is easily confused with what is now Ultimate Comics Spider-Man.
• The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes has a four-issue miniseries, 12 issues' worth of new stories, and five comics adapting episodes. There was also an adaptation of The Avengers: United They Stand in the nineties.
• Ewoks was accompanied by a comic book by Star Comics that lasted 14 issues and chronologically took place before the events of the cartoon, a couple of Spanish two-page comics of somewhat dubious origin and one licensed UK annual. All of that was produced between 1985 and 1988 and these comics (as well as books) are considered to be a prequel to the animated series. Much later, Dark Horse Comics published a graphic novel titled Shadows of Endor in 2013 that is set in the time after the animated series, but before Star Wars: Ewok Adventures and Return of the Jedi. A scene from the latter, where Wicket is poking princess Leia Organa with his spear, appears at the very end of the comic.
• Droids also had comic adaptations; however, they tend to take place in a different time period from the show. The last three issues of the Star Comics adaptation brings things full circle by adapting A New Hope from the perspective of Threepio and Artoo.
• ¡Mucha Lucha! had a three issue mini-series published by DC Comics, with each issue focusing on one of the main trio.
• Samurai Jack had a one-shot adaptation of the show's first three episodes published by DC, then several stories based on the show published in Cartoon Network Action Pack. In 2013 it got a continuation from IDW that lasted 20 issues. IDW published yet another adaptation in 2017 shortly after the [adult swim] revival ended its run, consisting of a five-issue miniseries called Samurai Jack: Quantum Jack.
• Every DC Animated Universe series sans Static Shock and The Zeta Project had at least two comic book tie-ins.
  • Two tie-ins that weren't based on a specific series and instead revolved around the DCU in general were Superman & Batman Magazine (a tie-in to Batman: The Animated Series that featured comics starring other DC heroes, lasted eight issues and predated every non-Batman show in the continuity) and Adventures in the DC Universe (a 1997 series that mainly consisted of standalone stories focusing on various DC heroes and had a story arc revolving around the Justice League fighting a villain called Cipher, lasting 19 issues and an annual). Neither is considered canon due to the number of discrepancies the comics have toward the DCAU installments that came afterwards.
  • Batman: The Animated Series had several: The Batman Adventures (its first run lasting 36 issues as well as two annuals and a Holiday Special one-shot, a Batman and Robin Adventures edition that ran for 25 issues and two annuals, a Lost Years miniseries that served to bridge the gap between the Adventures of Batman and Robin and The New Batman Adventures retools and a second run of The Batman Adventures that tied in to The New Batman Adventures and ran for 17 issues), Batman: Gotham Adventures (another tie-in to The New Batman Adventures that lasted 60 issues), a Gotham Girls miniseries, a Harley & Ivy miniseries and a continuation published long after the end of the DCAU continuity called Batman: The Adventures Continue.
  • Superman: The Animated Series had The Superman Adventures (consisting of 66 main issues, an annual and the Superman vs. Lobo and Dimensions of the Dark Shadows one-shots) and a one-shot adapting the "World's Finest" two-part episode crossing over with Batman: The Animated Series.
  • Batman Beyond had more tie-ins than any other show in the DCAU canon: A six-issue miniseries where the first two issues adapted the show's premiere two-part episode "Rebirth", an ongoing that lasted 24 issues, a 2010 miniseries taking place after the show's run that followed a Broad Strokes take on the DCAU continuity, a 2011 miniseries that also took place after the events of the show, digital-first comics Justice League Beyond/Justice League Beyond 2.0, Superman Beyond and Batman Beyond 2.0 (which were published in print through the comics Batman Beyond Unlimited and Batman Beyond Universe), a 2015 series that lasted 16 issues and had the mantle of the future Batman taken by an alternate timeline counterpart of Tim Drake, a 2016 series lasting 50 issues that once more had Terry McGinnis as the future Batman and a 2022 miniseries titled Batman Beyond: Neo-Year where Bruce Wayne had passed away and Terry had to continue being Batman without Bruce's guidance.
  • Justice League had Justice League Adventures (lasting 34 issues), a tie-in to the Justice League Unlimited retool that lasted 46 issues and a miniseries taking place after the end of Unlimited titled Justice League Infinity.
• Back to the Future by Harvey Comics, which was based on the animated series from the early 1990s.
• Winx Club has it's own comic book series. Over 200 issues have been produced, including two issues focusing on the movies and three Halloween issues, each contained in a monthly magazine. The first twelve are based directly on the episodes of the first season, while the rest focus on other adventures. Howewer is unclear if the comic is canon or more an Alternate Universe.
• Miraculous Ladybug has gotten itself a fair share of comics since the cartoon's debut in 2015. Five comics from Action Labs^note  the adapted episode comics, Miraculous Adventures, Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug, Miraculous: Tales of Cat Noir, and Tales of Miraculous and a manga published by Kodansha, which adapts the episodes into a manga-style adventure.
• On July 2015, more than a decade after its cancellation, Invader Zim got an ongoing continuation comic that ran for 50 issues before being rebranded as a quarterly series that didn't go any further than four issues and concluding with a one-shot titled The Dookie Loop of Horror.
• Looney Tunes had many comics, with the latest title by Warner's sister company Dc Comics being an ongoing since 1994.
• Animaniacs by DC started just as the show had its Channel Hop to Kids WB, and went on to outlast the cartoon (as well as receiving Pinky and the Brain stories once said spin-off's comic folded).
• Toxic Crusaders had a comic book tie-in published by Marvel Comics that lasted eight issues.
• Captain Planet and the Planeteers had its own comic book published by Marvel Comics, which lasted 12 issues.
• Mighty Mouse has had several comic book adaptations, the most notable ones being a series loosely based on Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures that lasted ten issues and was published in the early 1990's by Marvel Comics and a five-issue miniseries published by Dynamite Comics in 2017.
• In addition to the aforementioned 7-issue series by Marvel Comics, Rocko's Modern Life received another comic book series published by Boom! Studios in 2017 that lasted eight issues, followed by a four-issue miniseries also published by Boom! Studios titled Rocko's Modern Afterlife that began publication in 2019.
• The Buster featured a comic strip adapting episodes of Dr. Zitbag's Transylvania Pet Shop that ran from 1994 to 1996.
• Muppet Babies (1984) had its own comic book that began publication in 1985 and lasted 26 issues that were released bi-monthly. The first 17 issues were published by the now defunct Star Comics, with Star Comics' parent company Marvel Comics publishing the remaining 9 issues. There was also a version published by Marvel UK that lasted 59 issues and a Summer Special one-shot, which was released weekly.
• While Duckman was itself adapted from an underground comic one-shot published by Dark Horse Comics, the animated series had its own comic adaptation published by Topps Comics which lasted five issues in addition to a three-issue miniseries titled The Mob Frog Saga.
• Betty Boop had a few comic adaptations including "Betty Boop's Big Break" in 1991 by First Publishing and Dynamite Comics's Betty Boop in 2016.
• Long before IDW Publishing released their own comic adaptation set in its own continuity, Jem had a magazine containing comic stories around the time the show originally aired that were published exclusively in the UK by London Editions Magazines, consisting of a series lasting 12 issues and two annual issues.
• The Beetlejuice animated series had several comic tie-ins by Harvey Comics, consisting of a one-shot billed as the "First Gross-Out Issue", another one-shot titled Beetlejuice in the Neitherworld, a "Horrorday Special" one-shot and a three-issue Crimebusters on the Haunt miniseries.
• Voltron: Legendary Defender saw three 6-issue miniseries' published by Lion Forge comics made as side-stories to the then-ongoing television show. A fourth miniseries was planned but as per WEP President Bob Koplar, when Lion Forge was purchased by Oni Press, the new owners elected to cancel the series.
• Wild C.A.T.s (1994) had a comic tie-in called WildC.A.T.s Adventures which retold the first 10 episodes of the show.
• Over the Garden Wall had several comic book tie-ins by Boom Studios, consisting of a 2014 one-shot taking place between the second and third episodes, a 2015 miniseries taking place between the third and fourth episodes, an ongoing lasting 20 issues and one annual that had Wirt and Greg go on further adventures in the Unknown with a backup story explaining what happened to the Woodsman's daughter before she reunited with her father as well as standalone stories that were either about Miss Langtree's school or unrelated tales told by Fred the Horse, two more miniseries (Hollow Town and Soulful Symphonies) and three graphic novels (Distillatoria, Circus Friends and Benevolent Sisters of Charity).
• Superfriends had a few comic book tie-ins to its name. The first was an ongoing that ran from 1976 to 1981 and lasted 47 issues, after that came three Super Powers miniseries and the last being an unrelated series also titled Super Powers by Tom Scioli that served as back-up material for the first six issues of Cave Carson Has a Cybernetic Eye.
• SuperMansion had a comic book tie-in by Titan that lasted two issues.
• Papercutz has published a comic book for The Loud House since 2017, about a year after the series began airing.

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